We can be contacted by anyone experiencing or affected by a disturbance, such as residents or shareholders, property managers, housing advisers, housing association boards, public authorities and employees of housing associations.
Through the activities of the Centre for Peace in Housing, the security, peace and well-being of the living environment are strengthened and conflicts are prevented at an early stage. We prevent confrontation from escalating into conflict by disseminating mediation skills nationwide.
Peace of mind is a broader concept than just silence or relations between neighbours. It consists of a number of elements that affect the well-being and comfort of residents in a residential community. Peace in housing is often used to describe a peaceful and harmonious living environment in which residents can live and work without disturbance or conflict. However, it is important to understand that each resident has his or her own perception and experience of peace in housing.
The mediation process involves separate meetings, i.e. discussions with each person individually, followed by a possible joint meeting and a possible agreement and follow-up. The mediator's role is to help the parties to be heard and to find solutions to the situation.
Separate meetings are often held in the resident's home or elsewhere at the resident's convenience. Joint meetings take place in the company's club room or in another room organised by the company. Sometimes the meeting is held in a public space, such as a library.
We do not charge for the mediation service. Advice and consultation over the phone is also free of charge. The service is supported by the Social and Health Organisations Assistance Centre (STEA).
As a rule, we mainly arrange in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme, Pirkanmaa and the Turku region. It is possible that we also travel elsewhere, in which case we charge travel expenses.
Depending on the case, mediation can also be carried out remotely. We use a computer, tablet or phone and software such as Teams, Zoom, Whatsapp.
Separate meetings will be arranged in person with all the people the mediator considers to be part of the situation. As a rule, there will be one person or couple and the mediator. The mediator will want to hear, among other things, what has happened, what you think about the situation and what has happened, and what your hopes are for the future.
We offer free advice and consultation on all housing-related disputes. Contacting us does not oblige you to start a mediation process. The consultation and advice will look at the situation from different perspectives and consider different options, but it does not mean offering ready-made solutions to the dispute itself or to the behaviour of others.
We will respond to all requests for contact within approximately two weeks, at which time we will inform you of the timetable for the mediation process. The best way is to send the information using the contact form. Cases can usually be processed within about a month. Occasionally, our operations are backed up.
The mediators do not represent any particular party or person and do not take a position on the issues raised by the parties. Mediation is not a one-sided way of pursuing one's own case. We also do not provide legal advice. We work for peace of mind.
A party means those persons who feel that they are involved in a particular dispute. In most cases, the parties are the residents, but sometimes also, for example, employees of the property company, the chairmen of the company's board of directors or the property managers.
We will first contact the initiator and ask who are the other people involved in the situation. If the initiative comes from the landlord, we ask them who should be contacted first. The order in which you call whom is irrelevant, as the mediator will identify the personal experience of each party individually. Discussions with the mediator are also always confidential.
If you wish, you can always bring a support person to separate meetings and, in some situations, to a joint meeting if it suits all parties. These discussions are confidential and the support person must commit to them. As a general rule, the mediator wants to hear about situations from the residents themselves.
If an agreement has been reached, if there is agreement on something, or if there is increased consensus on something, an agreement will be written if the parties so wish. The agreement will set out how and for how long the change in behaviour, usually behavioural, will be monitored. This may involve separate telephone conversations with the parties or a joint follow-up meeting. The outcome of the monitoring is often briefly communicated to the property management company, if they are the initiators of the case.
To start the mediation, we also need the contact details of the other party and their consent to the mediation process. If a private tenant contacts us directly, we will ask them to identify the name of the person and the apartment they live in. In our experience, the mediation process goes more smoothly if the neighbour has been informed of the contact with the Centre for Peace in Housing. If the property company is the initiator, we always request the contact details of everyone.
If the tenant does not know the cause of the disturbance, we ask the tenant to be proactive towards the landlord and inform him/her of the situation. The landlord should be informed about the possibility of a neighbourhood mediation service, unless they are not familiar with this service. It is not always necessary to know the cause of the disturbance, but the situation can be addressed in wider meetings with residents.
Neighbour-to-neighbour mediation often requires the parties to meet, as discussing behaviour change and related aspirations is most effective when done face-to-face.
Disputes within house committees and governments are well suited to mediation. Mediation works in the same way as if it were between two or more neighbours, i.e. at the initial stage the parties, in this case the committee/board members, first meet separately to identify any differences of opinion on issues that prevent or hinder the proper functioning of the meeting. A joint meeting between the committee/governing board, or between some of its members, is then organised. Cases where residents complain about the board/house committee are equally suitable for mediation (see also paragraphs 27, 28).
The length or nature of a conflict does not prevent the initiation of a mediation procedure. We recommend asking our mediators for advice at a low threshold.
An external mediator cannot dictate how people should behave. This is simply because situations are often word-for-word and there is no unambiguous truth. Secondly, in mediation we do not believe in the effectiveness of one-way guidance. Mediation encourages genuine involvement of the parties, which supports the search for and commitment to solutions. The mediation process is based on restorative justice.
Participation in the mediation process is voluntary and can be terminated at any stage if you wish. People cannot be forced to agree or meet. We do encourage, consider the benefits and try to motivate.
The Centre for Residential Peace does not require any supporting documents. Property companies often provide a brief description of the situation and contact details. The information needed for the process will come up in the discussions.
Cottage assistantship also fits our job description. We have mediated neighbourhoods of mobile garden cottages, shared cottages and cottage situations involving, for example, year-round cottagers and summer residents.
Reporting a crime often does not prevent the use of mediation. However, situations are assessed on a case-by-case basis. It is a good idea to inform the police when mediation is initiated and to check, for example, whether the police have referred the offence to statutory mediation in criminal and civil matters. We will normally handle cases in cooperation with this body. The Centre for Residential Peace does not have a formal legal relationship with the authorities, but there is a good working relationship.
Sometimes the atmosphere in the whole house is bad, e.g. people don't greet each other, there are arguments at housing association meetings and heated discussions on notice boards. In such cases, if the property company or the management of the property is in favour, a whole-house mediation process can be started, called 'community mediation'.
The disturbance or experience can be almost anything. Often it's about sounds, some perceived disturbing behaviour, or how someone has experienced a communication, for example. The key is the willingness of the parties to deal with the situation through mediation. At the initiation stage of mediation, the consent of all parties to mediation is sought.
The privacy policy related to this activity can be found at here.