Ownership of a dwelling - learning materials
Description of assignment
- During the assignment pupils learn about owner-occupied housing and the related regulations. The assignment is suitable as a classroom assignment or it can be made into a larger assignment to be assessed together with the assignment on rental housing. The assignment can be completed either alone or with a partner.
- OPS content and target areas: The assignment is related to the final assessment sections T4 and T8. The purpose of the assignment is to deepen the pupil's knowledge of society (T4) and his or her own finances and spending (T8). During the assignment, pupils also learn about the rights and obligations related to housing, so it is also related to final assessment criterion T3 on the functioning of the Finnish legal system.
- Time estimate 30–45 minutes.
Read the instructions for Buying a home or property on the Suomi.fi web service. Answer the questions based on the information on the web service.
Purchasing a dwelling
1. When you buy a flat or terraced house, you buy shares in a housing company. What does this mean?
2. How does buying a single-family house differ from this?
3. Your friend is buying an apartment in a block of flats and asks you for help. Help them by answering the following questions using the Suomi.fi website.
- a) When can you move into the apartment?
- b) Do I have to pay some kind of taxes when buying an apartment?
- c) The buyer finds a flaw in the apartment after the purchase. What should they do in this situation?
4. You're selling your apartment. What responsibilities do you have/what are your responsibilities?
Building a house
5. What permits do you need, and where can you get these permits?
6. For a house, you’ll need a property where the house will be built. What certificates do you need to buy a property?
7. You need a registered title to buy a property. What does this mean?
8. What taxes do you have to pay when you buy a property?
Advanced assignment
Consider alone or with a pair how owner-occupied housing differs from rental housing. What are the potential benefits of owner-occupied housing? In what situation is rental housing a better option than buying a dwelling?
10. You don't necessarily want to buy an owner-occupied apartment, but a rental apartment seems too uncertain. A right-of-occupancy dwelling could be an option.
- a) Find out briefly what right-of-occupancy housing means in practice and how it differs from rental or owner-occupied housing.
- b) What is the price of right-of-occupancy housing in your locality? Search for right-of-occupancy housing, for example through Oikotie.fi.