SUMMARY

EDITORIAL

Read our Kulmilla magazine

Kulmilla is our renewed residents’ magazine. We will publish a summary of the most important topics in English in the future, so that as many people as possible can have access to the magazine’s content. I warmly welcome you to the readership of the magazine. Hopefully, you will find useful information in the magazine and enjoy being with us. We are also happy to receive feedback, which you can send to viestinta@espoonasunnot.fi.

Hanna-Maija Loikkanen

Editor

Espoon Asunnot got a Green Office sertificate

WWF has awarded Espoon Asunnot the Green Office certificate. Receiving the certificate requires that the company has an environmental programme in place to monitor and develop its environmentally responsible activities. In addition, it is required to pass the WWF office check.

The Green Office environmental system enables companies to reduce the carbon footprint of the workplace, decrease the consumption of natural resources and, at the same time, achieve cost savings.

We are committed to Green Office’s policies, including efficient recycling and sorting, taking environmental considerations into account in procurement, promoting sustainable mobility and reducing electricity consumption.

With the help of Green Office, we want to encourage both our staff and our residents to do small and large ecological deeds.

→ wwf.fi/greenoffice/en

INSIDE THE SAME WALLS

Different lifestyles sometimes cause quarrel in the neighbourhood. A good neighbourly spirit is preserved when matters are raised in a timely and appropriate manner.

Being neighbours sometimes requires the same kind of adaptability and flexibility as living in the same household with another person. Development specialist Anna-Liisa Saukkonen and resident ombudsman Tarja Fonselius also encourage residents to get to know each other. Catching up and exchanging basic information can help neighbours understand each other.

It is the noise that causes the most resentment among neighbours.

“You always hear the sounds of living in a block of flats, and it is OK. What is perceived as disturbing noise is very individual,” Fonselius says.

If you find something very disturbing, Fonselius urges you to bring the matter up with the parties immediately. Prolonging things just inflames feelings, and then you might easily say worse things than you intended.

She also calls for patience: perhaps the problem is not one that can be resolved in an instant.

“It is easy to think that the dog should be silenced immediately or the children’s noise should stop completely at the moment the matter is raised.”

Text Tiina Parikka

PILLARS OF BEING A GOOD NEIGHBOUR:

• Say hello when you see your neighbour. • Put yourself in their shoes. • Avoid excessive noise. • Tell them about the disturbance.

IN THE EVENT OF A DISTURBANCE:

• Raise the issue with the neighbour concerned in a proper and timely manner. Also give them time to fix it.

• If the situation cannot be resolved by discussion, contact the property manager. If necessary, we arrange mediation between neighbours who have come into conflict.

• If the disturbance is a frightening noise, for example, do not go into the situation yourself but call for help. If nothing else helps, you can file an official disturbance report.

ANTICIPATION TO HELP WITH ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY FOR RENT

1.

Take a deep breath. Do not resort to emergency solutions such as instant loans.

2.

Contact your lessor. Ask if you can agree on a payment plan.

3.

Try to negotiate extended payment time to pay other necessary invoices.

4.

You are not alone. Feel free to seek help in managing your economy more systematically.

Rent day is coming up but you are out of money? It is not worth worrying about the situation alone, as support is available.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS can be encountered by anyone.

“A change in life, such as sickness, divorce or retirement, may be behind the economic difficulties. Now, during the pandemic, many have also encountered difficulties due to lay-offs or the end of small additional work,” says project manager Aura Pylkkänen of Takuusäätiö, which provides financial and debt counselling.

She emphasises that managing financial affairs is a skill that can be learned. It is never too late to start.

“Income and expenses should be listed, for example, once a week,” says Pylkkänen.

Listing reveals unexpected costs: for example, more money may be spent on impulse shopping or habits than expected.

“Take-away coffee, cigarettes and streaming services are small streams as single costs. They easily make a big river.”

Advice and support are also available for financial management.

Financial and debt counselling is provided, for example, by Takuusäätiö’s free Velkalinja (“Debt line”) telephone service and Kysy rahasta (“Ask about money”) chat.

The Legal Aid Office has its own financial and debt counselling service. Support is also provided by Espoo Adult Social Work, diaconal work of parishes and the low-threshold financial counselling centre Taneli.

Espoon Asunnot’s housing advisors also help with housing problems.

However, if there is simply not enough money, you should not postpone telling the lessor about it.

“You should contact the lessor at an early stage,” says Pylkkänen.

Text Matti Välimäki

Activate the e-invoice – you can win a gift card

DURING THE CAMPAIGN, we will raffle off three S Group €50 gift cards every other month during 2021 among our residents who pay their rent with an e-invoice. The sooner you switch to the e-invoice, the more draws you will take part in.

The draws include both those who have recently moved to the e-invoice and those who are already using the e-invoice. We will inform the winners by telephone.

If you have activated the e-invoice before the 15th of the month, your next month’s rent invoice will already be an e-invoice. However, please remember to check that the first e-invoice arrives on time and is charged from your account.

The invoice comes directly to your online bank with no possibility of typing errors. The invoice will not be forgotten, especially if you choose to have it automatically charged from your account on the due date.

Using the e-invoice is also an environmentally-friendly choice.

→ More information and rules of the draw: espoonasunnot.fi/e-lasku (in Finnish)

Our website will be published in English

OUR WEBSITE

espoonasunnot.fi will be published in English during the summer. Our Swedishlanguage website will also be published at the end of the summer.