Housing for PhD-students
When available we do offer housing for PhD-students at HiMolde. This is usually only in the spring semester from January throughout June.
We know that unfortunately it is difficult for foreigners to find housing in Molde, but SiMolde is legally obligated to prioritize full-time students at Molde University College in the fall semester when the pressure for housing is high. So, even if you apply early, or are desperate to find housing to get to Norway we are not able to help you.
To find housing on the private market you can look at websites like hybel.no and finn.no. These are websites for all of Norway, so make sure you filter your search for Molde.
At hybel and finn you can place your own “looking for housing” ad, which I do recommend as a lot of landlords prefer to contact eligible tenants themselves. Write a little bit about yourself, your job, your hobbies, and add a few suitable photos so you look like a serious tenant.
I would also recommend you ask your contact person at HiMolde to write a guarantee letter/letter of recommendation that you can show to the landlord to show that you are able to pay, is a trustworthy tenant – and even a real person.
When we do have available housing an additional charge of 20% is added to the rent for PhD-students, as you are not considered part of our student body. If you are assigned housing with us in the spring semester your contract will not be going past 31st July, as the housing has to be available for new full-time students in August.
Things you should know about signing private housing contracts in Norway:
- A tenancy agreement/housing contract is binding once it is signed. If you have signed a contract you are reliable for rent from the day your contract starts, even if you do not move in for some reason.
- Most, not all, contracts are three-year contracts, with the possibility to terminate with a three-month termination period. Some contracts only open for termination once a year – so read the part about termination in your contract carefully. The three-year contracts are actually to protect and provide stability for the tenant.
- The landlord can also terminate your contract, but only under certain circumstances and in specific situations. Unless you are doing anything in breach of contract.
- Electricity, hot water, and WiFi is not necessarily included in the rent price.
- WiFi should however be included when the landlord lives in the same house.
- Electricity can be paid in set amounts in advance, and then at the end of the year you either get repaid an amount because you paid too much or you have to pay a bit extra because you didn’t pay enough.
- You usually pay your rent in advance.
- You are the one responsible for setting up a deposit account, never pay a deposit to the landlord’s private account. If the landlord is a private company there might be exceptions, but for most cases you are the one that should set up the deposit account. The landlord will pay the cost of the account, but it is in your name. You can read more about it at DnB’s website.
We will have an overview of available housing here – please note the date of which the housing is available from. And again, please be aware that we have to prioritize full-time students at Molde University College and even if it appears that we have available housing, it might not be available to you.
Publisert: 1. October 2024 - Sist endret: 10. October 2024
