All students of Aalto University with a right of residence can apply for all AYY apartments. Post-graduates, students without a right of residence, and students who are not members of AYY can apply for open call apartments. The summer apartments, offered throughout the summer, can be applied by anyone interested.

1. First read the instructions

The applicant must read and understand the instructions on these pages.
More information can be found under these links:

• Instructions for new students in the Aalto University
• Instructions for students moving in from Mikkeli
• Instructions for exchange students in the Aalto University

Applicants outside AYY are concerned by the instructions for the open call apartments and the instructions for summer apartments.

Before registering into the housing application system Domo and filling out an application, read these pages carefully. To send an application, the applicant must check that they have read and understood these instructions, and the regulations and responsibilities regarding them.

2. Create a Domo account and apply

Registering as an applicant -> The Domo housing application system

An apartment is applied for with the Domo system. Before filling out an application, an applicant must create an account on Domo.

When creating your account, fill out your contact info into the system with especial care. Keeping the information up to date is the responsibility of the applicant. If it becomes evident that an apartment has been applied for under false pretenses, the application can be rejected or a housing offer can be cancelled. All housing offers are sent via email to the email addressed supplied by the applicant into the system. It is the responsibility of the applicant to check that they can receive emails from the Domo system. AYY is not responsible for situations where an applicant has not reacted to a housing offer sent to their email in time, because the message has for example ended up flagged as junk mail. We recommend using the aalto.fi -email when registering to Domo.

Under Income you should fill out your current income and assets. AYY apartments do not have limits for income or wealth, but applicants with less income and wealth are prioritized over people equally in need of an apartment with more income. The income is determined by the ARA tenant guide (in Finnish). Earned and unearned income like wages, bonuses, adult education allowance and education allowance. An entrepreneur may estimate their monthly income. Student allowance, income support and general housing allowance are also counted as income. Changes in income must be updated to Domo.

Wealth (assets) are reviewed by their worth under ARA instructions. Stocks and money in funds, along with owned property are counted as wealth. The totaled debts for property, including student loans, are deducted from the total value. If the assets are not convertible to cash, they are not counted (for example a partial ownership of an inherited summer house).

Attachments concerning all special situations must be attached to the application on Domo. If you want additional scores due to the urgent need of accommodation based on a terminated rental agreement by your landlord, for example, you must submit the notice of termination to the application. An old attachment can also be replaced by a new one by reapplying for urgency points, when the application will be processed again to check the points. This will not affect the sending date of the application, so if the points are not changed after re-processing, the applications process in the queue will not change. If the grounds for extra points are removed, you should inform the housing office by sending us a message.

Apartment groups have a big impact in apartment applications. When for example you receive an offer for an apartment in a single apartment group, for example a Teekkari village single room in a shared apartment, all your current applications for the current apartment group are removed from the queues regardless of if you accept the apartment or not. In the example case the system would drop all of your Teekkari village single room in a shared apartment applications from the queues, regardless of the time of their drafting (and thus even if they were grouped between different application numbers). In addition, you can also apply for an internal transfer between the same apartment group.

In Domo AYY apartment search can be narrowed down to specific single apartments, so each apartment has its own queue. These queues and their corresponding apartments are collected into apartment groups, defined by the address  and apartment type. In Helsinki the apartment groups are based on building and apartment type; in Espoo, Leppävaara and the Teekkari Village consist of all of the buildings in the area, so the division is based on area and apartment type.

The preferred move in date is an important field as AYY does not offer apartments for you earlier than the date you have provided in your application. So please remember to update this information if there are any changes in your need for housing! If you for example want to make sure that you receive a housing offer with a month of warning time so you can end your current rental agreement, you may update the preferred move in date accordingly.

If you have any problems with using or registering to Domo, please send us a message!

Applicants may have as many active housing offers as they want.

3. Follow your application process on Domo

The application is processed at the Housing Office and scored in accordance with AYY’s housing scoring regulations. The application is placed in the housing queue based on the application date and the scores. Applicants who are not members of AYY have their own scoring system. A normal application will be placed in the system based on the date of applying (not the date the application is processed) and the score, but freshmen’s and exchange students’ applications for single room apartments applications go through a lottery process. This means that the sending date of the apartments does not matter, and the place in the queu is based on points and a randomized number. When the application has been processed at the housing office, the applicant can follow the progress of the queue in the Domo system. Possible changes and modifications to the application can be done until the applicant receives a housing offer.

The application scores are updated always when necessary and therefore the position of your application may change suddenly. For example, if an applicant has a significant increase in income, the income limit affecting scoring can step into place and affect the application. In addition, the attachment in the application concerning urgency need to be up to date and match the applicant’s info. Urgency scoring is valid for at most 6 months from the date of issuing, unless the applicant updates the attachment in Doimo. You may check your scoring with the Domo system.

The position of an application in the queue may shift, if its scoring changes due to changes in the applicant’s life or if applications to the same queue made later get more points and bypass the application. In addition, queues for the cell apartments are affected by the lottery.

Applications are valid for three months after the submission date. The Domo system sends email reminders to the applicant concerning the expiration of the application. If the applicant does not renew the housing application, the applicant will be removed from the housing queue. Expired applications cannot be returned to the queue.

4. Receive a housing offer

The Housing Office makes the apartment offers on the basis of the apartment queues. All housing offers are sent to the applicant by email. The application must be accepted in the time period specified in the offer. The housing offer acts as a rental agreement, and all housing offers are accepted or rejected by the applicant in the Domo system. The offer is accepted by signing the rental agreement in Domo system. All adult tenants must sign the rental agreement, because Domo only accepts a single document at a time for each housing offer. When the agreement has been uploaded into Domo, AYY will add an electronic signature. The signed rental agreement is instantly binding.

The applicant is responsible for being able to receive the housing offer by email. If you are leaving for a longer holiday, for example, and know you cannot read your email for a while, please inform the Housing Office in advance so they know to give you enough time to react to the housing offer.

5. What happens next?

Removal of applications from the system when getting a housing offer

If the applicant is offered an apartment, their application is removed from all housing groups. After the acceptance, rejection or expiration of a housing offer, the applicant may return their application to three (3) housing groups (chosen freely by the applicant). The apartment application cannot be returned to the housing group that the offer pertained to. Returning of applications can be done directly at Domo and the system will guide and remind about returning the applications. Only members of AYY with right of residence can apply for a transfer within the same apartment group.

Repealing a housing offer will not affect applications in other queues.

Cancelling an approved housing offer

Since the housing offer is accepted by signing the rental agreement, the cancellation of an approved offer is done by terminating the rental agreement as usual. This can be done in Domo system. Please note that the termination period of the rental agreement applies as usual, in that the tenant has a full calendar month of termination time, starting from the last day of the month of termination. If you wish to terminate a rental agreement before it starts, contact the housing officer, because termination of a rental agreement before its start is not possible in the Domo system.

Deposit

Tenants must pay a deposit of EUR 250 per each adult tenant. AYY separately sends the tenant/tenants an invoice for the payment of the deposit.

Keys

Please read the information we have gathered for new tenants here.

I have more questions about applying!

Please check the Frequently Asked Questions page. You will find many answers to the most frequently asked questions related to AYY’s housing.