Danish Rental Terms

Types of property

Here is a list of Danish rental terms for the type of dwellings available to rent.

Boligtype ... Type of housing

Lejlighed ... Apartment

Ejerlejlighed ... owned apartment (same as Apartment when to comes to renting - it is more to differentiate when buying)

Andelsbolig ... Condo (can be a shared house or apartment)

Villalejlighed ... This is an apartment inside a house. Usually a house with 2 to 4 apartments.

Hus ... House (detached property)

Villa ... House - often used to refer to a house with a bit of land, 

Bungalow - bungalow, low ceiling house usually with dormer windows

Hus, Villa and Bungalow are often used to mean exactly the same type structure

Etplanshus - A single story house. May have a cellar but not always.

Halvandetplanhus - A one and a half story house, which is just a single story house that has a high roof, which allows to be used as a living space - may already be built out or not

Toplanshus - this is a two story house and is sometimes confused with the Halvandetplanhus that has been built out, yet a topplan must have 2 full floors

Etagehus - a house that has more than 2 stories and is often divided into more than one dwelling with a common entrance.

Dobbelthus - this is a duplex, one house divided into 2 dwellings sharing one common wall, seperate entrances

Raekkehus ... Terraced house, where there are several houses in a row, where neighbors share a common wall

Kædehus - similiar to a terraced house except the shared wall is either offset so neighbors only share a partial wall or they could be connected by a shared garage space

Klyngehus - is similiar to a raekkehus, except it is a small cluster of homes built around a common area, these are very popular in senior housing

Sommerhus ... Summer house or vacation home

Fritidshus ... Same as a sommerhus (summer house)

Parts of a home

Here are some of the common Danish rental terms used in the descriptions of rentals:

Vaerelse ... Room

Badvaerelse (bad) ... Bathroom

Koekken ... Kitchen

Sovevaerelse ... Bedroom

Stue ... Living room

Altan ... Balcony

Garage ... Garage

Entre ... Entrance

Trapper ... Stairs

Vaskerum/Bryggers ... Washroom/utility room/laundry room

Kontor ... Office

Gaderobe ... Closet

Repos ... Open space/landing

Kaelder ... Cellar (some can be rented out as an apartment but they have to meet certain requirements)

Kvist ... Attic

Udestue ... Enclosed patio/conservatory

Arbejdvaerelse - study

Raekvaerk/gelaender - railing, bannister

Ovenlysvindue - skylight

Vindue - Window

Forstue - Entrance Hall, Foyer

Yderdoer - exterior door

Have - garden

Skorsten - Chimney

Brandoevn - wood stove (very modern)

Grundplan - Site plan / layout

Gulvvarme - underfloor heating

Redskabsskur- shed (most houses and especially raekkehus will have one since homes do not have that much storage space)

Koekkenhave - vegetable garden, even some apartments will have a communal garden

Cykelkælder - Bicycle room or celler, this is very common in highrise apartments since bicycling is a very common mode of transport, these rooms are only accessible to those living in the complex

Apartment Codes

When you are viewing apartment rentals, you will come across some unfamiliar danish rental terms or abbreviations. Once you understand what they mean, you will get so much more out of your searches.

The way floors are named is different from the US or UK. The ground floor (or first floor if you're from the US) is known as the stue etage.

Stue is abbreviated as "st" and means the apartment is located on the ground or first floor.

The next floor up is known in the US as the 2nd floor, but in Denmark it is the 1st floor or the "foerst sal" and is abbreviated as "1 sal". This continues as high as the apartment goes "2 sal" means the apartment is located on the 3rd floor, and so forth.

TIP If you don't want to be climbing lots of stairs, remember that most apartments in Denmark do NOT have elevators. The newer ones do, but many of the older apartments do not have elevators, so you will be getting a lot of exercise. Even if the building does have an elevator, you may find that it is only big enough for 2 -3 people, so you'd still have to move furniture up the stairs!

If you see “tv” next to the floor number, it means the apartment is located "til venstre" (on the left) of the landing, and if it is “th”, it means it is "til hoejre" (to the right) of the landing.  Not very common, but there is also "mf", which mean "midtfor" or basically it means it is in the center of the floor. If the floor has 3 apartments, one will be tv, mf and th.

So if you see an address that has st.,th, the apartment is located in the stue on the right side.

If you see 2V or 3V in a description, it indicates the number of rooms: 2V is 2vaerelse or 2 rooms. 3V is 3 rooms.

Update: People were confused about the left and right, when you go up the stairs  and reach the landing, the apartment to your right is "th". If you get off an elevator this will be the opposite.

Copenhagen City Codes

When you are looking for a place in Copenhagen you will see the address listed as:

København N – this is the Nørrebro area of the city or the northern section, post code is 2200

København V – this is Vesterbro area or the area west of the city post codes range from 1500 -1799

København S – this is the southern part of Copenhagen, post code 2300

København NV – this is the Northwest part of the city, post 2400

København Ø – this is the east part or Østerbro area, post code 2100

København K – this is the center of the city – downtown, post codes range from 1000 - 1499 

København SV – this is the Southwest part of the city, post code is 2450

The other Copenhagen listings will have a municipality/kommune listed, such as Farum, Taastrup, Hvidovre, Lyngby, etc.. You can find their corresponding postcodes here. 

Cities like Aarhus usually have their listings divided into suburbs like Højbjerg, Risskov, Åbyhøj, etc., so you will need to get a map and locate the various areas of the city before starting your search.

This is the same for many of the larger cities.

I hope these terms will get you started in finding a nice place to live.

Now that you have your list of danish rental terms, you can start searching for your new home here.