Housing companies: simplified rules for taking an owner apartment into possession from 1 October 2026

From order to health – a broader ground for taking possession

The existing ground has been clearly worded but narrow: the owner or the resident of the owner apartment must observe what is required to maintain order in the company's premises and facilities. The concept of order has done the work in many disturbance cases, but it also has its limits. Health is now added to the wording, and this seemingly modest addition has a noticeable practical effect.

In plain terms, a failure to comply with rules or regulations concerning health protection can constitute a ground for taking possession of the owner apartment. The clearest example is smoking: an owner or resident who defies a smoking ban issued by an authority under the tobacco legislation now risks having the owner apartment taken into the company's possession.

What applies in Åland

It is worth noting in this context that Åland has its own legislative competence in matters of health protection. The authority-issued smoking bans for housing communities that have been in place in mainland Finland for some time have not yet appeared in Åland.

Short-term rentals in housing companies

A ground aimed at short-term letting is entirely new. The wording captures situations where the letting causes additional costs or inconvenience to the company or the shareholders in a manner that deviates from residential use. The deviation is the operative criterion: continuous short-term letting – through Airbnb or similar platforms – that generates costs or disturbance beyond what normal residential use of the owner apartment would entail.

For housing companies that have so far been fairly powerless in the face of a shareholder's intensive letting activity, this is a new tool. The inconvenience is no longer measured solely against the classic disturbance ground but against a standard of its own, geared to the type of wear and strain that short-term letting actually brings.

When is a disturbance more than minor?

The new grounds leave one central balancing mechanism untouched. The requirement that the disturbance or the inconvenience be of more than minor significance still applies, including to the newly introduced grounds. A single smoked cigarette or one rowdy short-term guest on one occasion is not enough for a measure as intrusive as taking possession. The inconvenience has to be significant enough considering the circumstances of the individual case. Taking possession remains a powerful instrument bound by proportionality.

Alongside the grounds set out above, the amendment introduces a general clause: an owner apartment may be taken into possession where there is a particularly weighty reason comparable to a disorderly way of life or a breach of order and health. The provision is intended to cover situations that do not fit within the other grounds, for example repeated disturbances caused by a shareholder's visitors. The requirement that the breach be of more than minor significance applies here too.

Access to the apartment and electronic service of warnings

Alongside the substantive changes, the practical procedure is simplified on a couple of points that deserve attention.

Access to the owner apartment. The company's right of access is clarified for situations where access is needed to monitor the condition and care of the owner apartment or to carry out maintenance and alteration work. If a suitable time cannot be agreed for reasons attributable to the shareholder or the occupant, the visit may in certain cases be carried out once that person has been given sufficient time to respond and has been notified of the time in advance. In practice, a passive shareholder can no longer block access simply by not replying.

Electronic service. Warnings and decisions on taking possession may now be served electronically. This means that, for example, email can be used – without the sender having to show that the recipient has actually read the message. The safeguard is a notification through a second electronic channel: where the warning is delivered by email, a text message should, for example, also be sent to the recipient's phone number. The intention is that the recipient is reached, without service failing on evidentiary requirements that have made electronic channels unusable in practice.

What shareholders must disclose about their tenants

Finally, the new rules impose an obligation to provide information on shareholders who grant the use of their owner apartment to someone else. The shareholder must ensure that the necessary details about the person given the right to use the owner apartment are held and must supply those details to the company on justified request. The provision complements the new grounds for taking possession: the company should not have to search for who actually lives in the owner apartment in order to act.

Entry into force

The new rules apply from 1 October 2026. Boards of housing companies have reason to review their internal procedures now and, where necessary, prepare proposals to the general meeting on amendments to the articles of association in light of the new provisions – not least with regard to service procedures and the handling of short-term lettings.

Questions about the new provisions or the other amendments to the Limited Liability Housing Companies Act? Do not hesitate to get in touch.