The Danish rental contract: what to check before you sign

Before you sign a Danish lease, check what you pay, what the whole contract makes you do and when you can leave. Below is a sample contract with each check marked, a payment calculation and a ready email to the landlord in English and Danish.

This guide covers an ordinary private rented flat or room under the Danish Rent Act (lejeloven). If you rent directly from a social housing association (almen bolig), the social housing rent act (almenlejeloven) applies instead. Apart from one provision, the Rent Act does not cover holiday lets, hotels or rooms with full board.

What you pay before you move in

A move-in invoice usually combines four different amounts. Compare each line with the contract rather than looking only at the total:

• Deposit (depositum): at most three months' rent. It is security for what you owe when you move out, such as unpaid rent or repairs you are responsible for. You cannot normally use it to pay your last months' rent.
• Prepaid rent (forudbetalt leje): at most three months' rent, and never more than the rent for your notice period. Once the lease has been terminated, it pays for the last part of the tenancy.
• Rent for the first period: rent is normally paid monthly in advance. For a flat or room, the landlord cannot demand more than three months at a time.
• Utilities on account (a conto): separate advance payments, for example for heating or water, when the landlord supplies them.

The limits are in §§ 58–59 of the Rent Act and cannot be changed to your disadvantage by agreement. Only the rent tribunal (huslejenævnet) can allow an exception, and it also decides disagreements about the deposit and prepaid rent. A total above seven months' rent is not unlawful in itself, because utilities or a longer first rent period can add to it.

Example: rent of DKK 9,500 a month

Ana rents a private flat with the standard three months' notice. The landlord may ask for the maximum deposit and prepaid rent, plus the first month's rent and DKK 650 on account for heating.

Seven months' rent is DKK 66,500; the remaining DKK 650 is the heating payment. From December, Ana pays DKK 10,150 a month until the rent or the heating payment changes. If her notice period were one month, the prepaid rent could be at most DKK 9,500.

Read the whole contract, not only § 11

Most private landlords use the official standard contract, Typeformular A, 10th edition. The ministry publishes it in Danish and English, and the English version (PDF) is authorised too. The law does not oblige every landlord to use this form. But a landlord who uses a pre-printed standard contract must use an authorised one; if not, terms that give you fewer rights or more duties than the Rent Act are invalid (§ 14).

Agreed departures from the law must be written in § 11 (Section 11, “Special conditions”, in the English form) or in an appendix to the contract. Some pre-printed terms in bold italics are departures too, so they apply even though § 11 does not repeat them. Anything the contract does not regulate follows the Rent Act.

A term does not become valid just because it is in § 11. Some protections, such as the deposit and prepaid-rent limits, cannot be agreed away. Ask for every appendix the contract mentions, such as house rules, before you sign.

A sample contract with the checks marked

Ana's contract below is fictional and shortened. The numbers in brackets refer to the checks underneath.

1. Start date: 1 November is when the tenancy begins. Ana's two weeks to report defects run from this date, even if she moves her furniture in later.
2. Deposit: four months' rent is above the three-month limit. At DKK 9,500 rent, the most is DKK 28,500.
3. Move-in inspection: this landlord rents out more than one flat, so they must inspect the flat with Ana and give her a move-in report. She should attend and compare the report with what she sees.
4. Contract fee: no one may demand payment from a tenant for letting a home or arranging the letting (§ 15). Ana asks what the DKK 1,500 covers.
5. Fixed term: Ana cannot give notice before 31 October 2027 unless the contract allows it. She asks why the lease is fixed-term and whether an early-exit clause can be added.
6. Repainting: a tenant cannot be required to return the home in better condition than it was received (§ 187). Ana asks whether the walls and ceilings are newly painted and wants their condition recorded in the move-in report.
7. Pets: if a landlord agrees that a pet may live there, that permission belongs in the signed contract.

The landlord asks for DKK 78,150. Without the fourth deposit month and the fee, the payment would be DKK 67,150, as in the example above.

