The Sun Lake tightens its grip on people who abuse the residency requirement—and it works.

It’s difficult work, but it brings life to the homes:

Over the past five years, Bornholm Regional Municipality has systematically checked whether people who buy homes on the island actually live there when the sun isn’t shining high in the sky. In short—whether they comply with the residency requirement, either living in the home at least 180 days a year themselves or ensuring it is rented out.

And the effort is paying off.

This can be seen both in the numbers and heard from Marianne Westergaard, who is a senior advisor in the regional municipality:

- In 2021, the municipal council decided to intensify efforts on residency requirements and allocated resources to it. Since then, we’ve processed over 700 cases. It’s resource-intensive, but it has an effect. And it has a particularly preventive effect because people know we check it, she says, emphasizing that most actually want to be law-abiding.

Read also: Address fraud should cost the wallet: Minister wants to tighten penalties for exploiting residency requirements (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/adressefusk-skal-koste-kassen-minister-vil-skaerpe-straffen-snyde-med-bopaelspligt)

The municipality follows up on homes and owners, for example, by searching databases and registries when they receive tips from residents like Kirsten Lund, who was born and raised in Gudhjem.

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**Kirsten keeps an eye**

She advocates for the local community, is tired of people with pro forma addresses, and is pleased that the municipality has put residency requirements under scrutiny. She has also done so herself.

- We want a vibrant local community—even in winter, says Kirsten Lund, who was born and raised in Gudhjem. (Photo: © Private)

- We keep an eye on the homes. That’s something many of us do because we want a thriving community. People are allowed to be away part of the year, but there are also many different reasons why they don’t fulfill their residency requirement, and some make good money renting them out to Airbnb, she says, noting the impact of the municipal efforts.

For example, she does this in Nørresand near Gudhjem.

- It’s one of the most attractive areas in the town, where there’s light in all the windows today. That wouldn’t have been the case if the municipality hadn’t been so active in enforcing residency requirements. I think the municipality has done a really good job in recent years, says Kirsten Lund.

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**Residency requirements under scrutiny on Bornholm**

On Bornholm, efforts have been actively made since 2021 to stop fraud related to residency requirements.

Every six months, an assessment is made of how many empty homes the authorities believe warrant closer examination.

The latest count from the second half of 2025 showed that there were 370 empty year-round homes on the island requiring registration in the national population register, but without current registration. Of these, 177 required further investigation.

The remaining 193 empty homes are either cases where the five-year deadline, which the municipality has to contact the resident, has expired, homes that have received exemptions—for example, because they are being renovated—or where enforcement of the residency requirement is not possible for other reasons.

Two years earlier—in the second half of 2023—there were 573 empty homes on the island requiring registration in the national population register, but without current registration.

Of these, 366 homes were ones the municipality assessed as needing closer examination, and 207 empty homes where no further action could be taken.

Kirsten Lund is also highly satisfied with Housing Minister Sophie Hæstorp Andersen’s (S) announcement that people who commit address fraud will face a financial penalty that will be felt.

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