Housing | The government would give municipalities the right to prohibit short-term rental of investment apartments

Apartments short-term rental, i.e. Airbnb operations may in the future depend on the location. The board’s presentation draft in the future, the municipality could determine whether short-term renting would be permitted or prohibited in residential buildings and in areas zoned for housing. However, the possibility of a ban would not apply to apartments where the renter is registered himself.

According to the draft presentation, the municipality could decide on the matter in its building regulations.

“In other words, the municipality could either prohibit short-term rental activity completely or prohibit it in some parts somewhere or allow it completely,” sums up the board advisor Kirsi Martinkauppi from the Ministry of the Environment to STT.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, municipalities want to be given the opportunity to influence, because there are big differences between municipalities in the housing and accommodation market.

“There are many Airbnb apartments in the center of Rovaniemi, just like in Helsinki. Then we have many municipalities where Airbnb is not very large-scale,” Martinkauppi continues.

Martinkaupin according to which there are many areas of will in the matter. Some emphasize asset protection and consider that renting should be as free as possible. Others think that short-term rental competes with hotel operations, but unfairly, because it does not have to meet the regulations related to accommodation. People who live in the same housing association as short-term rental apartments may be bothered, for example, if it seems like there are always parties in one of the apartments.

“For example, I’ve received a phone call where someone was upset when even the sheets disappear from the laundry room,” Martinkauppi describes.

Ministry of the Environment according to, the ambiguity related to the short-term rental legislation particularly concerns the definition of housing and accommodation.

With the proposed law change, a stay of at least four weeks would be considered as residence. If the landlord was not registered in the apartment and he rented the apartment with contracts lasting less than four weeks, it would be a case of accommodation.

The law change is supposed to enter into force at the beginning of 2026. The comment period for the draft is ongoing and ends on June 6.

Finland Landlords criticizes the draft proposal for the fact that it would enable the banning of all small-scale short-term rental activities in the municipalities, unless it is an apartment for own use.

“We are most dissatisfied with the fact that the current draft does not at all distinguish extensive professional undercover hotel operations from, say, a single investment apartment only used for short-term rental activities for part of the year, says the legal representative of the Landlords Tariq Ahsanullah for STT.

In Ahsanullah’s opinion, the law should set some limit for small-scale activities that the municipality could not completely prohibit.

“If afterwards there are such strict restrictions on how a private person can use their own individual investment apartment that is part of the scope of private finances, then that is the biggest problem here.”

According to the landlords’ estimate, there are currently around 25,000 private individuals in Finland who rent out at least part of the year an apartment other than the one in which they are registered. Short-term living and accommodation are often associated with various seasonal events, such as festivals, but also with temporary housing for renovations or for shorter gigs to obtain labor.

Finland among cities, short-term rental activity is exceptionally large in Rovaniemi, when it is compared to the number of apartments in the city. of the city of Rovaniemi statement according to 2022, the city had the second highest number of bookings made through platforms in Finland, right after Helsinki. Reservations were made for about 250,000 overnight stays, while there were, for example, about 39,000 apartments in the city last year.

Rovaniemi is critical of the draft law. According to the statement, the proposed law amendment aims to legalize the current, in principle, illegal accommodation in a residential apartment without understanding the effects of the activity in different areas of society.

“The city of Rovaniemi has (experienced) the view that short-term rental weakens, for example, the housing opportunities of students and seasonal workers when the cost level rises too high,” the city’s statement says.

The situation is reflected in the occupancy rate of apartment buildings, which is lower in Rovaniemi than in other growth centers or university towns.

The statement states that the departure of permanent residents affects the demand for services and the vitality of the center of Rovaniemi: short-term rentals are focused on the winter season, but local services depend on year-round demand.