Living

Homes, housing, and everyday life

How to Find a Flat for Rent

In addition to apartments in multistorey buildings or terraced houses, there are also one-family houses for rent in Pori. Flats are usually rented unfurnished in Finland, without furniture, household appliances, and kitchenware. The flat usually has a refrigerator, stove, and oven, and some also have a freezer but no washing machine, television, or vacuum cleaner, for instance.

Price examples:

One-room flat: 250-300 eur per month
Two-room flat: 300-450 eur per month
Three-room flat: 420-550 eur per month
Please note: the price level of rented accommodation varies considerably depending on the location, condition, and level of furnishing of the flat or house.

The companies owned by the City of Pori alone have 2,000 flats for rent to offer. For rental housing procured by the City of Pori, please contact YH-asunnot Oy - Otavankatu 3, tel. +358 (0)2 621 2400, www.yhasunnot.fi/.

Another option is to rent housing on the open market. Many housing agencies have Web pages presenting the properties for rent.

Rental housing agencies include:

Vuokralukaali
Yrjönkatu 25
Tel. +358 (0)2 641 8140
www.vuokralukaali.com/

Suomen asuntotoimisto
Itsenäisyydenkatu 41 
Tel. +358 (0)2 633 8189
www.suomenasuntotoimisto.fi/

Vuokrapori
Eteläpuisto 11
Tel. +358 (0)2 637 6101

Opiskelijoiden vuokravälitys (Students’ Rental Agency)
Yrjönkatu 5
Tel. +358 (0)2 633 0646
www.ovv.com/

Sakipa
Yrjönkatu 15
Tel. +358 (0)2 6344 388
www.sakipa.fi/

Porin asuntovuokraus
Uusikoivistontie 73
Tel. +358 (0)2 635 5000
www.porinasuntovuokraus.com


The commission of real estate agencies is one month’s rent + VAT. In addition, you will probably be required to pay a security deposit, usually equal to the rent for one to three months. The deposit will be returned to you when you leave the flat if it is in impeccable condition when you move away. However, if the flat is damaged, the landlord may deduct the sum required for repairs from the deposit. The amount of rent is usually given exclusive of charges for electricity and water. Invoicing of electricity is consumption-based. The charge for water is usually fixed in multistorey-house and terraced-house apartments, approximately 10-15 eur per person.

When you have found a flat, it is advisable to draw up a rental agreement in writing. The law includes some provisions no agreement may breach. Such an agreement is not compulsory.

You must always terminate rental agreements in writing. The flat must be vacated within one month of termination, and the landlord can only terminate agreement in writing for an admissible reason.

Change of Address to the Post
The Post in Pori (Head Office)
Yrjönkatu 6, FI-28100 PORI
Tel. +358 (0)2 03 456 456
Opening hours: Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Do not forget to inform the Post of your new home address well in advance, in order to receive your mail at the correct address. When filing a notification of moving at the local registry office, you use the same form used for informing the Post of a change of address.

Notice of Arrival to the House Manager

When you move into your flat, you must submit a notice of arrival to the caretaker/building maintenance staff no later than one week after moving in. Your name will not appear on the mailbox or mail slot prior to this report. You must also let the house manager know when you are moving out of the flat. Your landlord will provide you with the house manager’s contact details.

Electricity Supply Contract

You should sign an electricity supply contract with the electricity company, preferably two weeks prior to moving into the flat, in order to have an electricity supply when you move. In Pori, you can make a contract with Pori Energy by ringing +358 (0)2 621 2050 or visiting the office at Radanvarsi 2.

Pori Energia
Radanvarsi 2, FI-28100 PORI
Tel. +358 (0)2 621 2050
Opening hours: Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
www.porienergia.fi/

Furniture for Rent

The furniture retailers Kaluste Mäkinen and Porin Vaihtokaluste in Pori will furnish your home according to your needs. They offer furniture, household appliances (coffee makers, microwave ovens, television sets, videos, washing machines, etc.), linens, and even kitchenware for hire. The flat can be furnished and decorated even before you move to Finland. Monthly invoicing is case-specific.

Kaluste Mäkinen
Juha Mäkinen
Itäpuisto 6, FI-28100 PORI
Tel. +358 (0)50 528 7509
festrent@kolumbus.fi 

Porin Vaihtokaluste
Helmentie 6 – 8, 28100 Pori
Tel. +358 (0)2 630 4300
Pasi.ylijuoni@porinvaihtokaluste.fi

Importing Removal Goods

EU citizens do not need to worry over customs formalities.
However, if you are going to bring any pets into the country, please check with your veterinarian prior to departure that the vaccinations are valid and that it is permissible to bring the animal with you to Finland.

