Owner lets seven approved Aarhus student flats to tourists

Seven newly built apartments in central Aarhus that were approved as student housing are instead being rented to tourists through Airbnb and Booking.com, an investigation by DR’s consumer programme Kontant has found.

The apartments are located on Grønnegade, in a building that previously housed an Aldi shop. Neighbours told Kontant that the flats are used exclusively for short-term rentals. On a randomly chosen weekday, everyone the programme met in the apartments said they were tourists.

Jakob Busse, a lawyer at CPH LEX who specialises in housing cases, said the arrangement was not permitted without approval for hotel operations.

“You cannot use it for short-term rentals, because then it is hotel operations. They have not been approved for that. Official approval is required before housing can be used as a hotel,” he said.

Under current rules, people are allowed to rent out their apartment through a platform such as Airbnb for up to 70 days.

Part of a larger rental network

The apartments are listed by Selected Homes. The company was recently acquired by a network called Nest Collection.

Jyllands-Posten reported last year that the network had rented out as many as 170 apartments in Copenhagen. The company has now expanded into the Aarhus housing market.

Emma Holck-Christensen, a student who lives in a student residence on the floors above the apartments, said the arrangement was unfair.

“It is a bit cheeky. We have tried to find student housing in Aarhus at reasonable prices ourselves, and it is extremely difficult,” she said.

Horesta, the trade association for hotels and restaurants, has also criticised Nest Collection. DR reported in April that Horesta had reported the company to the police because it believed the rentals were illegal.

Permission was granted for student housing

The property investor Jan Vestergaard Nielsen bought the premises after the Aldi shop closed. In 2024, he applied to Aarhus Municipality for permission to convert the former shop into student housing, and the application was approved.

However, no students moved into the apartments. Instead, Nielsen allowed Nest Collection to rent them out.

Kontant rented one of the apartments for 2,147 kroner for two nights.

Nicolai Bang, the Aarhus councillor with overall political responsibility for the administration that issues building permits, said the municipality had limited options once permission had been granted.

“As soon as we have approved the plan, we do not have many opportunities to intervene in what happens afterwards. It is a general problem when people do not act in good faith,” he said.

Nest Collection said the rentals complied with the rules as it understood them.

“As we have interpreted the rules, apartments without a residence requirement are fine,” said Asger Seerup, the company’s director.

Government plans tougher enforcement

There is broad political agreement that so-called shadow hotels should not be allowed. The term refers to extensive short-term rentals, typically through Airbnb. In several cases, such rentals breach rules on residence requirements and the maximum number of days a home may be rented out.

However, legislation has not kept pace with the practice. In January, a broad majority in the Danish parliament agreed on measures intended to make it easier for authorities to detect violations and impose tougher sanctions. The bill was sent out for consultation on Wednesday.

“Under the rules as they stand today, the fine can be 20,000 kroner. That is not much when you consider how much money is at stake,” Busse said.

The Danish Planning and Rural Development Agency is responsible for supervising illegal short-term rentals. It said it has an open supervisory case involving Nest Collection but declined to comment on the specific case.

Nest Collection said it had never acted in bad faith or tried to circumvent the rules. The company also called for clearer legislation and said it had vacated more than 60 apartments following Jyllands-Posten’s investigation.

Jan Vestergaard Nielsen, the owner of the seven apartments on Grønnegade, declined to comment when contacted by Kontant.