Concerns over possible Scandia Housing bankruptcy

Property management agency being reorganised, but managing director reassures renters and property owners the company is still in business

Despite reports to the contrary, property management agency Scandia Housing is reassuring clients that it is not on the brink of bankruptcy.

Fears of the company’s demise have been stoked by a statement on its website that the company was reorganising and that it had “stopped payments”.

Scandia Housing have also released a press statement, stating that no employees had been fired after reports that an anonymous source within the company told Newspaq that 50 employees had been laid off as a result of the company’s financial situation.

Attempts by The Copenhagen Post to reach its managing director, Peter Høyer, have been unsuccessful, but speaking with the Newspaq news bureau he said the company, which is one of the largest property management agencies in Denmark, was still operating. 

“As far as I’m aware we’re not on the verge of closing,” Høyer said. “And if anyone should know, I would.”

Høyer added that he expected the company would pay all its clients the money they were due.

Many of the company’s 9,700 clients remained unconvinced. Renters report being unable to come into contact with the company’s office, while homeowners letting their properties through the agency said they had not been paid for months.

“We’ve not received any money since November,” Tony Williamson, who owns a suburban Copenhagen home being rented out through the company, told The Copenhagen Post. “They’ve even had the nerve to charge the tenant this month’s rent too, but we haven’t been paid.”

According to the terms of Scandia’s agreements with property owners, tenants pay rent to Scanida Housing, which withholds 15 percent as its fee and then transfers the remaining amount to the owner.

“They have power of attorney over our rent finances,” Williamson explained. “There is nothing we can do.”

In the event of a bankruptcy, Jan Schøtt-Petersen, a lawyer and spokesperson for Danske Boligadvokater, an association of lawyers specialising in property law, said renters were “very protected”. 

In such cases, rental contracts would remain valid and renters’ deposits would still be returned to them. The expense of paying them, however, would fall to the owners themselves, instead of Scandia Housing.

For Williamson that would mean an unexpected 80,000 kroner payment.

“It’s completely ridiculous,” Williamson said. “There’s a huge amount of financial trust that goes into these sorts of agreements. And the fact that we have received no explanation, no reassurance and no apology is just scandalous.”




  • Becoming a stranger in your own country

    Becoming a stranger in your own country

    Many stories are heard about internationals moving to Denmark for the first time. They face hardships when finding a job, a place to live, or a sense of belonging. But what about Danes coming back home? Holding Danish citizenship doesn’t mean your path home will be smoother. To shed light on what returning Danes are facing, Michael Bach Petersen, Secretary General of Danes Worldwide, unpacks the reality behind moving back

  • EU Foreign Ministers meet in Denmark to strategize a forced Russia-Ukraine peace deal

    EU Foreign Ministers meet in Denmark to strategize a forced Russia-Ukraine peace deal

    Foreign ministers from 11 European countries convened on the Danish island of Bornholm on April 28-29 to discuss Nordic-Baltic security, enhanced Russian sanctions, and a way forward for the fraught peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow

  • How small cubes spark great green opportunities: a Chinese engineer’s entrepreneurial journey in Denmark

    How small cubes spark great green opportunities: a Chinese engineer’s entrepreneurial journey in Denmark

    Hao Yin, CEO of a high-tech start-up TEGnology, shares how he transformed a niche patent into marketable products as an engineer-turned-businessman, after navigating early setbacks. “We can’t just wait for ‘groundbreaking innovations’ and risk missing the market window,” he says. “The key is maximising the potential of existing technologies in the right contexts.”

  • Gangs of Copenhagen

    Gangs of Copenhagen

    While Copenhagen is rated one of the safest cities in the world year after year, it is no stranger to organized crime, which often springs from highly professional syndicates operating from the shadows of the capital. These are the most important criminal groups active in the city

  • “The Danish underworld is now more tied to Scandinavia”

    “The Danish underworld is now more tied to Scandinavia”

    Carsten Norton is the author of several books about crime and gangs in Denmark, a journalist, and a crime specialist for Danish media such as TV 2 and Ekstra Bladet.

  • Right wing parties want nuclear power in Denmark

    Right wing parties want nuclear power in Denmark

    For 40 years, there has been a ban on nuclear power in Denmark. This may change after all right-wing parties in the Danish Parliament have expressed a desire to remove the ban.

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.