Cleaning Services

Some of the costs of household services are tax-deductible. The costs eligible for deduction are expenses deriving from household, nursing or care tasks, and the maintenance and fundamental improvement of a residence and/or holiday residence. For further information, please contact the Tax Office.

Home cleaning services:
Porin Ykköspalvelut, tel. +358 (0)2 634 6300
HarjuSiivous Eija Launonen, tel. +358 (0)400 431 252
Siivouspalvelu Right Designing Tmi, tel. +358 (0)2 633 3949

Other Issues Related to Housing

Home insurance and other insurance
Home insurance will cover most damage occurring at home. If you live in a single family house, you must take out insurance on both the property and your household effects. If you live in a flat, insurance covering household effects will suffice.

Home insurance policies are available from insurance companies, who will help you to choose the appropriate policy. It pays to find our exactly what the home insurance will cover in your flat.

You should also check whether any accident insurance or life insurance policies taken out in your home country are valid in Finland.


Smoke detectors

Every household in Finland must be equipped with a smoke detector, by law. You should make sure that the smoke detector works. It is up to the resident to change the battery of the smoke detector approximately once a year. Home insurance will not cover fire damage if the smoke detector is not working.

Household appliances

In rental apartments, the resident is responsible for care of the household appliances: the refrigerator, freezer, stove, range hood, and washing machine. You should also read carefully the instructions for care of a parquet floor and ceramic stove, if applicable. The resident has to buy and change electric lamps. The house manager’s duties in such rental properties include maintenance tasks such as replacing a broken windowpane, clearance of snow in wintertime, and in some housing companies also lawn-mowing and other gardening tasks. In single-family houses, the residents perform all these tasks themselves.

Waste management and sorting of waste

Waste must be placed in a closed bag in designated containers. Any toxic substances and electrical and electronic scrap are hazardous waste, which cannot be deposited in the waste containers of housing corporations. The container for biological waste (brown or green waste bin) is for food waste, and you must not deposit any plastic or other non-food waste in such a container. You should take only newspapers and advertisements to the containers for paper waste, no other waste, including plastic wrapping material. Any waste left about outside will attract birds and other animals to the property, and animals carry many diseases. Therefore, it is essential to deposit all waste in the specific containers designated for it.

The television fee

If you have a television set in use, you have to pay a television fee for using it. One fee per household will suffice. Television inspectors perform inspections all over the country to check whether people have paid the television fee. According to the law, the inspectors have the right to impose a fine for watching television without paying the fee, and they may even confiscate your television set if you do not pay it.

You can notify the relevant personnel of using a television set by telephone (+358 9 613 161) or via the Internet, at www.tv-maksu.fi. Notification forms are available at post offices, too.

Finland has the lowest television licence fee of all the Nordic countries: the cost amounts to approximately €0.50 a day. Do not forget to stop paying the licence fee when you move away from Finland.

Satellite Television

If you wish to install a satellite dish, you need to obtain permission from the house manager.

Balconies

The balcony is intended for the resident to spend time in, and it is forbidden to cook or store food on the balcony.

Common facilities of apartment houses

Apartment houses have common facilities for the use of residents. In most housing associations, you need to book time in advance for using the washing machines, for instance, and also use of the sauna is subject to advance booking. A block of flats usually has storage space in which each resident may store personal belongings. Often there is a car park in the yard area for the use of residents, and you can rent space for your car there by signing a contract with the house manager.

Every house has regulations governing issues on living together in the house, with provisions including the times of locking up the front door, where and when to air your carpets, and at which times the house has to be quiet. The regulations may also include instructions on how to supervise pets. It may also be forbidden to drive a car in the yard or wash it there.

Please read the regulations of your building. You can usually find them in the corridor near the front door.

Bank Accounts

Wages are always paid into a bank account. Therefore, you will need a Finnish bank account. When opening an account, you will need a passport or other official identification. Examine the service range of various banks, as – for instance – there are several options for paying bills: at the bank, using an automatic payment machine, via the telephone, or on the Internet. Usually the bank issues a cash card with the bank account, enabling you to withdraw money from cash dispensers and pay bills yourself. Cheques cannot be used for payment in Finland. Of the credit cards, Visa, American Express, and MasterCard are acceptable as payment methods almost everywhere.

Banks have English-speaking personnel.

