Renting a home in Denmark

Who this guide is for

If you have moved to Denmark and need somewhere to rent, the routes split into two groups: everyone, and students, who have more options and lower rents. This guide covers renting only, not buying.

Words you will meet along the way:

Lejebolig: rental home
Udlejer: landlord
Lejekontrakt: tenancy agreement
Depositum: deposit
Forudbetalt leje: prepaid rent
Almen bolig: non-profit housing, run by a housing association (boligorganisation), usually cheaper, allocated by waiting list
Venteliste: waiting list
Kollegium: student hall of residence
Ungdomsbolig: youth housing, for young people in education
Huslejenævnet: the rent tribunal, which handles disputes in private rentals
Boligstøtte: housing benefit

Renting privately

The official portal states that flats and rooms for rent are mostly advertised online or found through colleagues, friends and acquaintances. In small towns and the countryside it is usually easy to find a place at a reasonable price. In Copenhagen and Aarhus, affordable housing is harder to find. See Renting a home.

The official study portal Study in Denmark lists the rental sites people use. See How to enter the housing market:

BoligPortal, Lejebolig.dk, BoligZonen, Bolighub: browsing is free, contacting landlords requires a paid subscription.
DBA: a second-hand marketplace that also carries rental listings, some of them free.
HousingAnywhere: an international platform aimed mainly at exchange students and short stays.

Subscription prices change, so go by what each site shows today.

Non-profit housing

Almene boliger are publicly subsidised homes run by housing associations. Rents are usually lower than private rentals, but the homes go by waiting list, so foreign nationals often find them hard to get. See Renting a home.

Non-profit housing across the country is searchable on DanmarkBolig.dk. It is a non-profit portal, free to use, developed by Landsbyggefonden, the housing ministry and Local Government Denmark. There are four types: family, youth, senior and single rooms. The portal only shows you the homes and the contact details. You join the waiting list directly with the housing association.

The City of Copenhagen puts it this way: you must register with the housing association and sign up on its waiting list, and most non-profit housing in the big cities has one. See Public housing.

Student housing: one office per city

Halls of residence and youth housing are allocated centrally in each city, and registration is free. The condition is that you are enrolled in, or about to start, an education recognised for SU (the Danish state education grant). The rules differ from city to city.

Copenhagen

Kollegiernes Kontor i København (KKIK): creating a profile and applying is free. The eligibility rule is "all young people, preferably between 18 and 30, who are enrolled in an education recognised by SU". You may stay for the standard length of one programme plus one year, as a rule 5 plus 1, at most six years. You must renew your application every month or it is removed. See Om kollegieboliger.
s.dk (CIU, Centralindstillingsudvalget): about 12,000 student homes in one place, free to search, for people who are studying or about to start. The allocation rules are at CIU indstillingsregler.
If you reject KKIK's first housing offer, or do not answer it, your application is frozen for four weeks and you receive no offers in that time. See Aalborg University's summary Student rooms at KKIK & CIU.
International students at the University of Copenhagen also have Housing Foundation Copenhagen. Exchange students receive an invitation to apply in late June or late November. See Housing (University of Copenhagen).
The City of Copenhagen and Studenterhuset run Startup Housing, temporary rooms rented by the week for students who have not found a place yet. See Student housing (City of Copenhagen).

Aarhus

UngdomsboligAarhus: creating an account is free, and you can search about 11,000 rental homes in and around Aarhus. It is for young people in education. The English version is Student Housing Aarhus.
Housing guarantee (boliggaranti): every newly admitted student starting in Aarhus in the autumn semester can sign up for the guarantee on UngdomsboligAarhus, move to the front of the queue, and get a hall or youth-housing room before or shortly after the start of term. Registration opens on 1 February each year. See Studiebolig (Aarhus Kommune) and Boliggaranti for nye studerende.
The guarantee is for single applicants only. If you reject or do not answer an offer, you get no further offers before the scheme ends.

Odense

BoligØen: registration is free if you only apply for student housing, and it covers more than 4,000 student homes in Odense, Kerteminde, Middelfart and nearby. From 5 May 2026 all of Odense's non-profit student housing is on BoligØen, including the homes that used to be on studiebolig-odense.dk. See Om studieboliger.
Conditions: you must be at least 15 and able to document that you will study on an SU-recognised programme. You can register up to one year before your studies start, move in three months before, and stay up to three months after graduating.
Tag over hovedet-garanti, the "roof over your head" guarantee: new or incoming students in Odense who have not found a home get up to three months of temporary housing from the municipality. You must be registered on BoligØen as actively searching, have ticked studiebolig, and accept every offer you receive. Rejecting one offer ends your right to the guarantee. See Tag over hovedet-garantien.

Aalborg

Studiebolig Aalborg: the allocation body run jointly by housing associations, halls and Aalborg Municipality, with about 7,500 youth homes. You apply for every hall and youth home in the municipality from one place, free of charge. PhD students no longer qualify for youth housing.

Rules to know before you sign

Deposit and prepaid rent each have a cap. The landlord may take a deposit of at most three months' rent, and may additionally ask for up to three months' rent in advance. The deposit is security for unpaid rent, heating, repairs and similar costs when you move out, and is returned after the tenancy ends, less what you owe. See Depositum og forudbetalt leje.

Private tenancies use the official standard form Typeformular A, 10. udgave, which exists in English. See Lejekontrakt.

The official portal adds a few points. See Renting a home:

Do not pay any deposit before you have a lease.
A room normally takes one month's deposit, a flat three months'.
Notice is typically up to three months, for the landlord and for you.
You must report defects in the home to the landlord within 14 days of moving in.

Where to take a dispute

If you rent privately and disagree with the terms of your tenancy, go to Huslejenævnet. If you live in non-profit housing, go to Beboerklagenævnet. The complaint must be in writing with documents such as the lease attached, and you must have tried to settle it with the other party first. You file with the kommune where the property is. Fees: Huslejenævnet 367 kr., Beboerklagenævnet 172 kr. (2026). See Beboerklagenævn og Huslejenævn.

Housing benefit

If the home you rent has its own kitchen or kitchenette and you live there permanently, you can apply for boligstøtte. You can apply even if you are in Denmark for a short period. The application is digital, only one person in the household can apply, and Udbetaling Danmark administers it. See Housing benefits.

Sources

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