Loan for housing deposit (beboerindskud)

As a tenant, you must typically pay a lump sum when moving into a new home. The housing deposit is the one-off amount that you pay when you move into public housing. The housing deposit is the landlord's assurance that you will hand over the room/apartment in the same condition as you received it and in the condition you have agreed upon in your contract. The landlord will deduct the costs for repair of eventual damage and/or cleaning of your lease from your deposit. 

A housing deposit is the one-off amount you pay when you move into public housing. If the housing organisation is not a non-profit housing association, but, for example, a private landlord, this lump sum is called a deposit.

You can only apply for a loan to pay a regular deposit, if you are moving due to urban renewal or re-development, or if you are a refugee and your residence permit is less than three years old.

You can borrow for the entire housing deposit, but not for the prepaid rent.

If you are in doubt as to whether your new home is categorised as public housing, you can ask your housing association or landlord.

As a general rule, if you are moving into a home that is owned by a public housing association, then you live in a public housing association. If you move into a flat or room that is owned by a private company or a private person, you are living privately.

You can find out who owns your home at www.tinglysning.dk

You can see when the property was built and inhabited for the first time at www.boliga.dk in the menu under BBR. Alternatively, you can contact the housing association.

Please be aware that the City of Copenhagen disregards the year of construction for municipally designated housing for elderly in general housing. 

The total annual household income constitutes the taxable annual income (A-income) for all persons who move into the new home and who are above 18 years of age.

A taxable income can, for example, be salary (after AM-contribution of 8%), cash benefits (kontanthjælp), unemployment benefits (dagpenge), SU or supplementary pension benefits (folkepension). It can also be income of equity or interest earnings.

If you are in doubt, you can see your income at www.skat.dk.

If you have technical problems with the completion of the digital application, problems with attaching documents or you are not allowed to sign the loan document, you must contact Copenhagen Citizen Service on 3366 3366.

Even if you meet the requirements, in some cases your application for a housing deposit may be rejected. This can be due to for example:

• You have debt from a previous housing deposit loan.
• You have assets that we consider to be sufficient for you to pay the housing deposit yourself. It could be money or securities in the bank or if you own a house or a car.
• We assess that your current home meets your family's needs.
• We estimate that your new home is too large for the number of people who will live there.
• Your new home's rent makes up more than half of your total household income.

If we assess that you do not meet the conditions for getting a loan, we will send you a rejection.

You have the opportunity to complain about the decision made. You can do this either in writing or orally within 4 weeks.

If we do not uphold your appeal, we will forward it to the Danish Appeals Board (Ankestyrelsen) together with our assessment of the case.

The City of Copenhagen have a Citizen Advisor (Borgerrådgiver) who can help if you wish to complain about the case handling.

Get more information here: Citizen Advisor (kk.dk) 

You can also read more about appeal options here: Appeal options in Denmark (borger.dk).

If you do not meet the conditions for borrowing for a housing deposit, you can look into whether you can:

• Apply for a single benefit, e.g. if the building is too old, the household income is too high or if you move into a private rental property with a deposit. Read more about applying for a single benefit here.
• Apply for a personal supplement to your state pension if your finances are particularly poor. Read more about applying for personal allowance here.
• Contact Enheden for Sociale Ydelser, Matthæusgade 1, 1666 København V about the possibility of help under other legislation. Read more about Enheden for Sociale Ydelser here. 

You borrow the money from the City of Copenhagen, and you must therefore repay the loan. As a general rule, you do not have to pay interests and instalments for the first five years of the loan period.

If you stay in the home for which you have received the loan, you must start repaying the loan after five years. You will be charged the monthly output on top of your rent as long as you live in the property.

The repayment period is a maximum of 10 years. How quickly you must repay the loan depends on:

• Your household income
• Your assets
• What kind of accommodation you live in

You can increase your monthly instalment at any time. Please contact us to hear more about your options to become debt free faster.

Please be aware that if you move out of the home for which you have obtained a loan, you must repay the loan immediately.

You can start repaying your loan as early as two months after you have moved into your new home. It is called a voluntary instalment, where you enter into an agreement with the City of Copenhagen regarding an early repayment of your loan. There are significant advantages for you in starting to repay the loan quickly, as you must pay less interest and can become debt-free faster.

We can help you set up an instalment plan of as little as DKK 100 per month.

If you have started repaying your loan for a housing deposit, you can see your remaining debt on Mit Betalalingsoverblik.

Please be aware that your debt to the City of Copenhagen will not appear on Mit Betalingsoverblik until you start repaying the loan. You can contact us, if you would like to check up on your debt before starting your repayment.