‘NO FOREIGNER’ CLAUSE DETERS NON-FINNS FROM BUYING APARTMENTS

Foreigners in Finland have been prevented from buying apartments because sellers invoke a long-repealed law that had banned foreigners from owning property in the country, Yle News reported late on September 2, 2020.

The law was introduced in housing legislation in 1939, but was repealed by parliament in 1992 and has no legal force—but remains on the books in many housing companies' rules. Even though the law has been repealed, some property owners are using the clause—perhaps unwittingly—to exclude buyers on grounds of nationality.

“Harman” told Yle News that he and his wife decided they wanted to buy an apartment rather than continue to rent after living and working in Finland for a number of years as permanent residents, but were prevented from making an offer on an apartment when the seller invoked the now-repealed clause. Yle News is not publishing Harman's real name as he believes publicity could affect his search for a home. "It was a really sad feeling, and my wife started crying," Harman says. "We had been looking for the right home for more than a year and it's not easy. Even getting a loan first is tough, and then everything depends on the seller."

Harman’s experience is not unique and it prompted Finland’s Non-Discrimination Ombudsman to clarify that sellers, landlords and agents cannot choose a buyer based on ethnic origin, nationality, religion or disability. Doing so would contravene section 2 of the Non-Discrimination Act, Senior Adviser Robin Harms of the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman’s office tells Yle News. "These kinds of rules, if they still exist, are no longer valid and should be disregarded," Harms says of Harman’s case. "If someone were to apply them, they would quite clearly be breaking the non-discrimination law."