Allowances and expense claim forms

Every tenant committee has an allowance reserved for their activities per calendar year. The tenant committee can use the allowance for recreation and purchases. The tenant committee decides on the use of allowance funds at the tenant committee meetings. Any decisions must be clearly entered into the minutes. The person responsible for the purchase buys the items and provides Hoas with an expense claim form and the original receipt to have the items refunded.

At least 25% of the allowance must be used for recreation and another 25% is to be spent on purchases. The tenant committee can allocate the remaining 50% freely to either recreation or purchases, or both, as decided at the tenant committee meetings.

The allowance is provided every year and it is not possible to transfer the money to be used next year. The allowance does not need to be used in full during the calendar year. An extra budget can be applied for twice a year. The instructions are sent to the tenant committees when the application period begins.

The decisions of purchases must be found in the minutes. Expense claim must be filled in accordingly and the original receipts must be attached. Please read the instructions here.

The purchase allowance can be used to buy items for the use of all tenants. The tenant committee has the right to control the use of such items, while the ownership remains with Hoas. Thus, the tenant committee is not authorised to sell the items and/or equipment without permission and instructions from Hoas.

The allowance for recreation is provided so that the tenant committee can organise various events for the tenants. More ideas for events can be found and shared in the Hoas asukastoiminta/Hoas Tenant Activity Facebook group.

The amount of allowances can be found here.

A statement of accounts is always filed by carefully filling in an expense claim form, which needs to be sent to Hoas along with original receipts. The recipient of the refund and their account details must be entered on the form. Remember to take a copy of the receipt. In case the purchase has been made online or with invoice, you need to provide proof of payment from your online bank.

When stating the cost of events or excursions, a list of participants must be provided to Hoas in addition to the expense claim form, receipts and the minutes containing the decision. The list of participants is required to verify that the event took place.

The form can be either sent by email, mail or brought to Hoas service centre when it is open. The original receipts for the purchases must be provided as an attachment to the form. The envelopes and stamps required to send the form can be paid from the tenant committee allowance, as long as this decision has been documented in the tenant committee meeting minutes.

The mailing address for the statement of accounts is Hoas Asukastoiminta, PL 799, 00101 Helsinki

Refunds can be processed both to Finnish banks and to banks in other EEC countries. Refunds will not be sent to bank accounts in countries outside the EEC.

With a promissory note, the tenant committee member does not need to pay for the purchase, instead the company can invoice Hoas directly and the funds will be drawn from the tenant committee allowance. If an individual item or service costs at least 200 euros, the tenant committee can ask Hoas for a promissory note. You cannot ask for a promissory note to purchase food or beverages.

In order to receive a promissory note, the details of the purchase and the decision of it must be included in the minutes of the meeting. When asking for a promissory note, you must confirm that a promissory note from Hoas is acceptable to the seller. The person named as the buyer must request the promissory note by email from asukastoiminta[at]test.test.dev.hoas.fi. The message must provide details on the item/service to be purchased, the price as well as contact details for the designated buyer.