Notice and fixed-term leases

In an ordinary open-ended lease, you can end the lease by written notice. The default notice period is three months, ending on the first working day of a month that is not the day before a public holiday. For a room in the landlord's own home, or in a one- or two-family house the landlord lives in, the default is one month. The contract can set other terms for your notice, such as a period in which you cannot give notice, so look for them in § 11 (§§ 169–175).

A fixed-term lease ends on the agreed date without notice. Before then, neither side can end it by notice unless the contract allows it or the other party breaches the agreement (§ 173). If you may need to move early, ask for a written early-exit clause with a notice period before you sign.

The time limit must be justified by the landlord's circumstances; the guidance to the standard contract mentions secondment or temporary relocation as examples. If it is not sufficiently justified, the housing court (boligretten), not the rent tribunal, can set it aside. An unexplained end date is a reason to ask, not proof that the clause is invalid.

Check the landlord before you pay

Rental scams often target people looking for a home from abroad. The Danish police's advice on rental fraud comes down to these checks:

• See the home in person. Never pay a deposit, prepaid rent or rent for a home you have not visited physically; a video call is not enough. Check that the name on the letterbox or door matches the landlord or current tenant.
• Check who owns it. When renting from a private person, ask for documentation of ownership and compare it with the owner shown on tinglysning.dk or boligejer.dk.
• Test the photos and the price. A reverse image search shows whether the photos are used elsewhere online. A rent far below similar homes in the area is a warning sign.
• Pay traceably. Do not pay in cash. Transfer to an account in a Danish bank, and be wary of foreign accounts or payment services. Pay only after the viewing and the ownership check.
• Protect your ID. Do not send photos of your passport, driving licence or health insurance card, even if you are asked to.
• Take your time. Get a contract signed by the landlord and read it before you sign. Pressure to sign or pay immediately is a warning sign.

Ask before you sign: a ready email

Ana sends her questions in writing, so the answers can go into the final contract. The English email and its Danish version say the same; send the one your landlord prefers.

The email asks and proposes; nothing is changed until the landlord sends a revised contract. Compare the new version with the answers before you sign, and keep the signed contract, appendices and emails together.

Moving in: report defects within two weeks

The deadline runs from the day the tenancy begins under the contract, not from the day you move your things in. Within two weeks, tell the landlord in writing about any defects you want to rely on; otherwise you can lose the right to claim them (§ 91). The deadline does not apply to defects you could not have noticed with ordinary care, or if the landlord acted fraudulently.

A landlord who rents out more than one flat must inspect it at move-in, invite you and give you a move-in report at the inspection. If you are absent or will not sign for the report, it must be sent within two weeks (§ 90). A landlord who skips this loses the right to charge you for refurbishment when you move out, except for damage you are responsible for. Your own two-week defect notice still applies after you receive the report.

• Photograph every room on the first day, with close-ups of each defect.
• Describe each defect precisely: where it is and what is wrong.
• Send the list in writing, ask for confirmation and keep it with the photos and the contract.

If you and the landlord disagree

Write down the exact clause or amount, what you think is correct and what you want changed, and attach the contract page or photos. If you still disagree, the rent tribunal in your municipality decides many tenancy disputes, for example about the deposit, prepaid rent, defects at the start of the tenancy and repair costs at move-out. Cases are submitted in writing; see the ministry's overview of the rent tribunals. Whether a fixed term is valid is for the housing court.

If you later miss a rent payment, different rules apply. The landlord must send a written demand (påkrav), and you have 14 days from when it reaches you to pay before the tenancy can be terminated for that arrears. The demand cannot be sent only as an email or text message (§§ 13 and 182). The Danish guide to a påkrav from the landlord has a worked example and replies.

Help with the Danish text

SkrivSikkert can translate and explain a Danish clause in plain English, read the text aloud and help you write or check your email to the landlord in Danish. Use the web platform, or the Chrome extension on the websites you already use. Many functions are free without login.

Frequently asked questions