Dormitory guidelines

Dormitory guidelines

I ADMINISTRATION

  1. These guidelines and the public order regulations based on them govern the student dormitories managed by the Häme Students Foundation and available to members of the Hämäläis-Osakunta.
  2. Dormitory operations are managed by a Dormitory Management Board appointed by the student foundation.
  3. During the autumn term, the Student Nation elects seven Management Board members for a term of one calendar year. Members should be elected from students in different fields of study. A foundational meeting of the Dormitory Management Board must be held by the end of January.
  4. The Dormitory Management Board elects a chair and a vice-chair from its membership.
  5. The Management Board is assisted by the dormitory building manager of the Häme Students Foundation. His/her duties include managing dormitory operations and ensuring that they are in line with the dormitory guidelines. The dormitory building manager acts as the secretary of the Management Board, with the right to be heard but no voting right.
  6. The Management Board will convene as required, upon the invitation of the dormitory building manager, the Board chair or the vice-chair.
  7. The Management Board has power of decision if the chair or vice-chair and at least half of the board members are present.
  8. The tasks of the Dormitory Management Board are:
  • selecting tenants for the foundation’s apartments when the Management Board or the dormitory building manager so deem necessary,
  • handling tenants’ applications for lease extensions,
  • reviewing the tenants’ right of residence annually as well as at other times when the Board deems there to be grounds for review
  • deciding on lease termination in such cases as those described in Section 18 of these guidelines
  • monitoring that the dormitories are kept in order, and issuing public order regulations to tenants
  • submitting statements, when it sees fit, to the Häme Students Foundation on applicants for the position of dormitory building manager
  • making other proposals to the Hämäläis-Osakunta and to the Häme Students Foundation,
  • communicating with the tenants’ association when needed
  • handling other matters that are relevant to the Foundation’s dormitories.
  1. Minutes should be taken of Management Board meetings. These minutes should be signed by the chair and secretary.

II APPLYING FOR APARTMENTS

  1. Applications for the apartments can be made throughout the year. However, a separate freshman application round is arranged for new students in July – August. New students can be granted apartments after they have been accepted as students by the University of Helsinki
  2. Applications are made with the application form and the following appendices:
A ROOMS IN SHARED APARTMENTS
  1. Attendance certificate or study transcript from the place of study (not required from freshman applicants)
  2. Student Nation membership certificate or proof of payment of the tenant membership fee. As an exception, the acceptance letter from the University is sufficient for freshman applicants.
  3. Clarification of the applicant’s residence history in student dormitories managed by the Häme Students Foundation.
  4. Clarification of participation in the activities of the Student Nation.
  5. Clarification of family roots in Häme.
  6. Other relevant certificates, if any.
B STUDIO FLATS
  1. Study transcript.
  2. Student Nation membership certificate.
  3. Clarification of the applicant’s residence history in student dormitories managed by the Häme Students Foundation.
  4. Tax certificate from the tax authorities on the applicant’s income and assets for the most recently completed tax year.
  5. Clarification of the applicant’s income for the current year.
  6. Clarification of activities in the Student Nation.
  7. Clarification of family roots in Häme.
  8. Other relevant certificates, if any.
C FAMILY APARTMENTS
  1. Study transcript.
  2. Student Nation membership certificate.
  3. Clarification of the applicant’s residence history in student dormitories managed by the Häme Students Foundation.
  4. Tax certificate from the tax authorities on the applicant’s income and assets for the most recently completed tax year.
  5. Clarification of the applicant’s income for the current year.
  6. Clarification of activities in the Student Nation.
  7. Clarification of family roots in Häme
  8. Number of children and their year of birth
  9. Other relevant certificates, if any.

III RIGHT OF RESIDENCE

  1. Tenants must be members of the Student Nation Hämäläis-Osakunta. For freshman applicants, it is sufficient that they join the Student Nation during September. For family apartments, at least one of the applicants must be a member of the Student Nation. Rooms in shared apartments can be allotted to university-level or university of applied sciences students who are not members of the Student Nation. In such instances the applicant must pay the tenant membership fee. Hämäläis-Osakunta makes the decisions on the amount of the tenant membership fee and executes its collection.
  2. Student status is a prerequisite of right of residence, which is consequently temporary.
    Student Nation members who live in family apartments or studio flats must earn at least 20 study credits per year or 40 study credits within two years. Members of Hämäläis-Osakunta who live in family apartments or studio flats are allowed to earn a maximum income of 35,000€ per year. In special circumstances, the Dormitory Management Board can decide on exceptions to these study credit and income requirements.

In family apartments, it is sufficient that one of the tenants fulfils the requirements for right of residence.

