How to Rent Out Your Sommerhus

Last updated September 21, 2026

Short answer: You may rent out your sommerhus to holidaymakers without permission, and the Danish Rent Act doesn't apply to holiday lets. But as a rule, a sommerhus may not be used for overnight stays from 1 November to the end of February, except for short holiday stays, and commercial letting or letting for more than 1 year requires permission.

A family in North Zealand uses their sommerhus (a holiday home in a designated holiday-home zone) three to four weeks a year and is considering renting it out the rest of the time – maybe even to a fixed tenant on a year-round basis, since it's sitting empty anyway. That sounds like ordinary renting. Legally, it's something else entirely, and that difference is the whole point of this guide.

A sommerhus is not a year-round home

A house in a holiday-home zone (sommerhusområde) is governed by the Danish Planning Act (planloven), not by the rules for a year-round home. As a rule, it may not be used for overnight stays from 1 November to the end of February, except for short holiday stays (planloven section 40). In the winter period, the house may still be let continuously to changing holidaymakers for short stays, as long as total use in the period doesn't exceed 9 weeks (section 40(3)). Exceptions to the winter rule include houses that had the right to year-round occupancy when the area was designated a holiday-home zone, and pensioners who have owned the house for at least 1 year (section 41). The pensioner right is personal and doesn't pass to a tenant.

There are also special rules on who may buy a sommerhus: people who don't live in Denmark and haven't previously lived here for a total of 5 years generally need permission from the Minister of Justice to acquire property in Denmark.

The Rent Act doesn't apply to holiday lets

The Danish Rent Act (lejeloven) doesn't apply to sommerhuse, allotment cottages (kolonihavehuse) and other holiday homes when they're let for holiday and leisure purposes (lejeloven section 1(3)) – an exemption that has applied since 2015. What matters isn't what the property is called in the BBR (the Danish Building and Housing Register), but what it's actually let for. For holiday lets, neither the Rent Act's notice rules, the requirements for move-in and move-out inspections, nor access to huslejenævnet (the local rent tribunal) apply, and it's far simpler to enter into and end the arrangement.

When does letting require permission?

Ordinary private holiday letting doesn't require permission. Commercial letting – or letting for more than 1 year – requires permission under the Act on letting property for holiday and leisure purposes (sommerhusloven), and the Agency for Planning and Rural Development (Plan- og Landdistriktsstyrelsen) as a rule doesn't grant it. The agency assesses case by case whether a letting is commercial, and breaches can be punished with a fine.

Letting to a permanent tenant – where it goes wrong

Renting out your sommerhus to a tenant who's actually going to live there year-round is different from holiday letting, and it runs straight into the winter rule, whether it's the owner or a tenant staying overnight in the house. Municipalities monitor unlawful year-round occupancy in holiday-home zones, and as a landlord you risk an enforcement order and ultimately a fine, whatever the lease calls the tenancy. And if the house is let as a home rather than for holidays, the Rent Act applies in full – with the notice rules that come with it.

Tax and VAT on renting out a sommerhus

The rental income is taxable, but you can choose a fixed allowance (bundfradrag):

How you rent out	Allowance (2026)
Privately, without an agency or platform	13,800 kr.
Via an agency or platform that reports the rent	50,200 kr.

You pay tax on 60% of the rest as capital income, and the rental income includes the tenant's payment for electricity, water and heating. The amounts are adjusted annually. Alternatively, you can prepare accounts and deduct your actual expenses, but then you can't later switch to the allowance. Letting a sommerhus is exempt from VAT (moms), however long it's let for.

The common model: letting to holidaymakers

The vast majority of sommerhuse that are let out are let for shorter holiday stays – through a letting agency or privately – while the owner uses the house the rest of the year. That's the model the legislation is built around, and it's far less bureaucratic than renting out an ordinary home.

What about LejLet.nu?

Let's be honest: LejLet.nu is built for ordinary, longer-term residential letting. A listing requires a monthly rent and an available-from date, not a weekly price or a calendar of bookable dates, and there's no "Sommerhus" property type – in practice, a sommerhus is listed as a "House". For classic holiday letting, a holiday-home portal is therefore the right tool. If you're considering a longer let, remember that both the winter rule and the 1-year limit apply, and talk to the municipality before you create a listing.