English

Bjarg íbúðafélag hses. (Housing Foundation) was established by the the Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ) and the Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB). Bjarg is a non-profit foundation and its aim is to provide families with low income access to long-term tenancies. Bjarg's mission is to provide secure homes.

The laws stipulate that in non-profit housing no one is allowed to make a profit from the rent. The rent has to be fixed so that it covers the expense of operating the estate.

Bjarg's homepage is mostly in Icelandic as is the rent agreement. We encourage you therefore to have an Icelandic-speaking person guide you.

The allocation rules, include guidance regarding the waiting list, application and rent. We encourage you to read them carefully.

Below are the general conditions for renting an apartment from Bjarg Housing Foundation:

1. You must have been a member of one of the trade unions or national unions of ASÍ or BSRB for the minimum of 24 months (viewed from the time you are eligible for an apartment) and currently employed. Members who are temporarily not working, for a maximum of 12 months, due to maternity/paternity leave or sickness are also entitled to sign up. Students, working with school, qualifying for apartments in student housing are not entitled to Bjarg apartments.

2. You must fall below certain income and asset limits at the beginning of the rent, as defined in the Act on general apartments Act on public apartments (Lög nr. 52/2016 um almennar íbúðir) and the regulation on general apartments (Reglugerð um almennar íbúðir o.fl. nr. 555/2016). To be able to include a partner in an application the parties must be married or in a registered partnership.

These are the income and asset limits:

• For a single tenant: Max 5.105.000 ISK per year/ or 425.417 ISK per month
• For couples: Max 7.148.000 ISK per year/ or 595.667 ISK per month
• For every child in the family, 19 or younger the income can be higher by 1.276.000 ISK per year/ or 106.333 ISK per month
• The total assets of the tenants shall not be higher than 5.100.000 ISK

3. The debt burden of the rent should normally not exceed 25% to 30% of the total income, taking housing benefits into acount.

4. You must be 18 years of age to be signed up on a waiting list for Bjarg non-profit housing.

5. To be eligible to apply for an apartment, the applicant must have a confirmed listing on Bjarg's waiting list.

By registering to the waiting list, the applicant confirms that he/she is in compliance with all general conditions of Bjarg allocation rules. Bjarg does not check that an applicant actually meets all conditions, until an apartment is available and an applicant is eligible according to his/her status on the waiting list.

Note that registration on the waiting list is not an application for an apartment. Bjarg Housing Foundation sends information about apartments to everyone on the waiting list when apartments become available.

Here you can find instructions on how to apply for an apartment. 

Do you have a question? Here are some commonly asked questions?