Wanna move to Denmark?

If you have such a desire then your next step should be finding a place to rent. This is not going to be easy, especially if you are planning to move to Copenhagen. I don’t mean it’s not possible, but you will have to be realistic.

First, you need to decide on your budget, your desired area and what type of place you need as it will influence where you’ll look for it. Copenhagen is the most expensive place to live; as you go farther from the city, housing is less expensive. Going north of Copenhagen, it’s more expensive, while looking south west of the city you will find that it’s usually less expensive. There are exceptions, but generally that is the case.

It is also less expensive on Fyn or Jutland, but wherever you go, you will see that apartments for rent in Denmark are rarely cheap

Let me say that it will be hard to get a long-term rental if you don’t have a residency permit as one thing that mostly is necessary is your CPR number, which you get when you have a residency permit.

Your first stop for finding rentals in Denmark should be one of the many online websites for  renters. Most of them do require you to sign up and pay a fee for using their site. If you are serious about getting a place, this is probably the best way.

If you know which municipality you want to live in, check out the kommune’s website and see what they have to offer.

Another way to find rentals is to check some of the Real Estate Agencies that often have rentals available on their sites.

When you are viewing various sitesyou may encounter a problem: some of them are only in Danish, but there are ways to get around that. You had better check out the translator to show how you can view the pages in English.

Local newspapers also have rentals; the Blaa Avis (a large auction-type newspaper) has a good selection of rentals. Though the newspapers that publish online do not usually list rentals, so again, you need to be in Denmark to use that avenue.

If you have been hired by a company and are being relocated to Denmark on business trip, they should help you to find a place. There are also several relocation agencies which will help you locate places to live and help you settle in. IF your budget allows it,there are relocation companies which will help you locate places to live with and make many of the problems of settling in a lot less stressful. They are able to get you off on the right foot.

If you are a college student, contact your school for assistance. There are several schools that have host family programs. Some have student accommodations and also keep a list of rentals that may be exclusive to their school. Always check with your school for help when looking for accomodations.

But there is another possibility: to advertise in newspapers for an apartment to rent. You can place an ad in papers like the Copenhagen Post (the English newspaper which many expats read regularly).

Before you start searching for rentals, you might learn some of common rental terms. The most popular rental is an apartment, which is known as a lejlighed, and they are much smaller than the ones you find in the US or UK. Apartments are usually described in kvm(kvadratmeter), which is a square meter. Apartments rarely come with their own gardens; instead, they have shared communal space.

The next popular type of rental is a raekkehus, which is a terraced house. They are usually larger than most apartments and have one or two shared walls with their neighbors. Most terraced houses have a small private garden area attached.

If you see rentals in Denmark for sommerhus or fritidshus, these are what are referred to as summerhouses. These homes can vary from very simple (without any utilities) to very nice. Generally, these types of homes can only be lived in from the 1st of April to the 1st of October.

The next type of rental you may be looking for is a house, which is usually advertised as a villa or hus. These are stand-alone (detached) homes and usually have their own gardens.

During the rest of the year, you can use the homes, but you’re not allowed to overnight except for short holidays. This is a law which is rarely enforced and often broken due to several complications. Suggest you avoid renting summer homes unless you are just planning on using them for short holidays – in this case they are gr eat. They are rarely practical for people planning to reside on a permanent basis. But it is a good place to stay while searching for a better place, so don’t overlook them if you are in a jam.

Remember, there are so few good places to rent that the good ones go very quickly. That’s why, if you are outside of Denmark, most people may not even respond to your requests, because they have lots of locals to choose from. That does not mean they won’t rent to you, but you have to be here to get those places. Plan to come about a few months before your move to Denmark, and don’t try to get a place from overseas.

Hope this has been helpful – I wish you happy hunting! Remember that other people found places to live and so can you. You just need a bit of time, patience and…money.