ABSTRACT
Under the Dwelling Space Act it can be illegal to occupy a dwelling or to offer a dwelling for occupation without a permit issued by the municipality. A municipality can use the following criteria for allocating housing: urgency, relationship between household size and income and dwelling size and price, and social and work connections between the household and the municipality. The Housing Act allows a municipality to require the owner of a dwelling unsuitable for residential purposes to take measures to bring it up to required standard, by means of a directive or building order. The Housing Act requires that each municipality apply building regulations, which also contain conditions regulating demolition. Housing Act dwellings were financed with loans provided by central government at market interest rates, as regulated under the Housing Act. A subsidy was introduced at the beginning of 1989 that aims to stimulate new housing construction within built-up areas.
