Lease agreement harmonisation
Heka will be harmonising tenants’ lease agreements in stages over the coming years. This will involve updating the content of tenants’ lease agreements so that in the future all of our tenants are subject to the same terms.
This page provides information on the schedule of lease agreement harmonisation and any resulting changes to your residency as well as instructions on how to update your contact information and sign the new lease.
Harmonisation in a nutshell
- Heka will be harmonising tenants’ lease agreements in stages over the coming years.
- Wait for contact from Heka: we will send you a letter by post when it is time to harmonise your lease agreement. A new lease will be drafted for your current home to replace the existing lease agreement.
- You will continue to live at Heka in your current home when you sign the new lease.
- The changes made to the terms of the lease will concern the following areas: smoking indoors, water charges, moving day, responsibilities for the maintenance of the outdoor facilities of apartments, invoices for damage and data protection.
- The harmonisation is not connected to any rent increases or Heka savings. The lease agreement harmonisation will not affect rent.
Lease agreement harmonisation to improve tenant equality
Heka has many different kinds of lease agreements, and these agreements have not been updated consistently before. The terms of our lease agreements concerning things like smoking, water charges and the moving day vary depending on when the agreement was made. The harmonisation is necessary to ensure that all our lease agreements comply with current legislation.
The number of lease agreements that need to be harmonised is approximately 34,000, which accounts for the majority of Heka lease agreements. The harmonisation does not apply to tenants
- whose lease agreement started on or after 1 January 2022, as the terms of these agreements are already in line with the new lease agreement model
- who are living in a building that will undergo renovations starting in 2025 or 2026.
You will continue to live at Heka when you sign the new lease
Your home will remain at Heka despite the harmonisation process. A new lease will be drafted for your current home to replace the existing lease agreement. This means that your tenancy will continue uninterrupted when you sign the new lease agreement by the specified deadline.
The harmonisation will change some of the essential terms of the lease agreement, for which we require the tenant’s consent. If you do not accept the new terms of the lease and refuse to sign the new lease agreement, Heka will terminate your lease. During the notice period, Heka will offer you the option to sign a new lease with the new terms. If you do not sign a new lease during the notice period, your time with Heka will end at the end of the notice period. The notice period is six months.
How to sign the new lease agreement
-
Heka will send you a letter with instructions
As the main tenant, you will receive a letter from Heka when you need to sign the new lease agreement. The letter will contain instructions for signing the new agreement. A letter will be addressed to each main tenant.
-
Provide Heka with your updated contact information
We need the current email addresses and telephone numbers of the main tenants of the apartment for the electronic signing of the lease. Please provide us with your contact information by following the instructions in the letter. Please provide your contact information, even if it hasn’t changed.
-
Sign the new lease agreement electronically
Once you have provided your current contact information to Heka, we will send you and any other main tenants a new lease to sign electronically. If you are unable to sign the lease electronically, we will offer you the opportunity to sign the lease using a pen.
Key changes to lease agreements
Following the harmonisation of our lease agreements, all Heka lease agreements will include a ban on smoking inside the apartment and in the outdoor facilities of the apartment.
This means that smoking in the apartment is a breach of agreement and can lead to termination of your lease.
After the lease agreement harmonisation process, all Heka lease agreements will specify whether the water charges are included in the rent or not. If not, the tenant is charged for the use of cold and hot water according to apartment-specific water meter readings.
Water charges will be invoiced for in accordance with the valid invoicing policy of Heka. This refers to the invoicing frequency of water charges and any advance water charges and balance invoicing.
Following the harmonisation of lease agreements, all Heka lease agreements will define the end date of the lease agreement as the moving day. Arrangements differing from the legislation concerning the moving day can always be agreed upon in the lease agreement.
If you have terminated your lease to end at the end of January, for example, your moving day is 31 January according to the new lease agreement, meaning that your apartment must be empty and keys returned on 31 January.
This term will prevent the overlapping of old and new lease agreements by allowing the tenant to move to a new apartment right at the start of the month.
This moving day term is employed in Heka lease agreements made on or after 1 January 2022, and is quite common in lease agreements.
After the harmonisation process, all Heka lease agreements will specify that the tenant is responsible for the maintenance of a balcony, terrace or yard connected to their apartment. Heka will provide more specific advice on the maintenance responsibility in separate instructions. Tenants are responsible for any outdoor furniture (e.g. terrace furniture, trampolines).
After the harmonisation process, all Heka lease agreements will include a term on any damage caused by the tenant to be invoiced for according to Heka’s valid damage price list. In this event, the term of payment is 30 days from the date of the invoice.
After the lease agreement harmonisation process, all Heka lease agreements will state that Heka processes tenants’ personal data according to data protection legislation. The agreement will also refer to the data protection section of the Heka website, where you will find Heka’s privacy policy.
Indoor smoking ban to be included in all Heka lease agreements
Heka still has a large number of lease agreements that do not include any kind of smoking ban and locations where smoking bans only apply to shared facilities. As a result, smoking is a common topic in the notifications submitted to Heka, as there are Heka buildings where smoking is permitted in some apartments, but prohibited in others. The current situation concerning smoking bans is very complicated for both tenants and Heka’s staff.
