Court orders JM Suomi to pay 67,000 euros over low ceilings

JM Suomi must pay about 67,000 euros in price reductions for apartments with sections of ceiling that are too low, the Western Uusimaa District Court has ruled, Yle reports.

The case involved 15 apartments bought during construction by three companies in the Helsinki housing company Asunto Oy Helsingin Herttoniemen Läkkiseppä. The reduced ceiling height is caused by boxed-in ventilation ducts, which leave about 2.3 to 2.4 metres of clearance in the affected sections.

Rules in force during construction required a minimum ceiling height of 2.5 metres in living spaces. A limited part of a room could be lower, but not below 2.2 metres. The regulations did not define what counted as a limited part.

The court said the question should be assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Space above fixed cupboards could be considered limited in qualitative terms, while the proportion of lower space had to be judged in relation to the technical solution used in the apartment.

A 2024 regulation allows lower sections to cover up to one-fifth of a room’s floor area to accommodate apartment-specific ventilation. The court considered that limit a reasonable guide to interpreting the earlier rules. In the rooms at issue, lower sections covered 14 to 42 per cent of the floor area. The court found that the portion exceeding 20 per cent amounted to a defect.

The buyers argued that the low-ceiling sections should have been marketed as “other space” rather than living space. The court found that they were living space and ordered a price reduction equal to 20 per cent of the price per square metre for the defective floor area.

The buyers’ legal costs were about 125,000 euros, half of which JM Suomi was ordered to pay. The ruling is not final and can be appealed to the Court of Appeal.