Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa have formed a joint application area since the beginning of the system. Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Mäntsälä, Sipoo, Tuusula and Vihti joined the application area on 1 January 2015. Kerava joined the application area on 1 January 2016 and Porvoo on 1 July 2017.
Queue numbers applied for after 1 January 2015 (181630 or higher) can be used to apply for a dwelling in any municipality in the joint application area. Any queue number applied for before the joint application area system is only valid in the municipality or application area where it was applied for.
Once you have received your queue number, explore the companies owning right-of-occupancy dwellings and apply for them on the companies' websites. You must submit a separate housing application for each company.
Apply for or check your queue number
You will need a queue number to apply for a right-of-occupancy dwelling. You can apply for a queue number in three different ways: in our electronic service, with an online form or with a printed form.
In the electronic service, you can apply for a new queue number or check your existing queue numbers. You will receive notice of the receipt of your application in the right-of-occupancy system to your e-services folder as well as a notification when your new queue number is sent to your folder.
You will receive an e-mail notification about the activity in your e-services folder. Please note that the number in the e-mail notification and in the end of the application title is the case number of the e-services folder, not the queue number for the right-of-occupancy.
You can view your queue numbers in the e-services folder by opening your application details. This will display all your valid queue numbers.
Processing time
You will receive your queue number the next working day.
Validity period
Your queue number is valid until 31 December 2023, if the number has not been used before that.
Queue number application, electronic form
Queue number application for right-of-occupancy apartments, e-service
mobile call charge / local network charge
More detailed instructions for applying for a right-of-occupancy dwelling
You need a queue number to apply for a right-of-occupancy dwelling.
You can apply for a queue number via electronic services. In order to use the e-services, you need to have online banking credentials. You will receive notice of your queue number to your e-services folder.
You can also apply for a queue number with an online form (in Finnish), in which case you will not need online banking credentials. Your queue number will be sent to the e-mail address you have provided on the form. In order to view your valid queue numbers, enter your personal identity number and click on the ‘Verify personal identity number’ button.
You can also apply for a queue number by printing out an application form (pdf in Finnish), filling it out and submitting it to the address indicated on the form.
The current queue numbers are valid until 31 December 2023 due to the new Right-of-Occupancy Housing Act.
Until then, your queue number will remain valid until you have signed a right-of-occupancy agreement and paid the right-of-occupancy fee.
You will lose your queue number if you decline a housing offer you have already accepted for a third time after the company has reserved the dwelling for you and has sent a proposal of the acceptance of your right-of-occupancy to the city and the city has made a decision of approval on this. You will also be considered to have declined the offer if the company has reserved the dwelling for you and you ignore their requests to contact them or fail to provide them with the requested additional statements. If you lose your queue number, you can apply for a new one.
Please fill in your application carefully, since it cannot be edited afterwards.
When applying for a queue number, select the municipality in which you are primarily applying for housing. However, you can also apply for housing in other municipalities.
Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa have formed a joint application area since the implementation of the system. Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Mäntsälä, Sipoo, Tuusula and Vihti joined the joint application area on 1 January 2015. Kerava joined the joint application area on 1 January 2016 and Porvoo on 1 July 2017.
Queue numbers applied for after 1 January 2015 (181630 or higher) can be used to apply for a dwelling in any municipality in the joint application area. Any queue number applied for before the joint application area system is only valid in the municipality or application area in which it was applied for.
Once you have received your queue number, explore the companies owning right-of-occupancy dwellings and apply for a dwelling on the companies’ websites (check the list of right-of-occupancy companies). You cannot apply for housing in several companies with the same application, so please fill in and submit a separate housing application for each company.
Once you have submitted your application to a right-of-occupancy housing company, please stand by and wait for a housing offer. If you are offered a dwelling and you are interested in it, you can accept the offer without being bound to purchase it. At this point, you will also have the opportunity to visit the dwelling offered. If you have the lowest queue number among the applicants interested, the company will contact you and reserve the dwelling for you.
The right-of-occupancy company will ask you to submit a statement of your assets (pdf) along with its annexes. The City of Helsinki will review your queue number and assets, if you are under 55 years old, and accept you as a recipient of a right-of-occupancy dwelling.
Sign the agreement with the right-of-occupancy company. A right-of-occupancy fee must be paid for the right-of-occupancy dwelling. In addition to this fee, you will also pay a monthly residence charge, similar to rent.
You can live in a right-of-occupancy dwelling for as long as you like. The period of notice for a right-of-occupancy dwelling is three months. When you give up your dwelling, you will be refunded your original right-of-occupancy fee, adjusted by the building cost index.