Board of directors

Within rental law, there are There are several organisations you can contact if you have a tenancy dispute that needs to be resolved. The main instances used are:

Rent Board
Residents' Complaints Board
The municipal supervision
Housing law

But which ones are used when? And how long does it take

Below, we've created a list of each instance, briefly outlining the rules and processing times.

Rent Board:

The Rent Tribunal is for those who live in private rented accommodation and have a tenancy dispute, i.e. some problems in relation to your rented property. All municipalities are obliged to set up a rent tribunal either alone or jointly with other municipalities.

Each rent tribunal only handles cases from municipalities affiliated with that particular tribunal.

Who does the rent board consist of?

The board consists of 3 people. The chairman, who must be a qualified lawyer or attorney. 1 is a landlord representative elected from the landlord associations, 1 is a tenant representative elected from a larger tenant association.

This ensures an equal distribution of interest groups and an impartial and independent legal representative. Cases are decided by votes if the board disagrees.

The cases can include:

The amount of rent, including rent adjustments.
Utility bills, water and heating.
Refund of security deposit after the tenant moves out.
The amount of the tenant's deposit and prepaid rent during the tenancy.
The tenant's right of disposal under section 143(6) of the Danish Rent Act.
Unfair terms for renting rooms, including cancellation by the landlord.
Accounts for exterior and interior maintenance.
The landlord's right to dispose of the tenant's areas for use for rooftop leases.
The tenant's obligation to carry out repairs upon vacating.
Landlord's notice of rent increase due to leasehold improvements, including appropriateness in properties with more than 3 residential flats.
Antenna fees and payment for access to electronic communication services (internet).
The reasonableness of agreements between the landlord and the tenant representation on improvement works.
The parties' duty of cleanliness, maintenance and renewal during the tenancy.
However, non-compliance with house rules can only be brought by the landlord.

Course of events

Before filing a case with the rent tribunal, you should have tried to contact the landlord about issues/the issues in the tenancy agreement. The only exception is the amount of the rent, which can be submitted directly to the rent tribunal.

If the issues cannot be resolved, the matter can be brought before the rent tribunal.

This is done by explaining in writing what the dispute is about, preferably with evidence in the form of pictures or written communications. You must include your rental contract and any copies of any correspondence from the landlord, such as a notice of rent increase or something else.

When the rent tribunal receives your complaint, they will forward it to your landlord. The landlord will have 2 weeks to comment on the case. You will then have the opportunity to comment on the landlord's comments. You have 2 weeks to do this.

The rent tribunal can decide on their own if they need more documentation in the case. This could be written evidence, pictures or an inspection of the property. The documentation can be obtained from public authorities, private organisations or the parties to the case (tenant-landlord).

The rent board can also be used to pre-approve rent levels in a rental property.

If there are cases that the rent tribunal is not authorised to handle, these should be brought before the housing court instead.

If the tenant or landlord is not satisfied with the decision of the rent board, it can be appealed. In the municipality of Copenhagen, this is to the Appeals Board for Copenhagen Rent Boards.

Everywhere else in the country, an appeal must be made to the housing court.

Lejernes Hus is happy to help you bring your case before the Rent Board.

Processing times.

Cases before the rent tribunal can be lengthy, as there are many deadlines to meet.

Below is a model of case times in the different municipalities

The pink boxes are the cities without their own rent board. In this case, they fall under the nearest rent board, as these are allowed to merge.

Residents' Complaints Board

The Residents' Complaints Board has the same function as the Rent Board, but only takes cases from tenants of social housing. Social housing refers to housing built with public funding and owned by a non-profit housing organisation.
They deal with the same topics and have the same composition as the rent board.

Housing law

The Housing Court handles the cases that the Rent/Residents' Complaints Board does not handle.

Beyond this, if you don't agree with the decision made by the boards, it's the body you appeal to.

The Housing Court is a so-called special court, as it can be expanded with two lay judges in addition to a legal judge. The lay judges are people with extensive experience in housing and rent matters. As in the tribunals, the lay judges are from opposite sides of the table. One from the landlord association and the other from the tenant association.
Like the boards, the housing court can inspect the rented property. They can also look at other similar tenancies in the area to have something to compare with when looking at them.