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RENTING IN NORWAY

The things that landlords in Norway can and cannot ask tenants

Norway’s rental laws make most things pretty clear, and there are many requests landlords can make, but there are also plenty of things they can't ask you.

Published: 10 September 2024 15:56 CEST
Pictured is Ålesund.
There are a number of things that landlords cannot ask tennants in Norway. Pictured is Ålesund. Photo by Robert Noreiko on Unsplash

Cannot ask: Anything that could lead to discrimination

The country’s rental rules come with rules against the discrimination of tenants. Therefore, they cannot ask for anything that could lead them to be discriminated against on the grounds of gender, pregnancy, ethnicity, religion, outlook on life, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or age.

If they disclose that they have chosen not to rent to you based on these grounds, they have broken the law.

Can ask: For references

Landlords looking to assess a tenant’s reliability can ask for references. This will give them peace of mind that the person they are renting to is responsible, respectful, and pays their rent on time.

They can also ask potential tenants to attend viewings. If a landlord selects a tenant with better references or who attended a viewing over you, then they haven’t done anything wrong—even if you asked first.

Cannot ask: For a credit check

It has become more common for tenants to bring credit checks to viewings to give prospective landlords peace of mind – however, a landlord cannot require one from a tenant to rent the home.

Cannot ask: You do not have guests

When a property or room is rented out, the tenant has exclusive use of that area. Essentially, this means they cannot decide who is allowed to visit, how often they visit, or for how long they visit.

This means that landlords cannot ask you to limit visits or prohibit certain visitors from coming.

However, they can request you not have visitors or put in certain conditions if there are safety concerns or the guests cause significant disruption or if there is a risk of overcrowding.

Cannot ask: To pay more rent for having more visitors over

Under the Norwegian Tenancy Act, tenants have the right to have their spouse or cohabitant/partner, as well as directly related kin (either their own or that of their spouse/cohabitant) and foster children join their household.

That means you have the right to, for example, have your partner move in with you without the landlord being able to refuse and without changing the rent for that reason.

If your rental agreement means you are charged for bills based on consumption, then they may ask you to contribute more in utilities.

However, landlords cannot put up the rent if you have lots of visitors or if you have somebody move in with you.

READ MORE: Can my Norwegian landlord decide how often I have guests and visitors?

Can ask: For a large deposit

Landlords are legally allowed to request a deposit equivalent to six months’ rent – which can be quite the sum.

Additionally, the norm in Norway is three months. This means that tenants are well within their rights to ask for what many will think is a significant deposit.

However, they cannot request deposits larger than six months rent.

Cannot ask: For a deposit to be paid directly to them

Deposits in Norway must be paid into a third-party account. Most rental platforms offer such services.

This is to try and ensure that things are as fair as possible in the event of a dispute over the deposit.

If a landlord asks you to pay the deposit directly to them, this is a major red flag and not allowed.

Cannot ask: You to pay additional charges on top of the rent

The landlord cannot levy additional charges for things like cleaning, property tax or housing association fees. All of these costs should be covered by the rent, and they cannot ask you to pay more because of these costs.

Landlords can charge you for electricity water, and drainage (if a meter is installed).

Cannot ask: For you to pay for certain maintenance

Unless otherwise stated in your contract, the landlord is typically responsible for maintenance. Maintenance is considered the work to maintain the home’s standard when the tenant moved in.

However, the tenant will have to cover some costs. These are taps, locks, power sockets, bathroom fixtures, switches and objects that aren’t fixed to the property, such as pots and pans.

Additionally, the landlord can ask the tenant to reimburse them for maintenance costs if they believe they have not used the home or furniture with sufficient care.

Items such as cookers, washing machines, and dishwashers are the landlord’s responsibility if they belonged to them initially. Although, it’s worth pointing out that the rule about misuse or sufficient care also applies to domestic appliances.

READ MORE: Who pays which rental costs in Norway?

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PROPERTY

What first-time buyers in Norway need to know about the current property market

Norway’s property market has outpaced expectations this year. From what will happen to prices and whether the lending regulations will change, here’s what potential buyers need to know.

Published: 12 September 2024 13:55 CEST
What first-time buyers in Norway need to know about the current property market

By August 2024, the average cost of a home in Norway had risen to 4.75 million kroner. So far, house prices in Norway have risen by 8.3 percent.

However, thanks to wage rises this year, “real house prices” (which account for wage growth and other things) are at a similar level to 2017, interest organisation Real Estate Norway (Eiendom Norge) has said.

People are rushing to buy homes

Norway’s property market moves fast, but things have been especially fast-paced recently, according to estate agents.

In August 2024, it took an average of 42 days to sell a home. Furthermore, Real Estate Norway said that August saw more home sales than it had ever recorded in that month before.

Meanwhile, Martin Kiligitto, managing director at Nordvik Bolig, has told The Local that he expects the high activity to continue.

According to Carl O. Geving, the managing director of the Norwegian Association of Real Estate Agents (NEF), rising wages are one factor behind this trend. Salaries in Norway have started to rise following years of stagnation and high inflation.

READ MORE: House hunters in Norway rush to buy homes before price rises

The market is hotting up ahead of interest rate increases

Norway’s central bank brought the key policy rate to its peak at the end of last year, and cuts are expected to arrive in 2025.

Many who had been waiting on the sidelines to see whether rates would be raised further have now entered the market ahead of the cuts.

“Many potential buyers who have been waiting for a reduction in interest rates are now acting, likely driven by the expectation that prices will rise once the Central Bank of Norway announces a rate cut, which is anticipated in the first half of 2025,” Kiligitto said.

Prices are likely to continue rising over the next two years as mortgages become more affordable.

The second-hand market will be particularly tight

Norway hasn’t built enough houses to meet demand in recent years. Furthermore, increasing material costs and high interest rates have made new builds expensive.

These two factors have bottlenecked buyers into the second-hand home market.

“There is still a problem with the construction market and the sale of new homes. It is still expensive to build new homes, so there’s mainly heavy pressure on the market for used homes,” Geving told The Local recently.

He said the problem was biggest in Norway, where there was a large demand for small flats. Given how long it takes to build properties, this issue was likely to drag on for the foreseeable future. 

It appears as if lending rules will not change

In recent months, there has been speculation that Norway could loosen its lending regulations as the Finance Ministry was set to decide on new rules at the end of the year.

Among the predicted changes were tweaks to the equity required to buy a home. Currently, a minimum of 15 percent is required – although some banks ask for more from foreign customers.

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway, which supervises banks and other financial institutions, has appeared to scupper those hopes by saying that it would continue the current lending regulations in Norway.

This means that the deposit rate of 15 percent will continue, as will the borrowers being restricted to loans of five times their income minus any existing debts. Mortgage applicants will also have their finances tested against potential interest rate increases of three percentage points.

READ ALSO: What foreign residents in Norway need to know to get a mortgage

A lack of changes to the lending regulations has been criticised by Henning Lauridsen, the CEO of Eiendom Norge.

“Instead, the regulation has contributed to greater inequality in society and made vulnerable households even more vulnerable,” Lauridsen recently told business broadsheet Dagens Næringsliv (DN).

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