Frequently asked questions: Life in student housing
Find the answers to all your questions about living with us.
About living in student housing
Frequently asked questions about living in student housing with SSN.
Locked out during daytime
If you lock yourself out, and have a key card for your student housing, you can easily lock yourself in via My key card on My Page or in the app. There you have the opportunity to open all the doors you have access to.
(Opening from the web will not work if the internet on the building is down, so we do not recommend using the mobile as a permanent "key").If you do not have a key card, you can contact your local SSN service office during opening hours.
Alternatively you can contact the welfare host at your student housing between 3pm and 10pm. The service is post-invoiced. The current price can be found in the price list (under "Lock-in daytime janitor/ resident assistant").
Contact information for your welfare host can be found on My page or in the Student Sørøst app under the student housing service and My tenancy.
Locked out in the evening/night/weekend
If you have lost your key/locked yourself out outside of opening hours (or at weekends) and the resident assistant is not available, the security company can be contacted on +47 33 30 75 44. This service has a fee and will be invoiced (check the pricelist for current price).
The security company serves all campuses, except Rauland.
You will find information about the network connection in your student housing by clicking into the correct property (where you live) under Our student housing. Scroll to Internet in the list.
In the event of connection problems, you can restart the router yourself.
Still no internet-connection? Our Technology department can assist you, send in your support inquiry via our contact form.
No.
Unfortunately, there is no streaming service or subscription linked to the TVs in the common rooms. You must have a subscription yourself, but you can of course use the TV as a screen.
If an HDMI cable is missing for the screen in your common room, you can contact the janitor via My page (enter Error/damage) to get a new one :)
Report errors / omissions to the janitor via My Page
We have janitors dedicated to all our student housings, which makes it extra safe and predictable to stay with us. You report messages / errors / defects or your need for repairs to the janitor via My Page, and the operations department will correct errors / defects within two days.
The operations department replaces light bulbs in all common rooms such as TV rooms, common kitchens, hallways and basement rooms. In your own unit, you report it to the janitor yourself if you need light bulbs (via My Page). If problems occur on fluorescent tubes / lighters and special bulbs, a message must also be entered on My page.
Questions about caretaker or cleaning services?
You can contact our operation or cleaning department if you have questions about our caretaker or cleaning services.
Report any defects immediately
If you discover faults or defects in your housing unit or common areas, please report them here in our contact form or on My page as soon as possible.
Read more about reporting damages and defects.
Critical errors or omissions?
In an emergency situation where the deficiencies is critical for the building or its occupants, please call SSN's emergency number 31 00 95 00.
In case of an accident, fire or other emergency, call the emergency numbers:
Fire: 110
Police: 112
Ambulance: 113
Emergency room: 116 117
Thank you for helping us!
Yes :)
Our contracts run until 31 July, and new lease agreements start on 1 August, so if you have agreed to renew your contract, you will keep your student housing over the summer.
If you wish to rent longer than what the agreement stipulates, you are welcome to contact us.
Check your contract
How long you can stay in your student housing depends on the rental period you have stipulated in your contract. You will find your contract on My Page and here you will also find the duration of your lease under §1 and the section "Rental period".
New contract once a year
Our leases run until July 31. If you are a student at the University of Southeast Norway, the Police Academy in Stavern, The Technical School in Viken or the The Technical School in Vestfold and Telemark, you will in April receive an offer for a new lease for your student housing unit.
The offer is valid from 1 August and will be sent to you via e-mail with information about deadlines and what you must do to renew your contract. We ask you to read through the new contract, as changes may have been made (such as a price change).
Read more about the new contract.
There are some criteria you must meet to be offered a new contract:
You must not have unpaid rent at the time your application is processed.
You must not have breached the lease or terminated the contract before it expires.
Why was I not offered a new contract?
The maximum period of residence in SSN's student housing is five years.
Find information at the info page for your student housing
Information about parking in connection with your residential area can be found under "Parking" at Our student housing (choose the residence you live at).
At some of our properties it is possible to rent a parking space. To apply for a parking space, you must initially have a lease with us. You apply via My page by going to My tenancy and "Apply for additional products". You may read more about rental of parking space here.
It is important that you park only in marked parking spaces and not in front of entrances or in the roadway where it may block snowmobiles or emergency vehicles. Incorrectly parked cars may be removed without notice.
It is well organised for the use of bicycles at USN's campuses.
Read about parking at USN by clicking further into your campus and selecting "How to get to campus".
Yes, at some of our properties it is possible to rent a parking space. You can read more about parking at your student housing by checking out Our housing and Parking at the desired property.
To apply for the rental of a parking space, you must initially have a lease with us. You apply via My Page by going to My Tenancy and Apply for additional products". If there is a space available, you will receive an offer to rent from us, if not, you will be placed on a waiting list.
See the price list for prices for renting a parking space.
If you have not been allocated housing yet, but wish to apply for a parking space, you can contact us and we will help you.
Yes! Many student housing areas have a swap shelf or even a swap room. Here you can find used items for your dorm or drop off items you don't need yourself.
Read more about the swap shelves and find out if there's one where you live.
Remember to think about the environment, recycle and sort your waste:
All our student accommodation has eco-friendly waste stations. Make sure you know where your closest one is located and use the marked containers to sort waste correctly.
You will find information about where the rubbish bins are located on the page for your residential area, under "Waste disposal".
Thank you for helping!
Do you want to sublease your student housing? Remember the following:
Sublease is only allowed with written permission from SSN.
The person you sublease to, must be a student affiliated with SSN, either at USN, the Police University College in Stavern, Fagskolen Tinius Olsen (Kongsberg) or Folkeuniversitetet South-East Norway.
