Welcome

Lappeenranta Student Housing Foundation (LOAS) welcomes you to your new student apartment. We hope that you will feel at home and that our cooperation will be smooth and pleasant.

LOAS is a joint enterprise administered by local student unions, the City of Lappeenranta and the Church, and its task is to manage student accommodation in Lappeenranta.

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Our operations are based upon the following principles

LOAS is a customer orientated service organisation offering accommodation services for students and other young people. These services provide accommodation in a flexible and tailor-made fashion to suit the different stages in a student's life. We provide additional services and facilities specifically with students and young people in mind, making the residency more comfortable, secure, and economical.

LOAS guarantees satisfaction by maintaining a competent, high quality service, which the customer will find flexible and easy to use.

The development of our services is an ongoing process, and listening to our customers is the most important source of new ideas. Our operations are guided by the principles of lawfulness, absolute fairness, respecting people, and mutual trust. We also believe in people's ability to offer good guality service in an interactive service process, where the staff is given an opportunity to develop their own duties, and the customers can influence the services they pay for

The purpose of this guide is to advise you in matters concerning student accommodation. Read it at your leisure and keep it at hand for the duration of your stay. You will find a lot of useful information in this guide.

If you have any questions concerning student housing, do not hesitate to consult the Senior Resident, whose name can be found on the notice board in your building. Naturally, our Housing Office is there to help you, too.

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What to do upon moving into your student apartment?

Once you have signed the tenancy agreement you can move into your LOAS apartment. Read the agreement carefully, and follow the terms.

By law, it is the tenant's responsibility to notify the local population register office of a change of address. You may leave your notice of moving (muuttoilmoitus) in the LOAS Housing Office when collecting your keys. Please make sure it is properly filled in, and we will then deliver it to the register office. Alternatively, you may mail your notice of moving, or do it by telephone. At the earliest the notification can be made one week before moving, and a week after moving at the very latest. As it is important for the register office to have your correct address at all times, failing to give adequate notice can result in the payment of an extra charge, and a possible loss of your housing supplement.

Do not forget to notify the post office, any newspapers or magazines you subscribe to, your school, friends and relatives about your new address. An exact address (name, street address, building and apartment number, postal code and town) helps the prompt delivery of your mail.

The key to your apartment will be handed to you in the LOAS office on the day you move in. When you sign the tenancy agreement, you are also given an Apartment Checklist, a form which you should fill in when you inspect the condition of your apartment. Mark down any faults and defects you notice. This is for your own benefit and legal protection. If the previous tenant has not cleaned up the apartment properly, contact the LOAS office.

Any further information on your apartment or the rent, for example for the application of housing supplement, may be obtained from the LOAS office.

The tenancy agreement is valid for the duration of your studies, i.e. until the end of August following the end of your studies. According to the tenancy agreement and the law, you are liable to give a full month's notice on the termination of the tenancy agreement. The tenancy agreement can also be of definite duration.

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Grounds for the Rent and Other Fees

Guarantee Fee

This is the guarantee you give to LOAS, of your intention of looking after all obligations concerning your apartment. When the rental period is over, LOAS can use the guarantee fee to cover the cost of damages or the need for extra cleaning. If the apartment is left in a perfect condition, and you have fulfilled all obligations to LOAS, the money will be refunded to you.

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Rent (includes capital costs and maintenance costs) and other fees:

Capital costs comprise the interests and instalments of housing loans. Over 90 per cent of our building projects are financed by loans, thus the capital costs amount to approx. 50 per cent of the total rent. LOAS cannot control the amount of capital costs in the rent, as they depend on the interest rate and housing policy practised by the banks and the state.

Maintenance costs include fees for heating, water, repairs, maintenance, cleaning, general house management, etc. Maintenance costs form approx. 50 per cent of the total rent. This part of the rent we can control in many ways. LOAS ensures that the buildings are well built and suited to their purpose. We monitor the energy consumption in the buildings, and look after any due adjustments. Our maintenance personnel keep the buildings and apartments in good condition and the daily maintenance is looked after by the service company.

A separate fee is charged for the use of electricity, sauna, and laundry room. The amount of the fee depends on the consumption. The earlier comments on saving also apply to this fee.

A furniture fee is charged from tenants who use LOAS's furniture. The fee is based on the annual furniture budget and it covers the capital expenses, interests, and repair costs. You can influence the amount of this fee by taking good care of the valuable furniture.

A furnished apartment contains the following pieces of furniture: in the kitchen there is a table, two benches, and curtains; in the study room there is a desk, office chair, bookcase, desk lamp, chair, curtains, and a bed (80x200 cm). The bathroom also has a shower curtain.

