Laws of apartment inspection tenant vs. owner?

[justaguy]

When I signed my contract with my landlord she said that she wanted to come and see the apartment every 3 months within the 1 year contract that we signed.
It was her understanding that she could just simply come over unannounced whenever she felt like it, with absolutely no warning what-so-ever.

Now respectfully, I call bs on this notion.

As where I come from, there are quite strict (albeit mostly fair) regulations that state one must give 2 weeks warning if they wish to come and inspect the apartment, and no more than 'x' inspections are allowed within a 'y' period of time.

So my first question is simply as follows.

What are my rights, and what are my landlord's rights?
Surely she cannot just waltz into the apartment whenever she feels like it, and surely I am allowed some sort of fair amount of time in order to 'prepare' or at least be home for the inspection.

I tried asking my friends and google for the answer. But I am not sure what search terms to use, and none of my friends even know themselves because they don't have a landlord who's so....

On another question I had, which wasn't really important at all but I'd still like to know. If the landlord decides for some reason that they wish to cancel the contract. What is are tenant's rights?
Could the tenant refuse and instead wish to spend the remainder of the contract at the residence? Does the landlord HAVE to give the full deposit back, seeing as they are cancelling a contract they made together? There would be something like a month's warning period allowed for the tenant to find some sort of new residence?

The last few questions are not so important at all, it's mainly the first one that I would like to know where I stand in contrast to my landlord.

Anyway any information at all would be great, thanks so much!

[Upphew]

When I signed my contract with my landlord she said that she wanted to come and see the apartment every 3 months within the 1 year contract that we signed.
It was her understanding that she could just simply come over unannounced whenever she felt like it, with absolutely no warning what-so-ever.

Now respectfully, I call bs on this notion.

As where I come from, there are quite strict (albeit mostly fair) regulations that state one must give 2 weeks warning if they wish to come and inspect the apartment, and no more than 'x' inspections are allowed within a 'y' period of time.

So my first question is simply as follows.

What are my rights, and what are my landlord's rights?
Surely she cannot just waltz into the apartment whenever she feels like it, and surely I am allowed some sort of fair amount of time in order to 'prepare' or at least be home for the inspection.

I tried asking my friends and google for the answer. But I am not sure what search terms to use, and none of my friends even know themselves because they don't have a landlord who's so....

On another question I had, which wasn't really important at all but I'd still like to know. If the landlord decides for some reason that they wish to cancel the contract. What is are tenant's rights?
Could the tenant refuse and instead wish to spend the remainder of the contract at the residence? Does the landlord HAVE to give the full deposit back, seeing as they are cancelling a contract they made together? There would be something like a month's warning period allowed for the tenant to find some sort of new residence?

The last few questions are not so important at all, it's mainly the first one that I would like to know where I stand in contrast to my landlord.

Anyway any information at all would be great, thanks so much!

Landlord can check her property, but not when she likes, unless that is ok to you too.
One year's contract is binding to both parties.
Deposit is used if you @#$% up the apartment. You can do it under a year.
http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1995/19950481

[Rip]

There isn't much in detail in law but

simply come over unannounced whenever she felt like it, with absolutely no warning what-so-ever.

is known as "Invasion of domestic premises" (Kotirauhan rikkominen), chapter 24 of the criminal code.

Landlord has the right to check the condition of the apartment. Just how frequently and with how much advance notice isn't stated in the law. Luckily, most of the time there are two reasonable involved that understand that it is in their mutual interest they stay in decent terms with each other. I do not know if the courts have needed to draw the limits for the exceptional cases. The only time I've had a landlord to come to do a check have been related to common housing company renovation. I'f still lived in rental, I guess I could live (bit grudgingly) with a check every three months - given several days advanced notice that, so that is possible to pick a time that is suitable for to me to be present.

If you pay the rent i time and don't otherwise violate the rental terms, the fixed period contract is binding to the landlord. An foreseen need for her or a family member to use the flat themselves might make an exception, but even that is with court approval only and with a right for you to be compensated for the damage caused.

With a non-fixed period contract the notice requirement from the landlords side is at minimum three months and six months if you have been a tenant for at least a year.

[justaguy]

One final question. If I message my landlord and request that we both decide upon a suitable time for her to come and inspect the apartment. If she refuses within the time that I am still in Finland, and instead wishes to come when I am not still in the country (this I would not agree upon). Is it possible to just tell her that I do not want her to come into the apartment whilst I am away, and thus make her wait until I come back?

I have never in my life had a problem with paying rent on time, and have never damaged anything or lost any of my deposit, or anything else. It's just unfortunate that I have a very strict landlord who wanted to lay down a lot of 'off-the-record' 'off-paper' rules after we signed the 1 year fixed contract. She's generally a really nice person, however with certain things such as these she is very tricky and tries to give the impression that I don't have any rights in the matter. I guess she really wants to feel like she's in complete control, and I don't want a headache and to feel like I have to reorganise my entire life.

Anyway thanks so much for all these replies. Now I am pretty sure how I can go about contacting my landlord and arranging a time for her to come and inspect the apartment before I go on a holiday

[Upphew]

Maybe someone with more awesome Google-fu can find reference to what your recourse is when being harassed by a landlord if the visits are either without permission or too often.

The term you are looking for is "kotirauhan rikkominen". https://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf ... endocument

[betelgeuse]

Anyway thanks so much for all these replies. Now I am pretty sure how I can go about contacting my landlord and arranging a time for her to come and inspect the apartment before I go on a holiday

If you let your landlord know you are on holiday, I would install a motion activated camera towards the door to make sure she has not used her keys to enter.