Oslo apartments & rentals: how to choose
An apartment in Grünerløkka or Frogner is the way to feel like you live here rather than visit, and with Oslo restaurant prices a kitchen pays for itself quickly. The catch is supply: Norway restricts short letting through property law rather than a tourism licence, and those limits are the reason the Oslo rental market looks thinner and more professionalised than you might expect in a European capital.
⚠︎ How Norway limits short lets
Oslo has no city rental permit or registration number to look for — Norway regulates this through the housing statutes instead. Under the Act relating to owner-tenement units (eierseksjonsloven) § 24, an owner of a flat in a sameie may short-term let — defined as letting for up to 30 consecutive nights — for a maximum of 90 nights a year, and the building’s own bylaws may move that ceiling anywhere between 60 and 120 nights. Housing cooperatives are stricter again: under burettslagslova § 5-4 an owner in a borettslag may hand over the whole home for only 30 days in a year without the board’s consent. Separately, the besøksbidragsloven took effect on 1 July 2026 and allows a municipality to introduce a 3% levy on the accommodation price excluding VAT, explicitly covering private lets under 30 consecutive nights — so a visitor charge may appear on an Oslo booking that would not have a year ago. These caps bind the host, not you, but a host who has run out of nights is a host who cancels late.
Rules change — confirm the current requirements: Lovdata — eierseksjonsloven § 24 (short-term letting of owner-tenement units).
Who a rental suits
Rentals make the most sense for families and groups, for anyone staying five nights or more, and for travelers who want to shop at a supermarket and cook rather than eat every meal at Oslo prices. For a two- or three-night city break the cleaning fee usually swallows the saving, and a hotel with breakfast included wins outright.
Verify before you book
- Whether you are booking a private flat or a serviced aparthotel. Aparthotels are commercial accommodation and are not bound by the annual night caps — if your dates are non-negotiable, that distinction is your cancellation insurance.
- What kind of building it is. A host who can tell you it is a sameie and that the bylaws allow the letting is a host who has read the rules; vagueness on a borettslag listing is a real warning sign given the 30-day limit.
- The cleaning fee as a share of the total, not as a line item. Norwegian listings price cleaning high, which quietly makes short stays far worse value than the nightly rate suggests.
- The actual walk to the nearest T-bane or tram stop, including whether it is uphill — Oslo’s slopes are icy from roughly November through March and a 400-metre walk is not the same distance in February.
- Whether there is any cooling or even a window that opens properly. These flats are built to retain heat, and a top-floor apartment during a July warm spell is genuinely uncomfortable.
- Laundry, and whether the building has the shared tørkerom drying room common in Norwegian blocks — useful on a longer stay, and often not mentioned in the listing.
- The check-in method. Self-service key boxes are the norm and hosts are frequently off-site, so confirm the arrival instructions before you land rather than after.
Where to look for rentals
Grünerløkka has the deepest genuine apartment supply — converted flats in 19th-century blocks along the Akerselva, walking distance to the food hall and the bars. Frogner and Majorstuen offer larger, quieter family-sized flats near Vigeland Park. Bjørvika and Aker Brygge inventory is mostly serviced apartments and aparthotels rather than private homes, which costs more but sidesteps the night-cap risk entirely. Grønland and Tøyen are the cheapest, with the trade-off described on the stays page.
Check live rentals & availability
Browse current Oslo rentals on Vrbo — and read the cleaning fee before you judge the nightly rate.
Check Oslo rentals on Vrbo →Some booking links are affiliate links — if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which options we recommend.
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