Welcome to Helas

Helsingin Seudun Asumisoikeusyhdistys (Helas is a Helsinki metropolitan area based society (established 1995) for offering right-of-occupancy housing. Right-of-occupancy housing is a mix between rental and owner-occupied housing. Right-of-occupancy housing is built with State subsidy. Residents of right-of-occupancy housing pay a right-of-occupancy fee, which is 15 percent of the original purchase price of the unit. In addition, residents pay a management fee, which is comparable to rent.

Residents are entitled to stay in right-of-occupancy housing for as long as they wish. When they give up a unit, they are paid back the right-of-occupancy fee that they paid for the unit added with a sum calculated according to the construction cost index.
All people aged 18 or older are entitled to apply for right-of-occupancy housing if they do not own an adequate owner-occupied home in the area and do not have the means to purchase one. The restriction concerning means to purchase owner-occupied housing does not apply to people aged 55 and older. The Helsinki region (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Mäntsälä, Sipoo, Tuusula, Vihti, Kerava) form one right-of-occupancy housing area.

Here is step-by-step guide for people, who want to apply for a right-of-occupancy housing via HELAS

1. Right-of-occupancy queue number

First you need a right-of-occupancy queue number to be able to apply for an apartment within Helas. You can apply for a queue number through an electronic service. Your online bank access codes will be required as authentication. Applicants can use the service to view their existing right-of-occupancy queue number(s) and/or apply for a new queue number. Users receive notification of any events in the transaction folder at the e-mail address they have submitted. The eService also includes contact information for developers.

You can also submit queue number application without using your online bank access codes. In that case, however, information on the progress of the application is not shown. During the checking of the personal identity code, a message will be displayed on the info screen about available sequential numbers retrieved earlier.The queue number will be sent to your e-mail.

The joint application area of Helsinki region (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Mäntsälä, Sipoo, Tuusula, Vihti) casts lots for queue numbers once a week. Applicants will receive a number within two weeks. For more information, please contact the housing secretaries of city of Helsinki at 9am–3pm, tel. (09) 310 13032.

2. Filling and sending the application form

Then you need to send an application form to the HELAS manager. You can find the Application Form here.
Fill in the form carefully (only partially filled forms will be deleted) and mail it to Colliers, Ratamestarinkatu 7 A, 00520 Helsinki (you can write above the address the text “Asuntohakemus / Helas”) or with e-mail to asiakaspalvelu@colliers.fi.

3. Waiting, waiting… and then

When an apartment according to your interest becomes available, you will be contacted (be sure that your contact information is up-to-date). If you accept the offer, you are in the next phase, selecting of the next resident. If there are more than one applicant, the one with the smallest queue number will be selected. This solution must then be confirmed by the city where the apartment is located (Espoo, Helsinki, Vantaa or Vihti). The final act is the signing of the agreement. All this will be taken care of by the manager at Colliers.

If you don’t need a HELAS apartment anymore

If your need for an apartment vanishes, please contact the Colliers manager asiakaspalvelu(at)colliers.fi.