Heka has also applied for smoking bans for some of its locations in accordance with the Tobacco Act, but the process is slow and laborious. The harmonisation of lease agreements is the most efficient and quickest way of imposing a consistent smoking ban on all Heka apartments. Smoking is allowed in the yard or plot in a smoking area designated by Heka, if such an area can be designated.
Following the harmonisation of our lease agreements, all Heka lease agreements will include a ban on smoking inside the apartment and in the outdoor facilities of the apartment, which will increase equality between tenants. The indoor smoking ban will also increase housing comfort, improve housing health and reduce the property damage and subsequent repair needs caused by smoking. The smoking ban is in line with the objectives outlined in the Finnish Tobacco Act.
Frequently asked questions about new leases
The harmonisation does not apply to tenants whose rental agreement started on or after 1 January 2022, or who are living in a building that will undergo renovations starting in 2025 or 2026. All other lease agreements will be updated.
New leases will be ready for signatures in phases by 2026. Heka will send you a letter when it is your turn to sign a new lease.
Your tenancy will continue uninterrupted when you sign the new lease agreement by the specified deadline. If you do not accept the new terms of the lease and refuse to sign the new lease agreement, Heka will terminate your lease. During the notice period, Heka will offer you the option to sign a new lease with the new terms. If you do not sign a new lease during the notice period, your time with Heka will end at the end of the notice period. The notice period is six months.
Leases are primarily signed electronically. If you are unable to sign the lease electronically, we will offer you the opportunity to sign the lease using a pen. We will provide further information on this in the letter sent to your home.
You cannot change apartments at this time. If you have lived in your home for a minimum of one year, you can apply to change your apartment. Read more about the instructions and prerequisites concerning apartment changes. You will need to sign a lease in compliance with the new agreement model in connection with changing your apartment.
The lease harmonisation will not affect your rent, and your rent will remain the same on the new lease for your current apartment. Your rent may, however, change in connection with the annual rent review at the turn of the year.
It may. If you have rental debt, please contact customer services immediately to draft a payment plan. In the plan, we agree on payment instalments and due dates for your current debt. If the amount of your rental debt is large enough for Heka to have started collection proceedings in district court, we will not be renewing your lease until the entire debt has been paid.
You can sign the agreement. No income or property checks will be performed in connection with the harmonisation.
No. Lease agreement harmonisation does not concern residents whose lease agreement started on or after 1 January 2022, as the terms of these agreements are already in line with the new lease agreement model.
We will send the main tenant or tenants of the apartment a letter when the lease agreement needs to be renewed. We will also let the resident committee of the building know when the harmonisation is scheduled for the building in question. We will also provide general information on lease agreement harmonisation on our website and through our other communications channels.
Lease agreements have not been harmonised at Heka previously. Our lease agreements are very varied and our tenants live under different terms and conditions. We want to operate responsibly and treat our residents equally, which means that the same terms of lease and rules and regulations apply to all our tenants. This also improves living comfort. In addition to living comfort, the smoking ban improves housing health.
No. If water charges were included in the rent before the harmonisation, the harmonisation will not change this. Consumption-based water invoicing will be adopted when the building is renovated.
Changing the terms of lease agreements is a valid reason to harmonise lease agreements and terminate leases. As the lessor, Heka may determine the need for lease renewal as well as the terms under which Heka apartments are leased. The harmonisation is about changing the terms of existing lease agreements, which is always possible during a tenancy. Any changes to the lease require consent from both Heka and the tenant. That is why we are offering tenants the option to accept the new terms and sign the new lease voluntarily. If the tenant does not accept the new terms of the lease, we will have to terminate the lease to be able to enforce the new terms.
Frequently asked questions about the indoor smoking ban
Cigarettes, cigars, pipes, narcotic roll-ups, other vegetable-based tobacco-like smoking products and e-cigarettes.
The smoking ban also applies to e-cigarettes.
The smoking ban is not applied to incense. If you are bothered by a strong smell of incense, do not hesitate to contact your neighbour directly. They may not know that the smell travels to other apartments. If a polite reminder does not produce the desired result, contact the property manager who will then investigate the issue. If the smell enters your apartment through e.g. the ventilation system or faulty structures, Heka will repair these issues.
Following the harmonisation of our lease agreements, all Heka lease agreements will include a ban on smoking inside the apartment and in the outdoor facilities of the apartment. This means that smoking in the apartment is a breach of agreement and can lead to termination of your lease. Smoking is allowed in the yard or plot in a smoking area designated by Heka, if such an area can be designated.
Restrictions on smoking are also included in building rules of conduct at Heka. According to the building rules of conduct, smoking is prohibited in the stairwells, lifts and other shared indoor areas, shared balconies, access decks, the property’s outdoor areas (incl. near the entrances and air intakes, as well as children’s play areas) and car park.
Heka will arrange for a smoking area in the building’s yard, if possible. The property manager will review this site-specifically. The size or shape of the plot may make it impossible to designate a smoking area, because the smoking area cannot be located near balconies or windows.
If you detect tobacco smell or smoke, submit a notice of disturbance to Heka. Heka will investigate the matter based on the notice and intervene in the breach of the smoking ban.
The smoking ban is applied to all residents, guests and Heka personnel alike. Remind your own guests of the smoking ban and instruct your guests to smoke in the designated smoking area.