r/Finland

Even though lane splitting is legal and common in some other countries, in Finland it's not. I've seen some close calls due to drivers not expecting a motorbike to be in between lanes and almost crashing into them.

If you drive a motorbike here, please stay in one lane.

Note: I used AI to help me organize my thoughts as ever since the latest escalation I can’t keep my thoughts straight and when I am home alone I am all the time shaking.

Hey Reddit,

I’m hoping someone here can give me advice or point me in the right direction.

We currently rent a house in Lapland. A few months ago, the house was sold, and the new owners immediately started trying to push us out.

Right after buying the house, the new owners tried to force us to move out within one month, presenting a document that made it look like we were canceling the lease. They also attempted to increase the rent without justification.

We pushed back and explained that under Finnish law they need to give 6 months’ notice and can’t raise rent arbitrarily.

After a lot of back and forth, they finally issued a 6‑month notice (full of mistakes, but we didn’t fight it further). This means we are legally required to move out by the end of August.

Since then, the situation has escalated:

They repeatedly send vague threats and pressure us to leave earlier (June), claiming they have renovations planned. We pushed back here, telling them that for any renovations that require us to leave the apartment, they need to give us proper notice. They claimed that “they can change the law if they don’t like it.”

They insist we should leave the house so they can “show it to someone,” and act as if they can enter whenever they want without our permission because they own the property.

At one point, I suddenly heard noises on the roof and panicked — it turned out they had sent workers to inspect it without notifying us at all.

One of the owners shared our private phone numbers with third parties (people offering rental housing) without our consent.

There have been weird insinuations about my country of origin. For context: I am an EU citizen, have permanent residency, and have been working full‑time here for several years.

They make negative comments about the state of the house and yard, even though the property is in much better condition than when we moved in (it was in very poor shape initially). The comments they made also made me feel like they might be looking through our windows.

The behavior has become so intimidating that when my husband was on a work trip, I stayed with my in‑laws for a week because I was genuinely afraid one of the owners might come into the house while I was alone and I would become the subject of the next true crime documentary. The way one of them communicates makes me seriously question their mental stability.

We want to leave as soon as possible, but this is Lapland and most rentals are currently for tourists... Finding something suitable is extremely difficult.

My questions:
1. Does this behavior qualify as harassment under Finnish law?
2. Can any of this realistically be reported to the police (illegal entry, intimidation, sharing personal data)?
3. Do the owners have any grounds to sue us or charge us for the condition of the house, given that:
• they bought it after seeing it once for about 10 minutes, and
• the condition is objectively better than when we moved in?
4. Are there any tenant protection organizations, ombudsmen, or legal steps we should be taking right now?
5. Can we just leave at any point now without paying rent further or do we need to give them an official 1 month notice?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I feel unsafe, stressed, and completely worn down by this situation…

Sounds like a petty issue but it has become a routine now. The community laundry room is free to use for residents and people who use it leave the door open (door uses an ILOQ key). Today someone stole my sweater from drying room. The sweater was made up of very delicate fabric so I let it dry in drying room and didn’t use drum dryer. I went back after about an hour and it was gone. I searched for it everywhere but couldn’t find it. I asked around from ladies there and they said that their clothes have been stolen and once they found them being sold at a nearby secondhand shop. I also see a lot junkies around this area, few week ago I saw needles/syringes in the toilet of laundry room so clearly someone has been using it for partying. There have been police visits to adjacent building frequently as well and it’s the same building where I have mostly sighted junkies waiting at the door of the building. Surprisingly once I saw from my apartment’s window that those junkies are on someone’s balcony smoking. The building was the same adjacent building at the entrance of which they usually are standing and looks like waiting and ringing bells for someone to open. Anyways, so after my stolen sweater incident, someone in the laundry room mentioned that this housing complex has a Facebook group where you can post about it. I looked up for that group to post and the admin of that group is that junkie who probably deals in her apartment at the building. I am not certain but I suspect it could be either her or her affiliates who frequent here in this area who steal things. I just don’t know what can I do to put a stop to it. I don’t know if police can help because I don’t have any proof and also that it sounds very petty that my laundry like socks and sweaters are getting stolen.

I am a few days in the northern part of Finland and would like to try some everyday food (not that touristy stuff). I have a full kitchen at hand.

What would you recommend me?

I highly recommend you to get on the train from tallinn to valga-valka and go to the huge alcohol stores on the latvian side, there is this 14% 0.5L drink called Lode that tastes magnificent and costs 2€. Best thing ever (I just went to valka from tallinn to gather some lode)

I visted a few years ago and forgot to get any postcards from the country. it would mean a lot if someone could send me thier pokemon go friend code and send me a gift from one of the pokestops in your country.

Moi, I hold British and Austrian passports, but I’m a resident in the UK and have never lived in the EU.

I was wondering if it is possible to open a euros bank account while I am living in Finland? I have tried from the UK, but all euro banks require I have residency in the EU, not just citizenship.

The problem I am having, is that my landlord says the rules are strict in Finland. I can not even have post delivered to his house in my name. Is this a real law?

If this is a real law, how can I work around this to open a bank account?

And just for context - I am an incoming exchange student in Helsinki.

Kiitos paljon, ja hyvää iltaa :)

Hi everyone,

My wife and I bought a 45m² apartment in Espoo Keskus in 2023 for around 170k€. At the time it seemed like a solid purchase: the apartment had been renovated recently, the housing company was in good condition, and the maintenance fee was reasonable. The building itself is from 1984, but compared to many nearby apartments it required much less renovation work.

Now our family situation has changed and, with a baby, we will soon need a bigger place. The difficult part is that apartment prices in the area seem to have dropped significantly since we bought. Recent evaluations for our apartment have been much lower than expected, which has made us reconsider our plans.

We are currently thinking about renting out the apartment instead of selling immediately, especially since there are several ongoing development projects in the area (new train line, Prisma, K-Citymarket, etc.). Some of these improvements may still take a few years to affect the area.

I wanted to ask if anyone here has insight into why prices in Espoo Keskus have fallen so much compared to the broader European trend. Is it mainly due to interest rates and the Finnish market overall, or is there something more specific to this area?

Would also appreciate hearing from others who have faced similar situations and how you approached the decision.

Thanks!