Banks in Pori include:
Porin seudun Osuuspankki, Yrjönkatu 22, tel. +358 (0)2 62411
Nordea, Yrjönkatu 19, tel. +358 (0)2 622 2100
Sampo Pankki, Yrjönkatu 10, tel. +358 (0)10 512 0870
Handelsbanken, Yrjönkatu 15, tel. +358 (0)10 444 5220
Huittisten Säästöpankki, Pohjoiskauppatori 3, tel. +358 (0)2 529 8101

Telephone and Telephone Number, Internet Connection

You should get yourself a telephone and telephone number as soon as possible, as in Finland the telephone is an essential contact method and almost all Finns have a mobile phone.

Prices of mobile phones vary, as do those of mobile phone calls. Calls on the fixed line telephone network are usually cheaper than those on the mobile phone network, but the monthly fees are higher.

You can get a fixed-line connection and telephone from, for instance:
Porin Puhelinpiste
Itäpuisto 3, FI-28100 PORI
Tel. +358 (0)2 620 2320

You can also buy a mobile phone and subscription and an Internet connection at the same outlet.

Other contacts for buying a mobile phone, mobile phone subscription, and Internet connection:

TeleRing 
Antinkatu 11, FI-28100 PORI
Tel. +358 (0)20 407 4621

UTU Kodintekniikka
Pohjoiskauppatori 1, FI-28100 PORI
Tel. +358 (0)2 550 800

Television, Radio, Newspapers

The four national television channels in Finland broadcast a lot of international productions, and the cable and digital television media show dozens of international channels. All radio stations in Pori are Finnish-speaking only. Pori’s daily newspaper, Satakunnan Kansa, and the weekly free papers are all in Finnish only. Bookstores and newsagents sell foreign newspapers and magazines, and the daily Helsingin Sanomat publishes every day an English summary of the news of the day on the Internet: www.hs.fi/english/.

Grocery Shops, Alko

Shops are usually open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Grocery shops and supermarkets are open on weekdays until 9 p.m. and until 6 p.m. on Saturdays. The small grocery shops are open on Sundays, too – all year (from 12 noon to 6 p.m.). Moreover, all shops are allowed to be open on Sundays in summertime and also in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Please note! On ecclesiastical holidays, the shops are all closed, including days like New Year’s Day (1 Jan), Twelfth Night/Epiphany (6 Jan), Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, May Day (1 May), Ascension Day, Midsummer Day, Finland’s Independence Day (6 Dec), Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. On the day preceding a holiday, there are usually changes in the opening hours.

There are both small special stores and large hypermarkets in central Pori and close to the centre. For instance, on the pedestrian street there are shopping centres, boutiques, gift shops, cafés, and a variety of other services. In Finland, people buy almost all foodstuffs at markets; we have specialists such as butcher’s shops and greengrocers only in market halls and marketplaces.

The Pori Marketplace and Market Hall are simply a must, as the latter attracts customers with the myriad of items on offer, in keeping with the seasons. On weekdays, the marketplace is open from 7 a.m., and in summertime there are sellers in the evenings, too. The Market Hall, full of atmosphere, offers produce ranging from fresh fish and deli sausages to exotic spices.

The grocery outlet Lidl, very close to the centre, at Paanakedonkatu 10, will delight those from Central Europe in particular with its product range familiar from there.

Finnish grocery outlets sell only those alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content below 4.7 per cent, such as beer and cider. All stronger alcoholic beverages are sold at Alko only.

Food

Finnish cuisine is a mixture of the Eastern and Western tradition, but there are also many traditional dishes native to Finland. Finns appreciate domestic produce – for instance, all bread is made mostly of Finnish grains. Dark rye bread is the favourite of Finns, a healthy, low-calorie, nutritious alternative to white bread. The saying in Finland goes ‘Bread will keep a man going’.

Traditional Finnish favourites include stuffed cabbage rolls, fish soup, pea soup, and meatballs. Finns eat plenty of fish, including whitefish, salmon, and trout – as much as 30 kg per person a year, while the corresponding figure for Central Europe is only 10 kg.

International food culture has become an integral part of Finnish cooking, too; thus, the shops provide a wide variety of ingredients. Restaurant menus as well reflect international trends.

Beverages

In Finland, the water is among the cleanest in Europe, and tap water is potable. With home meals, you usually drink water, milk, sour milk, or juice, while wine is mostly served on weekends and on festive occasions.

While in Finland, you cannot forget coffee. Finns drink a lot of coffee – actually, they are the most eager coffee consumers in the world. Almost all cafés also serve special coffees such as cappuccino and latte.

The average Finn consumes 8 litres of wine, 70 litres of beer, 140 litres of milk, and 160 litres of coffee per year. In Finland, wines and strong alcoholic beverages are sold only in the state-owned Alko shops. The variety is good.

