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Student Halls & Co-living
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Important update September - November 2023:
In cooperation with municipality of Copenhagen the Student Organization "studenterhuset" are offering temporary student hostel accommodation for 1-12 weeks where you can registre for CPR!
This is a solution if you're looking for housing and in the mean time get your CPR registration done.
Read more here: https://studenterhuset.com/en/housing/
The two main student halls adminstration offices in Copenhagen are called KKIK and CIU. KKIK alone administers 6.400 student halls in greater Copenhagen.
Student halls offer rooms in a student environment, which may be an attractive way to meet both Danish and other international students and build a network in Copenhagen.
Smaller apartments are also available for students and they are designated for both couples and singles. The price is normally higher for apartments as they have a private kitchen, whereas a room in a student residence hall normally only provides you with a shared kitchen.
As the supply of student housing in Copenhagen is much lower than the demand, the waiting lists can be long, especially for the most popular halls and locations in the centre of Copenhagen. It is not unusual to receive an offer after 6-12 months on their waiting lists depending on how wide you made the accommodation search.
To increase your chances to get a room at your study start, you should apply in the surrounding areas of Copenhagen (outside the centre). It also helps to meet the conditions for "flexible rental" - flexible udlejning - read more here: https://international.kk.dk/artikel/find-your-home-copenhagen "Housing associations (flexible renting)" and here (direct link to KKIK's point system)
Application
At CIU and KKIK you apply for rooms and apartments by signing up for the waiting lists - you need to choose which student halls you wish to sign up for. Search as broad as possible, at the student hall "DIK" they often have available rooms.
It is free of charge and we strongly encourage you to do this before you arrival in Denmark.
See more at:
KKIK create a profile, click on the tab "create profile"
CIU Register when you have min. 2 study semesters left and are under 36 years old, scroll down and on the tab "opret bruger" - all in Danish: find our manual to register in English here.
Some also look at the city of Roskilde – a city app. 35 kilometres away with good train connections to Copenhagen and Sydhavn. The waiting list for this area is often shorter than the CIU waiting list in Copenhagen. If you wish to include Roskilde in your search please include the postal code 4000 in your search at the CIU website.
Important update September - November 2023:
In cooperation with municipality of Copenhagen the Student Organization "studenterhuset" are offering temporary student hostel accommodation for 1-12 weeks where you can registre for CPR!
This is a solution if you're looking for housing and in the mean time get your CPR registration done.
Read more here: https://studenterhuset.com/en/housing/
Besides the two main student halls administration offices called KKIK and CIU in Copenhagen, there are other privately owned student halls & housing projects.
The housing project "CPH Village Vesterbro" offers compact living for students fairly close to campus around 4.900 DKK per month. They also have other student "villages" further from campus with a focus on co-living and sustainability.
Read more on their website and write a motivated and personal application: https://cphvillage.com/apply
You can also register at private housing companies for students. Accommodation prices start from DKK 5.000 pr. month and can get even more expensive (depending on how much privacy you wish for), but they might have great modern facilities and rooms ready and shorter waiting lists. The deposit is usually 3 months* and you will probably have to pay 1 month's rent in advance too.
Here are some links to private housing companies where you can read more about the options and how to register on their waiting list:
https://danskfinancia.dk/lejemaal/kollegievaerelser/index.html
https://basecampstudent.com/locations/danmark/kobenhavn/
https://www.sommersted-cph.dk/sommerstedgade
https://www.kvadratbolig.dk/lej/lejebolig
https://www.nidoliving.com/en/denmark/copenhagen/nido-bryggen/
*IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that private housing companies almost always will keep a part of your deposit when you leave the accommodation to renovate the whole room including floors and walls. Pay attention to §11 in the rental contract that you receive to sign. To have a better idea of the total sum of your accommodation through private housing companies, we, therefore, recommend you calculate all-inclusive rent per month":
Calculate 20-60% of the deposit that you need to pay, divide this sum by the amount of months that you rent your room and add the result on top of the rent per month. In this way you can adjust your expectations and prepare your budget in a safer way - renting through commercial housing companies is expensive. Always inquire about this first at the housing company.
Often people or families rent out a room in their private house or apartment.
Students also start their own co-livings, to share costs and thus making it possible to rent a whole apartment that otherwhise would be too expensive to rent alone. Co-living is very usual in Denmark. Often co-living provides shared housing for people with similar values or intentions. When you inquire to rent a room in a shared house it is therefore important to make an application that includes a bit about your background, interests and wishes.
You will live closely together with others, mostly sharing both kitchen and bathroom facilities. Some hosts have very specific expectations regarding privacy and tidiness.
To find a co-living availability in Copenhagen, your network is king. Offers are posted on SoMe so friends of friends are reached and can share the offers. As a newly arriving student in Copenhagen this is challenging as you first will need to build your local network. We encourage you to research actively and connect through SoMe.
The following website Study In Denmark also lists online platforms where individuals offer rooms and apartments for rent. Most of the platforms will charge you a small fee to access contact details.
https://studyindenmark.dk/live-in-denmark/housing-1/how-to-enter-the-housing-market
Take care to read our information on housing scams when looking for accommodation on the private housing market, more info here.
The Danish term is "boligstøtte" and it is a monthly benefit free of charge to help cover your rent expenses as a tenant.
Please be aware that not all tenants with an international background will be eligible for a housing benefit, but we recommend that you investigate it yourself.
Read more about the housing benefit here.