(1) The Folketing provides free housing for every member of the Folketing’s Presidium. The Folketing further provides free housing for each parliamentary secretary.

(2) The Folketing provides free housing for an ordinary member who resides outside the area of Zealand. The property must be vacated not later than two weeks after membership of the Folketing has ceased.

(3) If the Folketing has been unable to provide housing for an ordinary Member who fulfils the condition specified in subsection (2), the Member’s hotel accommodation expenses in Copenhagen in connection with meetings as part of parliamentary work shall be recoverable. In exceptional circumstances the Speaker of the Folketing having consulted with his deputies may however, if the total period in which the Member would have to resort to hotel accommodation in connection with meetings as part of parliamentary work is expected to be unreasonably long, permit that such ordinary Member be granted a permanent supplementary housing allowance in the Copenhagen City area instead. Permission according to the second sentence shall be granted only in respect of rental properties and shall apply only to the rental property for which permission has been granted, and conditions may apply that the Member’s lease shall be entered subject to the shortest possible notice of termination. The second and third sentences of subsection (4) shall apply correspondingly.

(4) In extraordinary circumstances where the situation of the appropriate Member, considering in particular health conditions, so warrant it the Speaker of the Folketing having consulted with his deputies may accept that an ordinary Member who fulfils the condition in subsection (2), rather than being provided with free housing under subsection (2) or recovering his hotel accommodation expenses under the first sentence of subsection (3), shall receive a permanent supplementary housing allowance in the Copenhagen City area. The amount of the allowance is up to DKK 75,698 per year and paid against documentation to cover regular housing costs. The allowance may be granted for up to three months after membership has ceased. Permission under this subsection may be granted for a limited period of time or be restricted so as to apply to a particular property only.

(5) An annual amount of DKK 30,280 is paid towards double housekeeping costs, without documentation, to

(i) an ordinary Member for whom free housing is provided under subsection (2);

(ii) an ordinary Member who resides outside the area of Zealand and for whom a residence has been provided to be used as a supplementary residence in the Copenhagen City area, irrespective of the Member receiving an allowance under the second to fourth sentences of subsection (3) and subsection (4) for the supplementary residence;

(iii) a member of the Presidium of the Folketing if the appropriate Member would have been entitled to a residence under subsection (2) as a non-member of the Presidium; and

(iv) a parliamentary secretary for whom housing is provided under the second sentence of subsection (1), if he or she is entitled to housing under subsection (2).

(6) If after allocation of residences pursuant to subsections (1) and (2) the Folketing holds any vacant properties, these may be provided for free, by way of application, for other ordinary Members of the Folketing for one sessional parliamentary year at a time.

(7) In the allocation of vacant properties pursuant to subsection (6) importance shall be attached especially to the total travelling time by public transport, including waits, number of changes and latest possible boarding time for transport home. Health, financial and social conditions may however also enter the equation.

(8) A residence provided for a Member under subsection (6) is terminable on the part of the Folketing at two weeks’ notice if the need arises to make the residence available for a Member who is eligible to it under subsections (1) or (2). In considering which Member shall be required to vacate an allocated property, similar importance shall be attached to circumstances as in the allocation of vacant properties, see subsection (7).

(9) Apart from the situation outlined in the first sentence of subsection (3) an ordinary Member for whom a residence has not been provided under the rules in subsections (1), (2) or (6) and who does not receive a permanent supplementary housing allowance under the second to fourth sentences of subsection (3) or subsection (4) or whose double housekeeping costs are not covered under subsection (5)(ii) may recover his expenses for up to twelve nights of accommodation at a hotel in the Copenhagen City area in connection with meetings as part of his parliamentary work in a calendar year.

(10) An ordinary Member of the Folketing may recover his expenses for up to twelve nights of accommodation at a hotel in the multimember constituency in which the Member stands in connection with meetings in the multimember constituency in a calendar year if justified by the distance between the multimember constituency and the Member’s residence. Hotel accommodation expenses are however not recoverable under subsection (1) for Members standing in the City of Copenhagen and Greater Copenhagen multimember constituencies and for whom a residence has been provided under subsections (1), (2) or (6) or who receive a permanent supplementary housing allowance under the second to fourth sentences of subsection (3) or subsection (4) or whose double housekeeping costs are covered under subsection (5)(ii).

(11) The assessed value of a residence provided for a Member of the Folketing under subsections (1), (2) or (6), the amount paid towards hotel accommodation costs under the first sentence of subsection (3) and subsections (9) and (10), the permanent supplementary housing allowance under the second to fourth sentences of subsection (3) and subsection (4) and the amount covering double housekeeping costs under subsection (5) shall not be included in the taxable income. Expenses incurred in connection with parliamentary work, including housing expenses, domestic transport or similar, are non-deductible in the taxable income.

(12) The amounts in subsections (4) and (5) are stated in October 2015 figures. The amount in subsection (4) shall be adjusted by the same percentage change (to one decimal place) as the percentage change in the item of housing in the consumer price index compared to July 2015. The amount in subsection (5) shall be adjusted by the same percentage change (to one decimal place) as the percentage change in the overall consumer price index compared to July 2015. The adjustments shall be based on the January and July indexes for the periods from 1 April to 30 September and from 1 October to 31 March. The first adjustment shall be effective from 1 April 2016.

(13) The Parliamentary Standing Order Committee shall lay down detailed rules for the eligibility of Members to enjoy free housing being provided under sections (1), (2) and (6) to (8) and receive housing and other allowances under the second to fourth sentence of subsection (3) and subsection (4), including documentation requirements for regular housing expenses and computation for owner-occupied dwellings and other expenses, see the second sentence of subsection (4), rules for costs covered for double housekeeping under subsection (5) and guidelines for allocation of vacant properties under subsection (6). The Parliamentary Standing Order Committee shall further lay down detailed rules for regular housing allowances after the membership has ceased, see the third sentence of subsection (4) and for covering hotel accommodation expenses under the first sentence of subsection (3) and subsections (9) and (10) and hotel accommodation expenses in connection with vacating the seat in the Folketing. The Parliamentary Standing Order Committee shall further lay down rules for eligibility of Members of the Folketing to receive allowances pursuant to this section during leave and eligibility to keep such allowances after a move.

(14) The Parliamentary Standing Order Committee may lay down rules that allowances which under the provisions of this section are granted to ordinary Members of the Folketing, in similar circumstances shall be accorded to temporary Members or certain defined categories of temporary Members. In such circumstances section (11) shall apply correspondingly.