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Paying the Rent

The rent and other fees have to be paid by the 5th of every month. Failing to pay the rent by the agreed time results in surcharges: interest on overdue payments and collection charges.

When paying the rent, always use the index number on the payment slip (NB. there is a different index number for each month); it speeds up the handling of your payment. Keep the receipts and/or your bank statements as proof of the rent payed.

If you have problems in paying the rent, contact the LOAS office as soon as possible in order to resolve the situation.

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How to Live Economically

We hope that our tenants do their share in keeping housing costs low. Sensible and economical living does not mean refusing the comforts available, but using them in a correct and appropriate manner. You do not have to live in the dark and cold, but on the other hand, using electricity excessively and controlling room temperature by keeping windows open is a waste of money. Imagine the consequences if everybody did this. Therefore, avoid unnecessary use of electricity and water, as well as unnecessary airing.

When paying the rent, you should remember that it includes the cost of energy, maintenance, and repairs. All unnecessary consumption and repair costs result in a higher rent. We are sure you could think of better ways of spending your money.

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Housing Supplement

Foreign students should contact their school or the local Social Insurance Institute (KELA) office for details on the student financil aid.

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Make yourself at home. . .

LOAS apartments are meant for all students in post-secondary education, both undergraduates and postgraduates.

You can live in our apartments even after graduating, on a lease of definite duration. Contact our Housing Office if you still need your apartment after graduating.

. . . but have consideration for your roommates and neighbours.

Student living requires cooperation and taking your roommates into consideration. It's a good idea to agree upon:

- whether smoking is allowed indoors

- preferably not, though

- the use and cleaning of shared living areas- guests

- parties

- pets, etc.

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Senior Resident

Each site has a Senior Resident (talonvanhin), who acts as a link between the tenants and LOAS. The Senior Resident's name and information on how to contact him/her can be found on the notice board in each building. The Senior Resident answers on any questions you may have concerning your residency, and also looks after the delivery of rent payment slips, sauna turns, car heating points and their keys, etc.

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Transfer of the Right of Occupancy

A tenant who temporarily has to leave his/her LOAS apartment due to studies, military service or other such reasons, will be allocated a similar apartment upon his/her return, if possible. This requires that when terminating the tenancy agreement, the reason for absence is given, and the normal application for a new apartment is handed in well in advance before returning to Lappeenranta.

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Subletting

A LOAS apartment may not be sublet without the permission of LOAS. However, for the summer you may sublet your apartment at your own risk, as long as you notify LOAS in advance. The law concerning renting applies to the initial tenant, even when the apartment has been sublet to another person. This means that you are responsible for all the actions, rental payments, etc. of your subtenant. The tenant is not permitted to accommodate other people in the apartment on a permanent basis. As a LOAS tenant you alone are responsible for anybody living in your apartment. An additional occupant causes the unpleasant situation of other tenants having to pay for the extra heating, electricity, and water.

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Living in a LOAS Apartment

We expect good manners and tidyness of all our tenants, i.e. common sense in the use of the apartment and communal facilities. If the fixtures and fittings, or the premises in general are damaged, the person responsible is liable to pay for the repairs and the cleaning. Let us know if you find defects with the appliances or the fittings in your apartment, or in the communal areas.

According to a common set of rules, silence should prevail in an apartment block from 11pm to 7am.

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Your Mail

Depending on the site and the type of building, mail is delivered either directly to the apartment or to a separate letter box.

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Telephones and Pay Phones

An individual telephone connection (bought or rented) can be obtained from the local telephone company (Sonera).

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Saunas and Common Rooms

The Senior Resident looks after the sauna turns, a list of which can be found on the notice board in your building. Almost all our sites include a so-called common room, which is either open to everybody or has to be booked beforehand. Similarly, you can book a sauna to be used outside the times on the list. Bookings are handled by our Housing Office.

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Laundry Rooms

Each site is equipped with a laundry room which contains washing machines and facilities for drying your clothes. The use of laundry rooms is free of charge.

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Storerooms for Bicycles etc.

On each site there is a special storeroom for sports equipment, prams, bicycles, etc. Each apartment also has its own individual storeroom for other belongings, either in the basement or in the attic. It is not allowed to keep any inflammable items (e.g. car batteries, petrol cans, mopeds) in these storerooms. Storing goods in other communal areas is also prohibited, and we hope that our tenants would not abandon their old belongings in these premises.

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Washing Machines

If your apartment is not already equipped with the fittings for a washing machine and/or a dishwasher, you can order such an installation through LOAS.

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Refrigerators

A regular defrosting of the refrigerator is important, since an icy refrigerator uses a lot of electricity and does not function effectively. When removing the ice, do not use force or sharp objects. Older refrigerators should be defrosted every few weeks, whereas newer refrigerators defrost automatically.

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Keys

If you forget your key, first turn to the Senior Resident. If he/she is not available, you can get a spare key on loan from the LOAS Housing Office during the office hours. The spare key is only given to the tenant, so be prepared to prove your identity. Outside the office hours you should contact the service company. Its telephone number is on the notice board and on the front doors on every site. Again, you must prove your identity, and also pay a fee for the service provided.

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Pets

Having pets in a shared apartment is allowed only if all your roommates approve.

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Nameplates

Each front door has a list of apartment numbers and names of tenants. Therefore a number on the apartment door is all you need. Placing a nameplate on the intercom is not allowed, and placing your name on the letter box is allowed only if it can be easily removed without leaving a mark. The tenant removes his/her name off the letter box when moving out.

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Car Heating Points

There are electric heating points for cars in the parking areas. You can ask the Senior Resident about available heating points.

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Mechanical Ventilation

All our buildings are equipped with a mechanical ventilation system. According to building standards, the air in an apartment must change at least once every two hours on average. This is done with extractors, the operating times of which are timer-controlled between maximum and half speed. The exhaust air is sucked from the kitchen and the bathroom, i.e. from rooms where odours and dampness build up. Obviously the air changes in all the other rooms as well.

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Supply Air

The air which is sucked out by the extractor is replaced by fresh supply air. In older buildings this happens through special gaps on the tops of the window frames, which are deliberately unsealed. In newer buildings there are air vents in the window frames, or on the walls, specially made for this purpose. Unsealed gaps and vents have to be left open. If the flow of incoming air is obstructed, the apartments become like bottles, out of which the extractor is trying in vain to suck out the increasingly damp, unhealthy, and bad air. And as the supply air forces its way in from all possible gaps, usually at floor level and at high speed, it can result in a feeling of draught.

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Cleaning the Ventilators

The regular cleaning of the ventilator openings, which can be found in the bathroom and in the kitchen above the cooker, is the tenant's responsibility. Especially the ventilator in the kitchen quickly builds up with greasy dust, which blocks the vent. An easy and simple way to clean the ventilator openings is to, for example, wet a cloth with washing-up liquid and wrap it around a knife, and wipe the gap around the vent with it. To finish up, give a wipe with a clean cloth. Do not tamper with the vents or their adjustments.

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What to do if. . .

If the indoor air feels stuffy and/or the windows steam up, you should first examine the ventilator openings, clean them, and check that the vents for the incoming air are open and that there is nothing obstructing the flow of air. After this you can try to see if the ventilator opening for exhaust air holds an A4 sheet of paper by suction, as it should. If it does not, and the air still feels stuffy, contact the LOAS office as soon as possible. We will see to the matter and put things right.

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Floor Drain

Like the regular cleaning of the ventilator openings, the cleaning of the bathroom floor drain is also the tenant's responsibility. A floor drain quickly builds up with hair and other residue which does not pass through the drain trap, and eventually it blocks the drain. An easy way to clean the drain is to lift the grating and to scoop up out the waste by hand. It may feel a bit messy but it is mostly just your own hair. Finish up with clean water and perhaps with a drop of washing-up liquid, and replace the grating.

In the floor drain there is a cleaning hole, which is sealed by a plug. If this plug becomes loose or comes off, some odours may pass through the air lock. If this should happen, contact the LOAS office.

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Sink Drain Traps

The cleaning of the drain traps in the sinks is done in almost the same way as the cleaning of the floor drain. Bathroom sink's drain trap comes off usually by unscrewing it, which makes it is easy to clean. All deposits can then be removed from the pipe with, for example, the tip of a knife or some other sharp tool. However, you should not attempt to clean the drain trap in the kitchen sink, but leave it to our maintenance personnel.

If you are uncertain of what to do, contact our Housing Office.

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Repair Notification

If you notice any defects or faults in your apartment, leave a repair notification with a good description of the problem either to the Senior Resident, or to the LOAS office. Advise us as to when you are at home and whether the maintenance personnel can go and repair the fault when you are not at home. In addition to your name and apartment number, you should put your telephone number on the repair notification so that the maintenance personnel can contact you if need be. If the fault occurs outside working hours and needs to be repaired immediately, contact the service company.

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Do Not...!