Finnish beer is appreciated worldwide as a high-quality product. It is a lager by colour, but the taste is smooth, stronger than that of many other lagers.

Restaurants

The variety of restaurants in Pori will satisfy all tastes. For a listing of restaurants, please see www.pori.fi/english/tourism/restaurants.html

The prices in Finland are inclusive of tips, in restaurants, taxis, cafés, etc.

Seasons

The winter season lasts from November to March, spring from March to May, summer from June to August, and autumn from September to October.

Winter in Finland lasts roughly four months in the southern parts of the country but up to six months in the north. Winter is dark, and the light portion of the day is short, a couple of hours at its shortest – even in the south.

Snow comes and goes, while the temperature varies between 0 °C and -15 °C, and the roads are slippery at times. Freezing or not, snowing or not, people go to work and school in Finland, regardless of the weather. Please note! Even though the winters are cold, thanks to the Gulf Stream they are approximately 6 °C warmer than in other parts of the globe at corresponding latitudes.

Coldness and freezing are not a matter of temperature but of wearing the right clothing. When you dress warmly enough, winter in Finland is not cold. A pair of long johns or pantyhose, a woollen shirt, a warm quilted jacket or one filled with down, a proper woollen cap or hat, gloves, and a scarf, plus warm shoes will keep you warm enough outdoors. Flats are well insulated and heated, so you will not need to freeze indoors, either.

Spring always comes suddenly after the long winter: the snow melts away, days get longer and warmer – and just when you thought summer was here, winter can strike back: the temperature plummets and it can even snow.

In summer, it stays light for a long time, even at night, and at midsummer the sun will not set at all. It can be hard to get used to sleeping when it is so light. Summer temperatures vary between 15 °C and 30 °C – it can be stiflingly hot today, and raining cats and dogs tomorrow. However, summers in Finland are usually warm and it does not usually rain much.

The summer holiday month in Finland is July. People move to summer cottages then, or they travel even further away.

Autumn is the rainiest and darkest time of the year. Nature and trees change in the autumn, as nature takes on the autumn tints of brown, red, and various shades of yellow. Many Finns go picking berries (blackberries, lingonberries) and mushrooms in the forests. People moving about in nature in Finland have a public right of access, so-called everyman’s right, which means that you can travel through the forest, terrain, and country owned by others without seeking permission and pick various things, including berries and mushrooms. However, you are not allowed to enter anyone’s yard uninvited.

Holidays

Holidays are significant in Finland. Even though Finns are not very religious, many important holidays are related to religion.

Easter: Easter is the time of new grass sown on plates indoors as decoration, Easter eggs, and small witches, with the essential dishes including lamb steak, Finnish Easter pudding, and the pasha dessert.

May Day (1 May): May Day is the celebration of spring, students, and workers, and everyone parties the day away enthusiastically.

Midsummer: Midsummer is celebrated on the Friday and Saturday between the 20th and 26th of June. The day is at its longest at midsummer, and the sun never sets. Midsummer Day is also celebrated to honour St. John the Baptist. People usually celebrate the Midsummer holiday in the countryside, at summer cottages, or at music festivals, and people burn bonfires on the Friday night.

Independence Day (6 December): Finland gained independence on 6 December 1917, and the day is still celebrated with speeches and concerts. Also, people take candles to the graves of their loved ones. On Independence Day, the President of the Republic of Finland hosts a festive reception for politicians and other members of the upper crust of society. Half of the people in Finland follow the party on television.

Christmas (24–26 December): Christmas is celebrated at the darkest and coldest time of the year. The Christmas party season begins a month before the holiday itself, and parties are usually arranged at workplaces or among other colleagues and hobby groups. Christmas is a family holiday, celebrated very traditionally: Christmas music, a sauna bath, dinner, and Father Christmas bringing presents on Christmas Eve. Many people take candles to the graves of their loved ones, friends and relatives alike.

New Year (31 December): Speeches, fireworks, New Year’s resolutions…

The Sauna

You cannot talk about Finnish culture without mentioning the sauna, which is an essential part of the Finnish way of life. The sauna is the peak of Finnish hospitality, but many foreigners think it awkward to bathe in the sauna and go naked. If you feel the sauna is a bit too much for you, you can politely say no or enjoy a sauna while wrapped in a towel. Also, the heat may come as a surprise, as the temperature in a Finnish sauna is normally 70–90 °C, however, some people may enjoy the heat at even 110 °C. Sauna is beneficial for the mind and body alike.