Residents of Lakea’s collapsed housing scheme fight for homes in unprecedented legal battle

Residents who paid toward owning their homes under Lakea’s now-defunct Omaksi housing model are launching multiple legal actions to block property sales and secure their rights, public broadcaster Yle reports. The moves come as the bankruptcy estate prepares to sell off buildings, leaving hundreds who invested tens of thousands of euros facing the loss of their homes.

The newly elected board of the Omaksi Residents’ Support Association has filed a series of claims, including petitions to annul bankruptcy rulings, recognize residents’ legal standing as de facto owners, and halt property transactions. Urgency is critical, as the bankruptcy estate is actively marketing the buildings for sale.

At stake are some 445 Omaksi agreements, under which residents paid monthly fees—often totaling hundreds of thousands of euros over years—toward eventually owning their apartments after 20 years. Despite these payments, the bankruptcy estate treats them as mere tenants, a classification they are now challenging in court.

Key legal actions underway include:

An injunction to block property sales A declaratory action to establish residents’ legal rights to apartment shares Complaints over creditors’ meeting procedures and missed deadlines for appealing the bankruptcy ruling Criminal investigations, with 430 complainants, in preliminary review by the National Bureau of Investigation

Markus Rosti, chair of the support association, stressed the need to clarify the Omaksi contracts’ legal status. “There is no legislation covering this type of agreement,” he told Yle. Law firm Metsämäki Oy, representing the residents, called the case “challenging, unique, and extensive.”

The bankruptcy estate declared Omaksi contracts void last November, demanding residents sign new rental agreements. About 50 have refused, insisting on their original terms. With no precedent for the hybrid ownership-lease model, courts must now determine whether residents hold any claim to the properties—or if their investments are lost.