Seven apartments in central Aarhus that were approved as student housing are instead being rented to tourists through Airbnb and Booking.com, DR’s consumer program Kontant has found.
The homes are located in Grønnegade in the heart of Aarhus. According to reporting by DR, neighbors say the newly built apartments are used exclusively for short term rentals. When Kontant checked who was staying there on a weekday, everyone the program met said they were tourists.
The apartments are listed by the company Selected Homes, as stated on the booking sites. Kontant rented one of them and paid 2,147 kroner for two nights.
Selected Homes was recently acquired by a network calling itself Nest Collection. Jyllands-Posten reported last year that the company had rented out up to 170 apartments in Copenhagen. DR reported in April that Horesta, the industry association for hotels and restaurants, has filed a police report against Nest Collection.
From Aldi store to student housing permit
The building previously housed an Aldi supermarket. Property investor Jan Vestergaard Nielsen bought the premises when the store closed. In 2024 he applied to Aarhus Municipality for permission to convert it into student housing, and the application was approved.
No students ever moved in. Nielsen instead allowed Nest Collection to rent out the apartments. He had no comment when Kontant reached him.
Jakob Busse, a lawyer at the firm CPH LEX who specializes in housing cases, told Kontant that short term letting counts as hotel operations. That requires approval from the authorities, which these homes do not have. Under current rules, an apartment may be rented out through a platform such as Airbnb for up to 70 days a year.
Emma Holck-Christensen lives in a dormitory apartment on the floors above. She told Kontant the situation feels rough, as she has struggled to find student housing in Aarhus at reasonable prices.
Nicolai Bang, the Aarhus councilor with top political responsibility for the department issuing building permits, said the municipality has little room to intervene. Once a plan is approved, he said, the city has few options to influence what happens next.
New bill sent for consultation
In January, a broad majority in the Folketing agreed on measures to make it easier for authorities to detect cheating and impose tougher sanctions. The bill was sent for public consultation on Wednesday. Busse noted that the current penalty risk is a fine of 20,000 kroner.
The Danish Planning and Rural Districts Agency, which supervises illegal short term rentals, says it has an open supervision case against Nest Collection but will not comment on the specific matter. Director Asger Seerup said the company reads the rules as permitting rentals in apartments without a residence requirement.
Nest Collection states that it has never acted in bad faith or tried to circumvent the rules, and it is calling for clearer regulation. The company says it has vacated more than 60 apartments since Jyllands-Posten’s coverage.
