Eviction

The most common reason for eviction is unpaid rent, but there are other grounds as well, such as disturbing behaviour of the lessee. A person living in an owner-occupied apartment can also be evicted if the maintenance charges have not been paid.

Before an eviction can be implemented, the lessor must have an eviction decision from a district court and then apply for enforcement of the decision from the National Enforcement Authority.

Exhortation to move

When a district court eviction decision has been issued and the lessor has applied for enforcement, the National Enforcement Authority will send an exhortation to move to the evictee. The exhortation includes the due date by which the evictee must move out of the apartment. The due date is usually set to two to three weeks from the date on which the exhortation to move is sent.

The National Enforcement Authority may postpone the due date on the request of the evictee, if the postponement will not cause any significant harm to the lessor.

Implementing an eviction and property of the evictee

If the evictee does not voluntarily vacate the apartment by the due date, the National Enforcement Authority will implement the eviction. In this case, the evictee must vacate the apartment and any property in the apartment will also be removed. If there is property in the apartment that the National Enforcement Authority deems to have value for the purposes of the enforcement, the property will be collected and distrained. Any property with only minor value will be disposed of.

The National Enforcement Authority will draw up a report of the eviction, which includes information on what was done with any distrained property and how long the property will be stored. The distrained property will be sold if the evictee does not collect it by the given deadline. Personal property can be collected free of charge.

The costs of the eviction are collected from the evictee.

A lessor may never implement an eviction independently or change the locks of the apartment, for example.

Eviction from an owned apartment

If the owner of an apartment does not pay the maintenance charges, the housing company can take control of the apartment for up to three years. This must be decided in the housing company’s general meeting.

After a general meeting decision, the housing company must seek confirmation of the decision from a district court. After the decision has been confirmed, the housing company can request the National Enforcement Authority to implement the eviction. More information on eviction (ulosottolaitos.fi).