Housing health
Housing health refers to the health conditions of apartments and other living spaces such as schools, daycare centres and social welfare units. Good indoor conditions support people’s health and well-being.
The quality of indoor air may be impaired by various factors such as ventilation problems, indoor temperatures, draught, humidity and microbial damage, radon, mineral fibres, cigarette smoke, noise, uncleanliness, or vermin. These factors can cause various adverse effects and can sometimes be harmful to health.
If you have doubts about the quality of the indoor conditions, you should contact the owner of the property or the party representing them in the first instance, who can investigate the situation and correct the problems. If the situation cannot be resolved, the municipal health protection authority can assess whether the premises have conditions that are harmful to health as referred to in the Health Protection Act. See our General health protection page for the contact details of municipal supervisory authorities.
If a condition causing a health detriment is detected, the municipality’s health protection authority can oblige the person responsible for the detriment to immediately take the necessary steps to investigate, eliminate or limit the detriment and the factors having led to it.