Who can apply?

POAS’s rental apartments are intended for students of post-primary educational institutions in Tampere and Pirkanmaa region as well as working people under the age of 30. Some of our apartments are for students only. These housing complexes are marked in our housing selection. If you are applying for an apartment together with another applicant, only one applicant must meet the tenant criteria (for example, in housing complexes intended for students only, only one applicant must be a student).

Working people:

To be eligible for our apartments, you must

• be under the age of 30 in the beginning of the tenancy
• have a valid employment contract.

You can apply for an apartment, even if the employment contract is for a fixed period, and the employment does not have to be full-time. Depending on the duration of the fixed-term employment contract, the rental agreement may be for a fixed term. Your workplace does not have to locate in Pirkanmaa region.

Students:

If you are a student, you are eligible to apply if your studies are

• full-time studies
• leading to a degree
• approved for the payment of Kela’s study allowance
• in an educational institution located in Pirkanmaa region, such as: Tampere University, Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK), Tredu, Sasky, high schools, Tampere Adult Education Centre (TAKK) and Police University College (POLAMK).

If you are a doctoral student (PhD), you can apply for apartments intended for working people under the age of 30. Please note, that studies preparing for basic degrees, apprentice studies, other studies that Kela does not pay a study allowance for, and studies aimed at adults generally do not entitle you to apply for our apartments, unless you are also a working person under 30 years of age. Also, online studies will not be counted, if the educational institution is not located in Pirkanmaa.

Before applying

All our apartments are applied for with an electronic housing application. Tenants to immediately available apartments are selected in the same way as to all our apartments, and immediately available apartments are also applied by the same housing application. Therefore, we recommend choosing also other than immediately available apartments to your application.

POAS does not have queues or waiting lists. We consider the urgency and the reason for the need of an apartment when selecting tenants. Please familiarize yourself with our housing complexes carefully before applying! Some of our housing complexes are intended for students, so please apply only for apartments for which you meet the tenant criteria (see the section Students above).

If you reject an offered apartment that matches your apartment application, it will decrease your chances of receiving a new apartment offer in the future.

In your application, please provide the exact dates when your need for housing will begin and when you will need to move out of your current apartment at the latest.

The appendices

If possible, please add the necessary appendices already when submitting the housing application. This will speed up the processing of your housing application. The appendices must be provided, at the latest, before the rental agreement is signed.

Please note that the appendices must be provided to conclude the rental agreement!

Appendices required from an employed applicant:

• The latest wage slip
• Valid employment contract

From students, one of the following appendices is accepted as a study sertificate:

• Study certificate provided by the educational institution, which is a maximum of 3 months old.
• Screenshot of the study certificate from Studyinfo application system or a shared link showing the right to study.
• Letter of approval from the educational institution if the studies has not yet begun
• Kela’s valid student allowance decision, which shows the name of the student and the educational institution
• Student card with the name of the student, the name of the educational institution as well as a valid academic year sticker. The student card must be issued by a student union or a student association. (A student card is accepted only at the application stage, in addition one of the other appendices mentioned above will be required before signing the rental agreement).

Submitting the application

Submit the housing application electronically. After the application is submitted, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to edit your application. Create a username and password to the application system, and you can add appendices, edit the information, and renew your application if needed. If you are unable to login to the application system, changes can also be notified to our customer service either by e-mail or telephone.

The housing application is valid for three (3) months. The applicant is responsible for the accuracy and validity of the information provided in the application. So remember to update your application on time! If your situation changes, please update your application. Please note that submitting a completely new application will automatically expire your previous housing application. If you no longer need an apartment, please delete your application.

Tenant selection and apartment offer

We don’t have queues or waiting lists. Tenant selections to all our apartments, including immediately available ones, are made considering each applicant’s urgency and need for an apartment individually. Two-bedroom-apartments are rented for households with a minimum of two people. We also consider the asset limits of ARA apartments. The number of vacant apartments varies depending on the number of terminated rental agreements and tenants moving out.

We check every applicant’s credit history before offering an apartment. In the case of a minor applicant, the credit history of a legal guardian is checked. A clean credit record is not necessarily required to get an apartment, but the situation is considered case-by-case.

We will not contact all applicants but will contact you if we can provide you an apartment. Apartment offers are always sent by e-mail. Once you have received an apartment offer, you can visit the offered apartment according to the instructions before accepting the offer. The offer is valid for a limited time stated in the offer.

Accepting an apartment offer

Please let us know by the end of the validity period of the apartment offer whether you accept or reject the offer. Contact information can be found in the offer.

When you accept the apartment offer, please provide us the exact date, when you wish to start the rental agreement. If the apartment is vacant, the agreement can begin flexibly on weekdays. You must also provide the necessary appendices to conclude the agreement if you have not included those in your application before (see the section Appendices above).

The obligation to pay rent starts on the same day your rental agreement begins. After signing the agreement, the start date is binding. Please note that the keys of the apartment will not be handed over before the start date of the agreement.

If you reject the apartment offer, please let us know at the same time, whether you want to delete or edit your application. If you wish to cancel the signed rental agreement before it starts, the following charges occur:

• cancellation less than 1 month before the start date of the agreement: charged according to normal termination policy
• cancellation at least 1 month before the start date of the agreement: charge of 50 % of the monthly rent
• cancellation at least 2 months or more before the start of the contract: charge of 50 €

Security deposit

Amount of security deposit depends on the size of the apartment:

• room in a shared apartment 200€
• studios and one-bedroom apartments 300€
• two-bedroom apartments 450€

Security deposit is paid to POAS’s bank account before your rental agreement begins. The deposit is paid according to an invoice you will get from POAS. Receipt of the paid deposit must be presented when picking up the keys. The keys will not be handed over if there is no proof that the deposit has been paid.

Please note that we only accept security deposits paid in cash to our account. We do not accept Kela’s or social services’ commitments, assistance vouchers or financial guarantees.