The apartment round: what to check inside the apartments

On an apartment round, every apartment in the housing company is visited, the parts the company is responsible for are checked and the observations are recorded. The aim is not to find every scratch, but to build a picture of what is happening in the building and to spot small changes early that may point to a bigger problem.

Why the apartments need to be visited

The chair of the board can walk through the stairwell and conclude that all looks well: the walls are tidy, the lights work and the basement corridor is clean. But many risk points are inside the apartments, in the floor drains, pipework, windows and doors. A round of the shared spaces tells you nothing about them.

An experienced maintenance professional sees the same space differently, because they know where to look. Blistering paint or a darkened corner may indicate moisture in the structure. A slow floor drain may signal the start of a blockage, and a wobbly drain pipe in the sink cabinet may point to inadequate pipe supports. On their own, these are small things. Left unnoticed for years, they can grow into water damage or an expensive repair.

Each apartment is part of a larger whole. A misting window in one apartment may be a one-off. If the same thing happens in ten apartments, the question changes: is the cause the windows, the ventilation, indoor humidity or the structure? This overall picture is exactly what fault reports do not provide.

What the round is and what it is not

An apartment round is systematic observation and preventive maintenance. It is not a condition survey, a moisture investigation or an opening-up of structures. A damp patch does not tell you the cause or extent of damage, and a crack does not automatically mean a structural problem. The observations show what needs to be investigated further.

Nor is the round an assessment of the resident’s life. The aim is to look at the building, not the person. An observation is described as an observation: “there is a damp patch on the wall” is a neutral statement, whereas “the resident has caused moisture damage” is a claim that, if necessary, is for an expert to investigate.

What to look at in an apartment

Bathroom and wet rooms

Water is part of normal use in a bathroom, so the key is to tell use apart from an anomaly. Look for changes in surfaces, the silicone seals, the area around the floor drain and the connections of fixtures. Checking and cleaning the floor drain is one of the most effective ways to prevent water damage. A surface inspection tells you nothing about the inside of the structures, so the cause of an unusual observation is investigated, not guessed at.

Kitchen

A small leak in the sink cabinet can go unnoticed for a long time if nobody looks there. Check the pipe connections, signs of moisture, swollen materials and the area around the dishwasher. Pipe supports, meaning the condition of the brackets that hold the pipes, are easily forgotten, even though a loose bracket puts strain on the joints.

Windows and doors

Draughts, misting, the condition of the seals, how the fittings work and changes in the frames and sashes tell you a lot. Maintenance of windows, exterior doors and balcony doors includes, for example, oiling and adjusting the fittings. From 1 October 2026 the housing company is responsible for windows as a whole unless the articles of association provide otherwise, so information on the condition of the windows is more important to the company than before. Read more: the change in responsibility for windows.

Ventilation and fire safety

You cannot always see how the ventilation is working, but the resident knows whether the apartment feels stuffy or the bathroom is slow to dry. At the same time, the filters in the fresh air vents and the smoke alarms are checked. The resident’s most important observation is often a simple one: “It never used to be like this.”

Checklist

1. New damp patches on the ceiling, walls or floor
2. Unusual smells
3. Changes around plumbing fixtures
4. Anomalies in pipe joints and supports
5. Condition and cleanliness of the floor drain
6. Changes in bathroom surfaces and seals
7. Window misting, draughts and damage
8. Doors or windows that are hard to operate
9. Ventilation problems and clogged filters
10. Whether the smoke alarms work
11. Sites of earlier repairs and recurring minor faults
12. Changes noticed by the resident

What the law says

The Limited Liability Housing Companies Act (asunto-osakeyhtiölaki, 1599/2009) does not require apartment rounds at set intervals. It does, however, give a right of access: a board member, the property manager and anyone authorised by them have the right to enter an apartment when this is necessary to supervise its condition and upkeep or to carry out or supervise maintenance or alteration work (chapter 8, section 1). The visit is arranged at a time that suits the shareholder and the resident, unless the urgency or nature of the work prevents this.

An amendment that came into force on 1 October 2026 clarified the procedure. If a suitable time cannot be agreed for a reason attributable to the shareholder or resident, even though they have been given enough time to reply, the visit can be made after a reasonable period at a time notified in advance. A notice must then be left in the apartment stating the reason for the visit, the name of the person leaving it and the contact details of whoever can provide more information. If access is refused, a board member and the property manager have the right to request executive assistance from the police. In most cases the matter is resolved by agreeing a new time.

The shareholder, for their part, must notify the company without delay of a fault that the company is responsible for repairing (chapter 4, section 8). They do not need to know the technical cause of the fault. See fault reporting in a housing company.

Recording the observations

A round has not failed if no significant anomalies are found. A documented “nothing to report” is a point of comparison: if a new damp patch later appears in the apartment, the situation can be compared with the earlier one. When the same round is repeated regularly, the reports build up a history that shows whether problems are increasing or decreasing.

Boards, property managers and residents change, but the building remains. So record observations in a way that a later board will also understand: what was observed, where and when, what was done about it and whether the situation changed. The information also supports the statutory maintenance needs report (kunnossapitotarveselvitys) and helps justify repair decisions to the shareholders.

The round can be carried out by the maintenance company as part of the maintenance contract or ordered separately. The people behind Huoneistokierros have more than 20 years of experience in preventive maintenance in apartments: every apartment is covered in the same visit and the observations are compiled into an electronic report.

Questions before the round

1. What do you want to find out on the round?
2. What will be checked, and what maintenance work will be done at the same time, for example cleaning the floor drains?
3. How will residents be informed and how will their observations be included?
4. How will observations be documented, and will they be compared with the previous round?
5. Who decides on further investigations if something unusual is found?
6. How will the results feed into maintenance planning?

Frequently asked questions

Is an apartment round required by law?

No. The law gives the company the right to enter an apartment when necessary to supervise its condition and upkeep, but it does not require rounds to be carried out at set intervals.

Is an apartment round the same as a condition inspection?

No. An apartment round is based on observation and preventive maintenance. A condition assessment and a condition survey are separately defined studies with their own scope and purpose.

What is the difference between an apartment round and a building walk-through?

On a building walk-through, the board looks at the building from the outside and from the shared spaces. An apartment round complements this from inside the apartments, which a round of the shared spaces does not reach. Read also about hidden defects in a housing company.

This article provides general information and does not replace case-specific legal or technical advice.