Applying for an apartment

You can apply for a LOAS student apartment with the online form. Applications are accepted around the year, and in the best case scenario you can even be offered an apartment without waiting time.

During the autumn and the beginning of the year, there are a lot of applicants and an application should be submitted as soon as you have received a confirmation about a study place. You can accept an apartment already during the summer! Note: You can apply for an apartment up to 6 months before your move-in date. An approval letter from a local educational institute is required as an attachment to the housing application (eg a screenshot of the approval letter received by email. The name of the applicant must also be seen on the screenshot).
If you apply for a shared apartment with a friend (separate lease agreements for private rooms), attach a free form document to the application, in which you mention the name of the desired flatmate. 

Our apartments are intended for students who study in Lappeenranta, Imatra or elsewhere in Southern Karelia. All basic, follow-up and supplementary education students can apply for our apartments.

Under 18-year-old need a guardian's consent in order to safeguard the liabilities concerning the rental agreement. Although the application has the guardian’s details, always attach an informal written consent from the guardian. The minor's contract is signed at the LOAS office. Alternatively, the guardian will provide LOAS with a copy of the signed agreement electronically. After receiving the housing offer, pay the office fee and any security deposit at Intra and send the contract signed by the guardian to us either electronically or come to the office to have the signature in order.

Our housing office provides advice and guidance to You in all issues concerning housing and applying for an apartment. After creating a LOAS Intra account, the best way to get an answer and instructions is via Intra by using the Contact us-feature. You can also send us an email to info@loas.fi.

Processing of applications

The processing of applications and resident selections are based on provisions set out in legislation and regulatory guidelines on the resident selection of government-subsidised rentals.

The application is valid for three (3) months. You will receive notice by email about your expiring application. You can renew or remove the application yourself.

Applications are processed on a daily basis.

The special reasons for needing an apartment are considered on a case-by-case basis.

The credit history of all applicants is reviewed in connection with processing applications. A default does not prevent you from getting an apartment, but it may be a reason for the landlord to request a deposit and conclude the rental agreement on a fixed-term basis.

The most certain way to get an apartment is when you are prepared to accept any area, property and apartment type. However if you definitely only want a certain property and apartment type, you can remain on the waiting list and wait for the apartment to become vacant.

"Don´t be rabbit pants, check Intra."
Reviewing the situation of your application

The processing of applications can take a few days after which you can check the situation of your application on the intranet. If you have something to ask about your application, primarily contact us via Intra (Contact us-feature).

New applications are constantly submitted to the system and the situation of applications and apartments may change on a daily basis. Getting a housing offer largely depends on how tenants move out. All applicants do not accept the apartments they are offered, and offers cannot be made to some applicants for some reason. For these reasons, it is extremely difficult for us to estimate the time of an apartment offer.

University and university of applied sciences students who start their new studies in the autumn are given priority when shared apartments are offered.  If it is important for you to be offered an apartment by the start of your studies, apply for all shared apartments too – you can apply for a studio later on. During the autumn rush, it is very unlikely that someone applying for a studio apartment without special reasons will receive an offer of accommodation. In practice, only exchange applicants (current residents) or new applicants with significantly justified reasons, which must proven in the attachments of the apartment application, may be offered a studio. NOTE! There is a very limited number of studio apartments available. So, even if an applicant has very strong special reasons to apply for only a studio apartment, LOAS may not be able to offer the applicant an apartment by the start of the studies. 

Getting an apartment is subject to the apartment offer being accepted by the provided deadline. If the offer is rejected, the apartment is offered to the next applicant.

Urgency categories of housing need

When assessing the urgency of housing need, LOAS follows the guidelines for resident selection from the State-supported Housing Construction Centre. In resident selection, priority must be given to applicants with the most urgent housing need and lowest-income applicants. In practice, this means that the applicant’s housing need, assets and income are taken into account in the resident selection.

Based on the information provided in the application, the housing application is placed in either the “Urgent” or “General” category. When offering housing within the same urgency category, income and assets are taken into account. For applicants in otherwise completely similar situations, housing is offered to the person who has waited the longest for housing.

Below are examples of the criteria for classifying applications.

Urgent housing need

The category is valid until the first housing offer or until the urgency of the application expires. If the applicant rejects the offer or allows it to expire, the application will automatically be dropped to the general category. When applying for urgent housing, apartments cannot be unreasonably excluded from the application without good reason. If the applicant excludes apartments from their application without an acceptable explanation for the reasons for the exclusion, the application may be placed in the general category.

  • the applicant is homeless
  • the applicant is moving to the location where they have received a study place
  • the applicant has been obliged by an authority's decision to move from their accommodation without their own reason
  • the applicant lives in very cramped conditions (more than 2 people per room)
  • the applicant has been dismissed from their current accommodation
  • the applicant's permanent illness or disability requires more suitable accommodation according to a medical certificate


General housing need

  • the applicant's housing costs are too high in relation to their income and assets
  • the applicant's journey to school is long and inconvenient
  • the applicant is starting a family and does not have a shared accommodation
  • the applicant's current accommodation is unsatisfactory for other reasons

Examples of factors affecting the priority order within the urgency category:

First-year student
University and university of applied sciences students starting their studies in the autumn have priority when allocating shared apartments.

Internal applicant applying for an apartment exchange
Applicants who have lived in a shared apartment for a long time and continuously have priority when allocating studios. Families with children and couples have priority when allocating larger two- and three-room apartments.

Children
Families with children have priority when allocating two- and three-room apartments. The number of children is taken into account when processing the application. A pregnancy certificate is also taken into account.

Applicants returning to LOAS from exchange, military or civilian service
Applicants returning back to LOAS from exchange, study-related work placement and military or civilian service have priority when allocating apartments.

Check the situation of the application on the intranet
Offering and accepting apartments

You will receive an apartment offer by email. You can accept or reject the offer at LOAS Intra service. At Intra you can also see more specific information concerning the housing offer. Please, check the start date of the rental agreement, for example. Read the instructions carefully and act accordingly. The office fee or any deposit shall not be returned if you cancel the apartment before the lease start date.