Residents' Guide
Residents' Guide of Joensuun Kodit Oy print here
Joensuun Kodit Oy is a real estate company fully owned by the city. The company owns over 4600 flats in inner city and other areas in North Karelia.
The company uses purchased services in its functioning; building management, selection of inhabitants, property management and construction services are acquired from companies in the respective fields.
This guide consists of essential information and useful instructions for daily living. The guide includes pertinent information on tenancy agreement and the rights and obligations of the tenant to mention but a few. Contact information of personnel and companies taking care of the tenant's matters are found assembled at the end of the guide.
1. Tenancy Agreement and Moving in
1.1 Tenancy Agreement and Paying the Deposit
The tenancy agreement will be signed in the building management office prior to moving in the flat. Two copies of the agreement will be made, one for the lessor and the other for the tenant. The tenancy agreement covers terms and conditions as defined in the Act on Residential Leases (481/95). The rental agreement can be made for the time being or for a fixed-term specified in the agreement.
The tenant must deliver a lease deposit equivalent to one (1) month's rent to the lessor before the tenancy agreement is signed.
1.2 Inspection of Flat
The house maintenance will inspect the flat when the previous tenant has moved out. If the new tenant detects any faulties or defects in the flat afterwards, he/she should report them to the house maintenance immediately.
1.3 Keys
The house maintenance will hand over the keys to the tenant in return for the tenancy agreement. The tenant is responsible for all the keys given to him/her. The lessor has the right to require compensation for all the costs caused by lost keys.
The fee for opening the door during office hours 07.00-15.00 on working days is 10€ per time and 30€ per time on other times and weekends. The fee must be paid in connection with the next rental payment.
1.4 Electrical Contracting and Reserving a Parking Space and Sauna Turn
An electrical contract has to be made four (4) days prior to moving at the latest. Please consider the following suppliers of electricity: Fortum Oyj, phone: 0200 19000 or Pohjois-Karjalan Sähkö Oy, Rantakatu 29, Joensuu, phone: 013 2663 100.
PLEASE NOTE! Some renovated housing targets have an electrically powered under floor heating, which is regarded as additional comfort. The consumption of this appliance will be measured by the tenants own electricity meter.
The reservation and termination of parking spaces takes place in the house management agency or online. The parking space key is to be left in the flat along with the other keys when moving out. Should the parking space key be lost, a new key can be acquired from the maintenance company in return for compensation. The car heating box must be locked at all times. When the car is not heated, the heating cable must be unplugged from the box. House maintenance will remove any loose cables, which can be retrieved in return for compensation from house maintenance. The use of compartment heater is prohibited.
The house maintenance takes care of sauna turn reservations. Using the sauna is possible on Fridays and Saturdays only. Public holidays do not have an effect on sauna days. The sauna fee 7€/month is paid in connection with the rental payment. If the fee is not included in the reference bank transfer, the tenant has to add it there. The sauna turns take place on a regular basis, so the fees must be paid even if the sauna turn was not used some week.
2. Tenant's Rights and Obligations
2.1 Rental Payment
The due date of rental payment is the fifth (5th) day of each month as defined in the rental agreement. The rent is to be paid according to the bank account transfer forms provided to the tenant. Indicating the reference number of the bill assures the quickest deliverance possible of the payment. A delayed rental payment will cause collection of interest on arrears from the tenant.
It is in the interest of the tenant and the housing company that each tenant takes care of his/her rental and other payments on time. Defaults and delays in payments will cause increases in other tenants' rental payments.
The company will engage in recovery actions due to rental payment defaults. Eviction and recovery judgments will be searched from the magistrate's court, and the cost of the procedure along with possible interest on arrears will be charged from the tenant. The judgment will be forwarded to the city bailiff to execute eviction and recovery procedures and the tenant will be charged with any costs these actions may cause as well.
The court proceedings may result in a payment default in the tenants’ credit information in addition to loss of flat.
Please note!
If you have difficulties in paying the rent, please contact immediately the rent secretaries; p. (013) 337 7822, vuokravalvonta@joensuunelli.fi. They will try to find a solution to the situation with you and prevent it from becoming a problem.
2.2 Using and Taking care of the Flat
The tenant has an obligation to take good care of the flat.
Each flat is equipped with "Instructions of Use" distributed by the housing company. If there are no such instructions in your flat, please contact the house management office to be delivered the instructions.
A written permission must be requested from Joensuun Kodit Oy or a technical building manager to do any repairs or alteration works in the flat.
Please read through the Maintenance responsibility table.
The tenant is responsible of notifying the house maintenance of any damages or faulties to the flat immediately, such as oozing leaks, water leaks or malfunctioning electric appliances. This is to avoid any greater damage. If the house maintenance company does not react to the notification, please contact the house management office.
It should be noted that the tenant may be liable to cover the damages if he/she has caused them to the flat or structures of the real-estate by his/her own carelessness.
