About two-fifths of the population in Denmark live in housing that they do not own themselves. Instead, they rent it from a company or a social housing company. It is thus completely normal to rent a home.

There is a shortage of housing in Denmark, especially affordable housing. Therefore, finding a good rental can be difficult, especially through a social housing company. If you are new in the country and don’t know the system, you can often end up renting expensive and poor housing because the landlord is taking advantage of the situation. But you don’t have to tolerate this!

In the following examples, you can see some of the common situations that people who move to Denmark to work find themselves in. Further down the page you can see which actions you can take to improve your housing situation.

1. You rent a room from a private owner: You live in an apartment with the owner of the apartment. You have your own room and access to a kitchen and a shower. It is an insecure way of living. Your rental agreement can be cancelled with one month’s notice. But the rent is maximized by law. You can expect to pay anywhere from 3000 to 7000 kr. for a room, but if it seems too expensive you might want to investigate if your rent is too high.
2. You share a room with others; you have your own bed but share kitchen and hygiene facilities with the others. This is principally illegal in Denmark, but many do it anyway. If you pay more than 2000 kr. a month you are almost certainly paying too much – this also applies if you are renting the bed from your employer.
3. You rent an apartment with others and have your own room – but the owner of the apartment doesn’t live there: The total rent paid by everyone should be no more than 1500 kr. per square meter per year.
4. You rent an apartment on your own from a private owner or a private company: The rent should maximally be at 2500 kr. per square meter per year. But only if the apartment has a relatively new shower and kitchen.

If the rent is higher than the limit set in the four examples or if the place you live is in poor condition, then it might be a good idea to seek help and find out if you are entitled to a lower rent, or money back according to the Danish Rent Act (lejeloven).

Read the Danish Rent Act in Danish here: www.lejeloven.dk/fortolkning. (Google translate or ChatGPT can aid you in translating if needed) You can read some useful information about the Danish Rent Act in English here: www.lejeloven.dk/en.

Rent courts (Huslejenævn) have been set up in all municipalities, where you can raise a case without process costs. The Rent court can demand that the rent be reduced, with retroactive effect, up to 12 months after you paid rent for the first time.

You can raise such a case yourself, but it is probably best to be assisted. For help you can contact the renter’s union (LLO) www.llo.dk.

It is also possible that you can get help a legal aid organization (retshjælp) as retshjaelpen.dk or www.lejerens-fr.dk.

Be aware that according to the law, you can't be evicted on the grounds that you complain about the rent, but the landlord may find another excuse to evict you.

Be careful when entering the rental housing market. Many newcomers to Denmark get a subpar contract on housing. You should always check whether the person you rent from is allowed to rent out their place – otherwise you’ll risk losing your money and maybe the rental too. If something looks exceptionally cheap or exceptionally nice, be extra careful. Use all the tools at your disposal to get more information.

You can research the housing on www.ois.dk, here you can check the ownership. If the person renting you the housing is not the same as the owner, you should inquire about it. Additionally, you can ask the neighbor if they know the owner.

If you are a member, LLO will help you as good as they can. Similarly to labor unions and insurance companies, you need to be a member before a problem arises.
www.llo.dk.