Renting out a Room in Helsingfors

I was already on an earlier occasion referring to the incompetence by which the house assembly of the house in which I own a place was agreeing to a renewal of ALL of the outer layer of the house. Meanwhile the work has been in progress for a good while and one can even hope that the most noisy part (which was the removal of the old outer layer by means of pneumatic hammers) is meanwhile over – but the work is not meant to be completed before the middle of November …

The noisy part has, though, already had the effect that the lodger, who lived in my second room, moved out into another place. This in JULY, when I thought that it might be rather difficult to find a new lodger (and that not only because of the fact that the people to whom one could turn for asking a bit around whether they know somebody fitting are not easy to reach, but in this case also because of the fact that the lodger would have to accept that all the windows of my place are not really usable: one can neither open them for fresh air nor can one even look out to see how the weather is: all the window panes are covered by some protective plastic sheet which is from outside VERY dirty).

Thus, from where to get a new lodger? And I really should want one, (a) because the rent would be a very welcome addition to my economy, (b) because at least at my age it might be a good idea to have a person around who can phone 112 if one should have some household accident (one’s own home IS now the most dangerous place to be …). Thus, yes, a lodger would be very welcome. On the other hand I was remembering to have read some statistics that only something like 5 % of Finnish students would even accept to live in an own room in a place which they have to share with somebody else. I was a bit wondering how the students could afford such an idea, but the move of my lodger was then helping my understanding: at me he had paid a rent of 200 per month, but he moved to a place which is costing 790 per month. The important point in this is that he is a Finnish citizen, so that he can apply for public support to his living/housing expenses, and Finnish students can do the same – with all the consequences which that has for the price level of the rents (especially in crowded areas like Helsingfors) and of course also for the public economy … .

Luckily a look into the internet was of some help: there is a Facebook group ”Helsinki Housing Rooms, Apartments, Sublets”, which I then joined and via which I have meanwhile an agreement with a Lebanese student who intends to come to Helsingfors in the first week of August. Being a foreigner he may appreciate the low rent, being retired myself I may think it a pleasant job to help him a bit with finding his way around, the rent will be very welcome to me, and perhaps I can even trust him to water my room plants when I go for some travel. And as he was not the only foreigner who was interested in renting my room, I even feel like recommending also to others who have a room to spare that they could consider renting it out to, e.g., foreign students. The good sides of having somebody around I was pointing out above, it is perhaps also simply a good deed, and politically one could consider it as a contribution to development aid and international understanding. Thus, IF one has a spare room, I do recommend offering it for rent (especially to foreigners and at a moderate price).