The housing requirement: the condition people forget until it stops them

Of all the conditions in a reunification application, the housing requirement under section 9(6) of the Aliens Act is the one applicants most often assume they have covered. It is also one of the easier ones to fail on a technicality.

What qualifies as housing

A home satisfies the requirement where it is:

• independent, its own entrance, kitchen and bathroom
• large enough for the number of people who will live in it, assessed in line with the Building Regulations
• available continuously, as a rule for at least 18 months from the date of application
• lawful to live in, which rules out student rooms, temporary accommodation and serviced apartments.

What does not qualify

• a single room with shared kitchen or bathroom, absent special circumstances
• shared housing without your own kitchen and bathroom
• halls of residence and time-limited student housing
• holiday homes without year-round status
• hotel apartments and short-let accommodation.

How much space

There is no statutory minimum. The test is whether the home accommodates the family without overcrowding, and practice runs roughly:

• one adult: 30–35 m² and upwards
• two adults: 50–60 m² and upwards
• a further 10–15 m² for each additional person.

The registered number of residents must not exceed what a home of that size would normally hold.

Renting or owning, both work

If you rent

• a tenancy with at least 18 months left to run and no notice given
• the landlord’s consent to additional residents, where the lease requires it.

If you own

• the deed or the condominium declaration
• a BBR extract confirming the floor area.

When the requirement falls away

• on the EU route
• where the person in Denmark is a refugee or holds convention status
• in certain dispensation situations, on particular facts.

The recurring failures

• a lease with a binding period shorter than 18 months
• shared accommodation where the arriving spouse has no space of their own
• no evidence that rent is actually being paid
• an address in the civil registry that does not match the tenancy.

Check it before you file

Going through the housing documentation point by point takes an afternoon. Having a case returned on it costs six to twelve months. Have it reviewed before the application goes in.