The company has insured the building and any closely connected fixed structures. However, the tenants' belongings are not covered by the company's real-estate insurance and should be insured with the tenant's privately acquired home insurance instead.
The tenant is responsible for acquiring a fire detector and any service operations and battery changes.
Barbecuing on the balcony is prohibited.
3. Special Situations
3.1 Disturbances
If the tenant does not follow the regulations and thus disturbs other tenants, an attempt should first be made to discuss the issue with the tenant causing disturbance. However, if the discussion does not prove useful or it is not possible, the tenant should make a written complaint with reasoning and give it to the building manager or house maintenance.
In the event of a severe disturbance, the tenant should request for executive assistance directly from the police and report the situation to the building manager or house maintenance.
Regulations have been established to promote comfort, health and safety. It is in the common interest of tenants to follow the regulations.
3.2 Reporting an Empty Flat and Temporary Surrender of Tenure
If the flat is left empty for a longer period of time, it should be reported to the building manager.
The tenant may not surrender the flat to be used in its entirety by a third party without the company's permission. If the tenant wishes to surrender the flat temporarily to a third party for a good reason such as working, studying etc., he/she must request the company permission in writing to do so. The permission can be granted for two (2) years at the most.
4. Residents' Management
The residents' and the owner's collective management also known as the residents' democracy aims to give the tenants influence and decision power over matters concerning their residence. The objective is to contribute to comfort of living as well as property maintenance and care.
The tenant is the initiator of all activities. The residents' meeting is summoned once a year and when necessary. The regular residents' meeting chooses a residents' committee or a contact person and discusses matters related to their own housing target. However, it is also possible to cooperate with the neighbouring housing target. The residents' meeting can nominate candidates for board of directors of Joensuun Kodit Oy.
When necessary, the residents' committee will be summoned to discuss matters of the housing target such as budget, repairs and statements.
The chairpersons of the residents' committees form a cooperative unit that operates between the residents’ committees and the board of directors of the company. This unit assembles two or three times a year to discuss the budget and strategic issues, for instance. The cooperative unit makes a proposal for the candidates for resident members of the company's Board of Directors.
STRUCTURE OF THE RESIDENTS’ MANAGEMENT
RESIDENTS
RESIDENTS’ MEETINGS (the objective is that the building manager or the residents’ committee summons the residents’ meeting to assemble at least once a year)
RESIDENTS’ COMMITTEES (summoned when necessary)
THE COOPERATIVE UNIT OF THE RESIDENTS’ COMMITTEES
CHAIRPERSONS (assembles 2-3 times a year)
BOARD OF DIRECTORS (assembles when necessary, usually 8-10 times a year)
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (once a year)
5. Termination of Tenancy and Moving Out
Tenancy is terminated when a lease termination notice is served, the agreement is rescinded, or a fixed-term rental agreement expires. The period of notice of a rental agreement that is valid for the time being is one (1) calendar month. The period of notice is considered begun at the end of the month during which the tenant has served the lease termination notice and reported it to the building management office.
The tenant moving out must perform a final cleaning in the flat. The flat must be emptied and tidied up by the date to which the tenant has indicated the surrender of the flat. The tenant is asked to report the time of surrender of the flat in connection with the serving of lease termination.
All keys must be left in the flat.
5.1 Returning the Lease Deposit
The lease deposit will be returned to the tenant provided that the following requirements are met:
-the tenant has performed a final cleaning in the flat
-the tenant has left all keys in the flat
-the final inspection of the flat has been carried out without any remarks
-the tenant has no unpaid rental arrears or unfulfilled obligations
Otherwise the lease deposit may be deducted partially or entirely to compensate for the receivables of the company without hearing the tenant.
6. Principles of Rent Determination
Joensuun Kodit Oy is a so called non-profit-making corporation. It operates at cost as defined in the Act on the Use, Assignment and Redemption of State-Subsidized (ARAVA) Rental Dwellings and Buildings (1190/93).
No more rental payments are collected than what is needed, along with other profits, to cover for costs of real-estate financing and proper maintenance.
The rental payment is determined by capital and maintenance costs. For example, debt interests, instalments, annual fees and depreciation allowance are examples of capital costs. On the contrary, costs such as electricity, water and waste water, heating, waste management, repair and maintenance, exterior maintenance services, upkeep of outdoor areas, insurances, and to small extent resident activities, are instances of maintenance costs. Management expenses of maintenance costs consist of building management and general management, reserves for repairs, rents on land and real-estate taxation, to mention but a few.
Capital expenditures are divided evenly between all the housing companies, whereas maintenance costs are building-specific.
In principle, the rental level per m² varies regionally so that the closer the housing target is to the city centre, the higher the relative rental level is valued per m². Flat-wise the relative rental level is valued highest in studios and lowest in large family residences.
The tenant will be informed in writing about changes in rental payments and related clarifications. The new rent will come into effect in two months’ time at the earliest, starting from the beginning of the month following the point in time Joensuun Kodit Oy has announced the change.