In special circumstances, the dormitory building manager can, at his or her discretion, extend the lease of a family apartment or studio flat for a maximum period of three months.

  1. If the requirements for right of residence are fulfilled, a tenant can stay in the dormitories managed by the Häme Student Foundation for a maximum period of six years.
    Extensions to right of residence can be granted upon consideration thereof. Extensions are granted based on separate applications which must be accompanied by the appendices listed in Section 11. The tenant members’ right of residence is limited depending on the availability of apartments.
  2. For applications for studio flats, it is additionally required that
    A the applicant has, for at least one year, been a resident of a shared apartment owned by the Student Nation and has completed a minimum of 110 study credits, or
    B the applicant has not been a resident of a shared apartment owned by the Student Nation, but he/she has completed at least 110 study credits and has been a Student Nation official for at least two years, or
    C the applicant has not been a resident of a shared apartment owned by the Student Nation, but he/she has completed at least 180 study credits
  3. The preconditions of right of residence are always reviewed before leases are made. The Dormitory Management Board and the dormitory building manager can, if they so desire, demand further clarifications to the aforementioned grounds for right of residence.

IV GIVING OUT APARTMENTS

  1. Residence applications for each site and each type of apartment are handled in order of submission with the following exceptions:

Students who arrive from outside the metropolitan area are given priority for rooms in shared apartments.

First-year students are given priority over other students for rooms in shared apartments.
Married couples and/or unmarried cohabitants with a child, as well as single parents, are given priority for family apartments.

Childless married couples and/or unmarried cohabitants and applicants for so-called ‘roommate apartments’ are given priority for family apartments over individual applicants.
Active members of the Hämäläis-Osakunta are given priority over other applicants. Degree students of the University of Helsinki are given priority over other applicants.

Students from Häme are given priority over other students. A person is considered to be from Häme if he or she is or has been registered in the population register or been schooled in the operating area of Hämäläis-Osakunta, or if his or her parents or other close relations are or have been members of the Hämäläis-Osakunta, or if he or she has been a member of the Hämäläis-Osakunta, or if he or she has other exceptionally strong ties to Häme or the Hämäläis-Osakunta.

If available, rooms in shared apartments can be allotted to tenant members, but members and non-voting members of the Hämäläis-Osakunta are given priority over tenant members.

If circumstances so require, the dormitory building manager and the Dormitory Management Board can decide to depart from the aforementioned order of priority.

V MAKING LEASE AGREEMENTS

  1. The lease agreement between the Häme Student Foundation and the tenant is always made in writing and executed in two copies, one for each party. Leases for rooms in shared apartments have a maximum duration of three years, and leases for studio flats and family apartments a maximum duration of two years. Tenant member leases have a maximum duration of two years.
    If the right of residence criteria as set out in Section III are not fulfilled, a lease will not be made.
  2. The lease can be terminated by either party following the termination procedure set out in the Act on Residential Leases.
  3. Specifically, the Häme Student Foundation can terminate the lease of a resident if

A the  tenant graduates or discontinues his or her studies; if, however, the tenants live in a family apartment and the other resident fulfils the requirements for right of residence, the right of residence will continue until further notice despite the graduation.

B it should turn out that the tenant has in his or her application or at a later time given false information on matters that affect right of residence, with intent to mislead.

VI TENANT RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

  1. Upon request, the tenant must submit information on matters that affect right of residence to the Dormitory Management Board. Members and non-voting members of the Hämäläis-Osakunta must register their membership in the Student Nation annually, no later than by the end of October. Tenant members must be able to prove payment of the membership fee for the current academic year by the end of October.
  2. If there are significant changes in the tenancy, for example when one of the tenants moves out of a family apartment, the Management Board can, if required, take a stand on the issue. The tenant must notify the dormitory building manager within one month of any changes in the tenancy.
  3. If a tenant who has been granted control of the apartment is unable to exercise his or her right of residence due to military or non-military service, a study-related compulsory trainee period, a lengthy illness or other similar reason, he or she can give up the apartment temporarily upon application. If the remaining period of residence exceeds six months, the tenant has the right, after a pre-defined period, to receive control of an apartment that is equivalent to the previous apartment.
    This set period of time during which the tenant has given up the right to use the apartment granted to him or her is not included in the six-year tenancy term referred to in Section 14.
  4. If the appropriate utilisation of the dormitories so requires, the Häme Students Foundation has the right to move the tenant once per academic year to an equivalent apartment. An example of such utilisation is apartment renovation.
  5. If the applicant or tenant is of the view that he or she has been treated unfairly, he or she can request that the issue be brought before the Management Board for review.

VII SPECIAL REGULATIONS

  1. The guidelines will enter into force immediately after they have been approved, in the manner described under the rules of the Hämäläis-Osakunta.
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