The tenant is not allowed to paint the apartment or make any structural alterations without special permission. Drilling holes in the walls is also prohibited. For hanging pictures there are wooden boarders skirting the ceiling. Posters and other pictures can be hung with the kind of Sellotape or Blu-tack which does not leave permanent marks when removed.

Air ventilators must not be adjusted or radiator air released, and electrical fittings should be left alone. The installation of most electrical fittings is subject to licence and therefore performed only by a licensed electrician.

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Maintenance of the Sites

To be able to serve our customers in the best possible way, we need feedback on our operations, as well as continuous contact with our tenants to ensure successful repair and maintenance work. Please do not hesitate to report even small faults or defects on the sites or LOAS operations. Each hallway and front door has the telephone numbers of those who are on call: either LOAS or the service company.

The service company looks after the general maintenance tasks, such as the upkeep of electrical fittings, heating, plumbing and ventilation systems, cleaning, heating of saunas, clearing the snow, mowing the lawn, and replacing light bulbs outdoors or in communal areas, etc.

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The service company is on call 24 hours a day.

LOAS has its own maintenance section, which takes care of the maintenance work on the sites: painting of the apartments, sauna renovations etc.

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L-Net Computer Network

L-Net is an intranet maintained by the Lappeenranta University of Technology and LOAS. It is your connection to Internet and Funet. This computer network is installed into all apartment blocks in the campus area of the University of Technology, and it is being expanded to our new or renovated sites elsewhere. Ask about "hooking up" from the L-Net representative in your building (verkkovastaava). Inform him/her also when you are moving out in order to terminate the connection. More at: www.loas.fi

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Tenant Committee

On all LOAS sites there are committees, which are formed by the tenants themselves. These tenant committees operate independently and their purpose is to further the economy of housing and make your residency more comfortable and enjoyable. The committees present issues to LOAS, and negotiations are held to find the best solutions. The committees also take part in preparing many issues, and tenants have a representative on the Housing Foundation Board. The tenant committee is a voluntary but important body in influencing the decision-making.

Important issues prepared together by LOAS and the tenant committees include: rent, budget, repairs and their financing, and matters concerning maintenance. You may partake in deciding on the rules and regulations of your own building; on the principles of allocating or renting car park spaces, sauna turns, laundry rooms, etc.; on the use of common rooms and other communal areas; on organising social gatherings. This way every tenant has an opportunity to influence their own housing. Use your right and take part in your own tenant committee's activities!

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Summertime Accommodation

For those tenants who move away for summer, LOAS offers two options for using the apartment during the summer. You can find a summer tenant yourself and apply for permission from LOAS to sublet your apartment, or you can leave your apartment to LOAS to be used as accommodation for the Summer Hostel. You can find further information about this on the notice board in your building during the spring term.

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What to do upon moving out of your student apartment?

When you finish your studies and move away, you have to give a written notice of termination to LOAS. There is a form for this, which you can get in our office. The period of notice is one month, starting from the last day of the month when you handed in your notice. Fill in the form carefully: new address, date, and your signature. If the tenancy agreement has been co-signed, also the notice of termination has to be co-signed. The keys to the apartment have to be returned to the LOAS office, the key to the car heating point is returned to the Senior Resident, and the disconnection of L-net has to be arranged with the person in charge of the network.

Do not forget to inform the Post Office on the change of address. In the Register Office your address is not changed until you leave your notice of moving, which is your statutory duty.

The tenant has to clean his/her apartment thoroughly before moving out (including toilet, kitchen, cooker, and cupboards). The apartment should be in spotless condition, of course allowing for natural wear. If this is not the case, LOAS has the right to bill the tenant afterwards for all cleaning and repair expences.

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Returning the Keys

The keys have to be returned to our Housing Office. If you are unable to return them during office hours, you may leave them in the letter box situated next to the office door on Leirikatu, provided all matters concerning your moving out have already been taken care of. Return the keys in an envelope, and enclose a note with your name and address.

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Inspection of the Apartment

When you have moved out, the apartment will be inspected. A person from LOAS inspects the apartment after you have returned the keys. We pay special attention to the tidiness of the apartment - not forgetting the shared rooms. An unclean apartment is cleaned and the tenant is billed for this. Any intentional damage done in the apartment is also billed to the tenant. The guarantee fee is returned if everything is OK.

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Office Opening Hours

LOAS Housing Office on Leirikatu 2 is open Monday - Thursday 8.00 - 16.00 Fridays 8.00 - 12.00 During the summer 8.00 - 16.00

Our branch at the Student Union House is open from September 1st to May 31st. Opening hours are to be set at a later date.