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STUDENT SERVICES

Housing

Student accommodation is available with student housing associations and companies close to most Laurea local campuses. This page contains information about the different accommodation options for students studying on different Laurea campuses.

AnchoredArticlePage19.10.2018

Facts about housing in Finland

  • The voltage of electricity is 230 AC (50 cycles).
  • Plugs are two-pin continental sizes.
  • Each housing association / apartment building has a set of rules for living. These include e.g. times when occupants need to avoid loud noises that disturb neighbors.
  • According to safety regulations, occupants are not allowed to store anything in the hallways of apartment buildings.
  • Smoking is commonly forbidden inside apartment buildings.
  • In general, Finns follow rules promptly. Not obeying rules usually results in a warning or a penalty fine.

 

Leppävaara, Otaniemi and Tikkurila campuses

Are you completing a full degree at Laurea? Laurea degree students who are studying in Laurea Leppävaara, Tikkurila or Otaniemi campuses can apply for unfurnished HOAS housing. More information available on HOAS webpages.

 

Are you coming to Laurea as an exchange student? International exchange students coming to study at Laurea campuses in the city of Espoo (Laurea Leppävaara and Laurea Otaniemi) and city of Vantaa (Laurea Tikkurila) can apply for furnished HOAS accommodation for exchange students and different sources from the private markets.

Each student is responsible for applying for accommodation independently. We strongly recommend you to find an apartment before arriving to Finland. Make sure you have a place to stay for your first few nights in Finland.​

Please notice that the apartment situation in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area is extremely difficult and thus it is important to start looking for accommodation as soon as possible and preferably from several different sources! When you receive a housing offer, we strongly advise you to take it.

HOAS housing

For exchange students, HOAS provides furnished flats. This service is tailor-made to ensure that there are furnished apartments available for exchange students who stay in the region for one term or for one full academic year. In the Helsinki region, the rental level is high and it is difficult to find affordable furnished flats for this kind of short term needs.

Due to the large number of exchange student housing applicants, housing is not guaranteed to all applicants, especially in the autumn semester. Around 60 % of the exchange students of the region live in HOAS apartments. Especially in the beginning of the autumn term, HOAS cannot offer housing for all applicants. If you receive a housing offer from HOAS, we strongly advise you to take it - you will get only one housing offer from HOAS! For more information on locations, rents, forms of housing etc., please see the HOAS exchange student housing web pages.

Please note that HOAS tenancy agreements for exchange student housing are always made for a fixed term and full months according to the official semester dates. Thus, the agreements start from the beginning of semester and end at the end of semester. No other tenancy period is possible and students will have to pay rent for the whole semester. Only for force majeure reasons (serious illness etc.) that force the exchange to be interrupted can the tenancy period be shortened. For summer moths, students can contact HOAS to ask for a possibility to extend the agreement to June/July.

For full degree students, HOAS offers unfurnished student housing.

What does HOAS rent include?

HOAS furnished rooms (only for exchange students) in shared apartments cost about €400-450/month, studios around €550-590/month and shared studios around €335-350/month per person. The rent in Hoas's furnished exchange student apartments includes always water, electricity, furnishings and more extensive maintenance. Additional free services are HOASnet(50 Mbit/s), laundry room, sauna slots, common tenant facilities and storage spaces (in almost all properties). The furnished Hoas apartments are non-smoking and pets are not allowed. More details about what is included in the HOAS rent for exchange students.

 
HOAS apartments are located around the Helsinki region. Your possibilities to receive an apartment from HOAS are improved if you are willing to live outside the centre and campus areas. In Finland it is very common for the students to live further away from campus. Remember that it is easy to travel around Helsinki region: the public transport in Helsinki is ranked among the best in Europe! You can check the transport connections from your apartment to the centre or campus areas at HSL Helsinki Region Transport Journey Planner (Reittiopas). Laurea Leppävaara and Laurea Tikkurila are both located nearby the local trains stations. Laurea Otaniemi is accessible by bus or metro.

HOAS does their best to offer you a place to stay according to your wishes and with a reasonable distance from your campus. The later you apply, the less likely we can cater to your preferences or offer housing for you. If you don't get the kind of housing or location you wished for, it means that your first choice was no longer available. You will always get the best available housing option!

Applying for HOAS housing

It is very important to apply as soon as possible after being accepted by your home university.

HOAS will send housing offers from beginning of May to beginning of August for the autumn semester and mid-November to mid-December for the spring semester. When you are offered a HOAS apartment, remember to respond to the offer as soon as possible, also if you decide to not take it. Once you have accepted an apartment offer for your stay, remember to immediately cancel any other unnecessary housing applications or offers, so that they can be offered to other students in queue as soon as possible.

Private sector housing

Be prepared to pay 400-800€/month for private sector housing. Apartments and rooms in the private markets are rented both furnished and unfurnished, and for a fixed term (e.g. 5 months) as well as for a minimum of 12 months (after which contract is continuous). Read the advertisements carefully to make sure what is included in the rent. You might need to buy home insurance and pay for electricity and internet connection separately.

Never send a passport copy via email to any stranger or a person who asks for it for private housing renting reasons. If you are renting housing from the private market, do not pay large sums in advance to anyone unless you have received an original signed lease agreement or checked the legitimacy of the offer.

Forenom

Forenom is an accommodation service provider that offers apartments and hostel type rooms for both short term and long term needs. The service covers the supply of accommodation in single or shared rooms in apartment-hotels and in normal apartments from studios to family houses, from basic apartments to luxury housing. Apartments/rooms are fully furnished and equipped for quick moving in and comfortable living.

The rent includes full furniture, electricity, water, TV, pillows, blankets (without bed linen) and dishes. So basically all you need to have when moving into a Forenom apartment is your own toothbrush!

There are several locations in the Metropolitan area with different price points. Closest to the campuses are:

Forenom hostel in Otaniemi
Forenom aparthotel in Leppävaara
Forenom aparthotel in Tikkurila

Use the location search on Forenom webpage to look for the best option with your criteria.

Links to other apartment advertisements


Other short-term housing options for the first few nights:

 

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Hyvinkää campus

Information about exchange student accommodation at Laurea Hyvinkää can be obtained from the international exchange coordinator. Please contact Laurea international services (intl.info@laurea.fi) for more information.

Lohja campus

Information about exchange student accommodation at Laurea Lohja can be obtained from the international exchange coordinator. Please contact Laurea international services (intl.info@laurea.fi) for more information.

 

Porvoo campus

Information about exchange student accommodation at Laurea Porvoo can be obtained from the international exchange coordinator. Please contact Laurea international services (intl.info@laurea.fi) for more information.

 

Living in Finland

General information about living and studying in Finland.


Read more about living in Finland

Exchange students to Laurea 

The exchange students in Laurea study in six different Bachelor and three Master degree programmes in English.

Studying at Laurea 

Laurea University of Applied Sciences has a unique method of learning. It is called Learning by Developing (LbD). Find out more about studying at Laurea in Finland!

Studies suitable for exchange students 

Exchange students at Laurea study in the study units taught in English, which are offered both in the English degree programmes as well as in the Finnish degree programmes.