You must independently find a suitable tenant who wants to sublet your student accommodation, before you contact us to gain permission.
You are still liable as tenant according to the Tenancy Agreement, even though your accommodation is sublet. As long as your name is on the lease, you are the one SSN will deal with and contact when needed.
The sub-tenant is obliged to read the provisions in section12-3 of the Tenancy Agreement regarding responsibility for the accommodation and payment of rent for subleasing.
You cannot demand a higher rent than you pay yourself.
We recommend that you sign a contract with your sub-tenant.
Questions regarding sublease or permission to do so should be sent to:
[email protected]
For the mail to arrive you need to:
Register your new address.
Mark your new mailbox with the correct address.
Give your contacts your new address.
Check/clear out your mailbox regularly!
Read more about address, change of address and mailbox here.
Yes, you may have visitors:
It is allowed to have overnight guests for up to ten days during the semester.
The tenant must be present during the visit and report to SSN if they have visitors overnight.
It is not allowed to let more people live in the housing unit than what is calculated by SSN.
Quiet between 11 pm (12) and 8 am
According to the housing regulations, residents must not make noise after 23.00 Sunday-Thursday and after 24.00 Friday-Saturday.
If you are bothered by noisy neighbours, you may proceed as follows:
Talk to them and ask them to turn down the music and show consideration for others.
Talk to the welfare host at your building, he/she may be able to help. Contact information to your welfare host is available at My page on desktop or in the app under Student housing/My tenancy.
Send a complaint to SSN – remember to specify time, place and room number.
Call the police – phone: 02800.
After 11:00 pm on weekdays and 12:00 on days before public holidays, and until 08:00, there must be peace in the housing units, as well as on the property in general. This also includes the understanding that one must take into account one's co-tenants' need for peace of mind even during the day.
Our rental contracts are valid for one year at a time, from 1st August to 31st July. Approximately three months before your contract expires, we will send you a new one (around April/May). If you wish to continue living in your student housing unit, you must sign the new contract on My Page within three days of receiving the offer.
Here's how you sign the new contract.
NB! Please read through your new contract carefully before signing, as there may be important changes you need to know about, such as the price.
If you have not received an offer for a new contract, it may be because you no longer meet the allocation criteria.
Learn more about the reasons why you have not been offered a new contract.
To sign your new contract you must first log in to My page. Then, open the link you received on your renewal (an email from SSN), and you will receive an email with a contract for signing.
If you have a Norwegian bank account you can sign the contract electronically, you will receive an email from Signant with the option to sign electronically.
NB! Read through your new contract before you sign it, there might be changes you should know about, such as price.
If you don't have a Norwegian bank account you need to sign your contract manually and send it back to us by answering the email with the signed contract attached.
It is important that you return the signed contract within 3 days of receiving the offer. If we do not receive the signed contract within the deadline, the offer will lapse and the housing will be allocated to someone else.
Offers of new leases to existing residents are sent out once a year (approximately in April/May, which is about three months before the old lease expires on July 31).
To be offered a new lease contract, you must still meet the allocation criteria for student housing. If you have breach of contract, this may be the reason why you have not been offered a new contract.
By breach of contract we mean such as:
Repeated non-payment of rent. If you have paid your debts, you will be offered a new contract.
Repeated violations of the rules of order.
Illegal drug-related episodes.
Others who are not offered a new contract:
Residents who are PhD students, apprentices, and upper secondary students who will not be studying at SSN-affiliated educational institutions, will not receive offers for new contracts, but can submit a new ordinary application and thus enter the waiting list after ordinary students have been allocated housing. You might have to settle for moving out in the meantime, and apply again from 1 September.
You create a user on My Page yourself.
On My Page, you can apply for student housing and health expence refund. This is also where you report faults and deficiencies in your student housing, or report noise etc. This is also where those of you with a key card can change the PIN code to your card, or even lock yourself in digitally.
You will also find an overview of your tenancy, such as an invoice for rent and you can apply for additional services such as storage or parking space. You see an overview of ongoing and previous applications.
Remember to update your contact information on My Page, for example if you change your telephone number or get a new e-mail address. It is important that your contact information is up to date, so that we as the lessor can get in touch with you. We usually use e-mail or SMS when we send you information.
Yes, if a storage room is not included for your unit, you can in many cases apply to rent a storage room on My page. Go to My tenancy and Apply for additional products. If there is a vacant storage room, you will get a rental offer.
Yes, at some of our properties it is possible to rent a parking space. You can read more about parking at your student housing by checking out Our housing and Parking at the desired property.
To apply for the rental of a parking space, you must initially have a lease with us. You apply via My Page by going to My Tenancy and Apply for additional products". If there is a space available, you will receive an offer to rent from us, if not, you will be placed on a waiting list.
See the price list for prices for renting a parking space.
If you have not been allocated housing yet, but wish to apply for a parking space, you can contact us and we will help you.
Save energy, save the environment!
SSN is very conscious about the environment and sustainability, and we are already doing a lot to save electricity in our student housing. But we depend on our residents to do their part too!
With simple measures, you can help us save both the environment and money. Energy saving results in lower costs, which in turn can benefit you.
To save power:
Turn off the lights when you leave your housing unit or common room.
If you need to open windows for some fresh air; do so quickly and efficiently, do not leave the window ajar during the winter.
By lowering the temperature by 1 degree, you reduce consumption by 5%.
Lower the temperature when you go home on holiday, both in your own unit and floor heating in the bathroom.
More power saving tips can be found here.
See all our frequently asked questions about student housing.