Are you paying too much in rent in Denmark?

Are you paying too much in rent in Denmark?

If you pay too much rent, you can and should get the rent down. In this article, we will guide you through how to find out if your rent is too high and how to get it down.

When are you entitled to a reduced rent?

It may be obvious, but if you pay too much in rent, you are entitled to reduce this. More complicated is to find out if you pay too much in rent. The rules for this are closely linked to the rules for determining rent.

Cost specified rent
In the case of cost specified rent, the rent is determined by the tenant’s operating expenses and a reasonable supplement (the landlord’s profit).

If the rent exceeds the operating costs and the reasonable surcharge, this means the rent is too high. This may be the case if the landlord requires an excessive supplement. This is, in fact, regulated by law. It is also determined which expenses may be included in the landlord’s budget for the operating costs of the property. If the landlord includes expenses that can’t be included, the rent will also be too high.

Furthermore, if the lease has been substantially renovated, the rent will be limited by the rules governing the value of the residence. This principle will be described below.

It is purely practical that the rent is still determined by the tenant’s operating expenses and a reasonable supplement – but that the rent must not exceed the value of the apartment/room. If the landlord’s operating costs exceed the value of the rent, the landlord must, in principle, not require rent to cover all its operating expenses.

The value of the residence
If your rent is determined by the rent act, the “the value of the residence” is determined by a comparison of the rent level from other leases in the same location, nature, size, quality, equipment and maintenance condition. 

If the rent level of your lease is considered to exceed significantly compared to other rentals, then your rent is too high. However, as a general rule, the landlord will first be required to reduce your rent if this one exceeds the rent level of the other apartments from the same category by 10%.

You may also like: How to get most of your deposit refunded in Denmark

Why should you get help from DIGURA?

Every month, we help thousands of tenants both via our membership solution and our case processing. When we process the cases, we achieve a positive result for the tenants in 98% of the cases. We are here to help you who are potentially being deceived by your landlord, and you who actually want to keep the money you are entitled to.

Exceptions

The rules for fixing the rent are, as a general rule, indispensable. An agreement which imposes a tenant with worse terms, will therefore be void.

Upon the conclusion of a lease agreement of a larger property for a dwelling (minimum 7 leases) built after 31.12.1991, and roofers first used or registered as a residence after 01.09.2002 (and a few other cases), the rules regarding the fixing of rent in the rental agreement and the housing regulation may be waived in section 11 of the lease. The rent is then limited only by the provisions of the Contracts Act on unfair agreements.

After 12 months of rental period

If after 12 months of your rental period you suspect that you pay too much in rent, you can only reduce the rent in retrospect with retroactive effect. As a matter of principle, you can only get the rent reduced forwards. 

Within the first 12 months of the rental period

If you find that your rent is too high within the first 12 months of your rental period, you can get the rent reduced retroactively. If you are early in your rental, you suspect that you pay too much in rent, you should hurry to get this clarified.

You may also like: Regulation bill: What is the rules in Denmark?

How can I reduce my rent?

Of course, it is always a good starting point to talk to the landlord about the problem. However, for economic reasons, the landlord is rarely interested in reducing the rent.

However, both the rent committee and the housing court are competent to decide on the size of the rent. In order to get the rent reduced, it is therefore necessary to create and run a case at the rent committee and possibly. in the housing court, if the case is not won in the rent board.

Get legal advice and avoid being deceived

This topic can be very complicated as a tenant. The above is to be seen as a general guidance and not as downright legal advice. We always recommend that you contact us to ensure that you get the proper necessary legal advice that is relevant for your specific case.

You can get help with this topic but also any other matters you may have. Unfortunately, we see many tenants that are being deceived. Often, they miss out on a lot of money – anything from a couple thousands to 30-40,000 kroner. Imagine what else you could spend the money on.

Let us help you

At DIGURA we are always available and easy to reach, you have your own legal advisor, and best of all you only pay if we win your case. Therefore, it is risk free for you to get help from us.

We have achieved a positive result for tenants in 98% of all the cases that we have processed. We have a 4,6 score on Trustpilot, 5 star rating on Facebook, and we have helped more than 1000 tenants. We really want to help you too.

If you are unsure about anything in the article, our team is ready to help in the chat. You can find the chat in the bottom right corner.

If you need legal advice, you can get your case assessed below. It is free and our competent legal team will make a non-committal assessment of your case.

Share this post

Do you want a free assessment of your case?

It only takes 2 minutes to fill out the form.
Afterwards DIGURA will assess your case and get back to you the same day.

The Great Community for Tenants in Denmark

First group in Denmark connecting English speaking tenants. Join to ask questions, learn from tips and tricks, network and stay on top of new updates from DIGURA.