Housing benefit is a grant that you can get to help pay your rent if you are renting a home with your own kitchen or kitchenette. You can apply for housing benefit even if you are living in Denmark only for a short period of time. However, you have to live at the residence you are applying for on a permanent basis to get housing benefit.
Housing benefits are administered by Udbetaling Danmark – Public Benefits Administration.
If you are renting a home with your own kitchen or kitchenette, you might qualify for housing benefits.
How much the housing benefits amounts to depends on:
You can apply for housing benefit even if you are living in Denmark only for a short period of time. However, you have to live at the residence you are applying for on a permanent basis to get housing benefit.
The housing benefit is tax free.
If you are receiving social assistance, it may have an impact on your housing benefit.
If there are more than one person in the household, only one of you can receive housing benefits. The housing benefits will be paid to the applicant or the housing organisation. The housing organisation will then deduct the amount from the rent.
If several people are living together, everyone apart from the applicant must sign as being jointly and severally liable. This means that every adult in the household are legally responsible for repaying if you receive too much in housing benefits. This only applies for the period where you are cohabiting.
Once you have made the calculation, you can proceed directly to the application form for housing benefits.
You have to apply for housing benefits digitally. There is only one person living in the home who can apply for housing benefits.
Housing benefit is paid on the first working day of the month.
Your housing benefit will be paid directly to your NemKonto. If your home is a social tenant housing, the housing benefit can be paid directly to your housing organisation which will then deduct the amount from your rent.
Once your application has been processed, Udbetaling Danmark will send you a letter with more information on how it will be paid.
You need to notify Udbetaling Danmark of changes that might impact your housing benefits.
For instance:
Your entitlement to receive housing benefits stops the day you no longer live in the home.
You will need a power of attorney if you contact Udbetaling Danmark on behalf of others. This also applies if you are married or cohabiting, if your name is not listed on the application for housing benefits.
Udbetaling Danmark, Housing benefits will automatically be notified when you become a pensioner. You do not need to inform Udbetaling Danmark of this. You will then receive a letter with a new calculation of your housing benefits.
When you receive benefits from Udbetaling Danmark, you have a duty to notify us of changes. This means that you are obliged to immediately notify Udbetaling Danmark if your circumstances change and if these changes have an impact on the benefits you are applying for or receiving.
Your housing benefit depends on your income. When the month is passed, Udbetaling Danmark calculates whether you have received the housing benefit that you are entitled to. The calculation is based on information about your income from The Danish Tax Agency.
Each month Udbetaling Danmark will recalculate your housing benefit if your income has changed.
If the change in income means that you have received too much or too little in housing benefit, the amount will automatically be deducted from or added to your housing benefit for the following month.
Your housing benefit are only adjusted if your income increases or decreases by more than DKK 800 in a month and if this results in your housing benefit changing by more than DKK 200.
Therefore, your housing benefit will also be calculated once per year where all the smaller changes are included. Udbetaling Danmark will then send you a letter with a statement of your housing benefit for the entire year.
If you resign or loose your job, you need to be aware of the fact that your employer will transfer your holiday pay to FerieKonto. The holiday pay will also be reported to The Danish Tax Authority. This means that the holiday income will be counted as income for the month - even though you have not received the money yet.
Subsequently you may receive less in housing benefit.
When you later receive the holiday pay, it will not be counted as income.
When you are receiving housing benefit, you will receive letters from Udbetaling Danmark on an ongoing basis.
All the letters will be written in Danish. Therefore, it may be a good idea to ask a friend or acquaintance to translate the letters if you do not understand Danish. You are also always welcome to call Udbetaling Danmark if you have any questions.
If you are contacting Udbetaling Danmark on behalf of someone else, you need to have the authority to do so. This also applies if you are cohabiting and you just need to speak to Udbetaling Danmark about the case.
If someone else is going to contact Udbetaling Danmark on your behalf, you need to provide that person with a written authority.
You can digitally provide another person with the authority to act on your behalf. That person will then be able to discuss, receive information about or assume full responsibility of your case. You can provide authority for housing benefits only or for several other areas that Udbetaling Danmark deals with. The authority does not provide access to digital self-service functions.
If the person who wants to provide you with an authority, does not have MitID, you can use a written letter of authority. The form can be filled out on the computer or by hand, and it needs to be signed by the person giving you the authority.
If you have a written letter of authority from someone receiving housing benefits, you can send the signed letter digitally. If you are using a cell phone, you can take a picture of the letter and attach it. The authority does not provide access to digital self-service functions.
You can also send the letter of authority by post to Udbetaling Danmark, Kongens Vænge 8, 3400 Hillerød. Please note that it may take up to a week before Udbetaling Danmark receives the letter.
If you have received more in housing benefits than you are entitled to, you have to pay it back to Udbetaling Danmark – Public Benefits Administration.
If you have to pay money back, it may be for one of the following reasons:
If you have received too much in housing benefit, you will receive a letter from Udbetaling Danmark explaining how much you have to pay back and why. If you have received this letter, you can pay the entire amount in one lump sum by transferring the money to Udbetaling Danmark’s bank account:
