In this solo episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish explains the quirks of the Danish housing market and offers practical advice for newcomers seeking a home. He begins by clarifying what a thatcher does—building traditional straw‑thatched roofs that are common, climate‑appropriate, and environmentally friendly in Denmark’s countryside. He contrasts two typical urban housing paths: expensive, designer apartments that require high rent and large upfront payments, versus affordable, well‑built city flats that have decades‑long waiting lists. Mellish then outlines creative, short‑term solutions many newcomers use: renting a room in an existing apartment (often with an older resident or a young Danish who received a parental gift of an apartment), and subletting from someone abroad or on a temporary arrangement. He warns that sublets are unstable and can end abruptly, leaving tenants scrambling for new housing. As a more stable alternative, he suggests considering vacant thatched‑roof houses in rural areas—though they involve a commute, they rarely face eviction and only require occasional maintenance visits from a thatcher. The episode closes with sponsor acknowledgment, music credit, and a plug for Mellish’s How to Live in Denmark book available on Amazon.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. Before I moved to Denmark, I didn't know what a Thatcher was. Of course, I had heard of Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, but a thatcher, you know, a job like a carpenter or massage therapist, this was something I was not familiar with. A thatcher, I now know, is a person who makes a thatched roof, a straw roof basically. There are thousands of thatched roofs in Denmark. And they're actually very practical for the climate, and extremely environmentally friendly. They keep the heat in, and the rain out. If you want to live in a house with a thatched roof in Denmark, you probably can. A lot of them are vacant, because they tend to be located on farms out in the countryside. You, on the other hand, will probably want to live in a city somewhere— Copenhagen, or Aarhus, or Billund if you work for LEGO. The bigger the city, the harder it will be for you to find a place to live, or at least a reasonably priced place to live. Danes like to buy their homes because then they can deduct the mortgage interest from their giant Danish taxes. But if you want to rent, there are 2 options. Option A is a fabulous design apartment that looks like a photo layout in a glossy architectural magazine. Option B is a cheap, well-constructed, centrally located apartment perfectly suited for your needs. Now, if you want the first option, the design apartment, all you have to do is pay about $2,000 a month US plus 6 months in advance and move in your designer furniture, your beautiful but uncomfortable chairs, and your oddly shaped lamps. If you want the latter, the cheap, well-constructed, centrally located apartment perfectly suited for your needs, Just get on the waiting list, wait 20 to 25 years, and in 2038 you're going to have a fantastic place to live. Now, of course you can get creative. It's very common for newcomers to live in a room in somebody else's apartment. Sometimes this is an old lady with too many rooms and a need for someone to talk to. Sometimes it's a Danish person in his or her 20s whose parents have bought them an apartment. This buying your kid an apartment is very popular in Denmark. Parents don't have to pay university tuition, which is free in Denmark, so the apartment is kind of a goodbye and good luck present for kids that are ready to go out on their own. Or there's always sublets. You can sublet an apartment from somebody who's traveling for a year, or working abroad, or moving in with a lover on a trial basis. This is what I did when I first came to Denmark. It's a quick fix. The only problem is that you almost always end up getting booted out unexpectedly. The person working abroad gets fired, the person moving in with the lover breaks up, the person traveling for a year breaks an ankle. Suddenly you and your suitcases and your beautiful but uncomfortable chairs have about a week to find a new place to live. Which brings us back to how to find a place to live in Denmark. Think again about those abandoned houses in the countryside with the thatched roofs. They're a bit of a commute to town, but no one will ever try to kick you out of them. All you have to do, about once every 20 years, is pay for a visit by the Thatcher. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. This week we're sponsored by KXM Group. If you're a Danish company doing business abroad, we make you look good in English. Music arranged by George Garvis. See you next week. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.
