Accessibility statement

The Act on the Provision of Digital Services primarily requires organisations operating in an official capacity to ensure their digital services—such as websites and mobile applications—comply with accessibility standards. In addition to public authorities, the accessibility requirements also apply to public sector institutions and certain associations.

Amendments have been made to the Act, extending its requirements and obligations to new services and operators. As a result, this also includes sato.fi in the context of online housing services. We aim to serve all our customers equally and are therefore committed to ensuring that the entire sato.fi website and the digital resident service OmaSATO comply with the requirements of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services. We also aim to meet the accessibility requirements of the European standard EN 301 549.

We assess the accessibility of our websites using accessibility tools and take these requirements into account when developing all new features.

Accessibility status

The websites sato.fi and OmaSATO mostly meet the A and AA-level accessibility criteria (WCAG 2.1) required by the Act. Notable shortcomings are described below.

Content that is not accessible or contains identified issues

• The alt texts of photo and illustration images are incomplete, especially on housing and building pages. Generating appropriate alt texts is challenging due to the large number of images and the technical structure and background automation involved. Our likely solution is to apply a so-called decorative image alt text. (WCAG 1.1.1)

• Buttons without text cannot be read by screen readers: for example, the navigation arrows used to browse images of rental homes currently lack readable text for assistive technologies. (WCAG 1.3.1)

• Form fields are not yet semantically grouped. (WCAG 1.3.1) Our goal is to ensure, for instance, that the contact details in the housing application form form one group and employment details another.

• Zooming is disabled on the websites. (WCAG 1.4.4)

• Skipping repetitive content is not currently possible. (WCAG 2.4.1) In other words, the websites do not yet include a “skip to main content” link.

• The logic of heading levels needs to be reviewed across the websites. (WCAG 2.4.6) At the same time, we aim to ensure that each page contains only one H1-level heading.

• Clickable areas for buttons, menus, and other links need to be checked to confirm they are of accessible size. (WCAG 2.5.5)

• Landmark elements on the sites must still be reviewed. These elements help screen readers identify key sections of a page. (WCAG 4.1.2)

In addition, we aim to ensure that the content order on the websites, particularly on mobile devices, is as logical as possible. (WCAG 1.4.10)

Note: For example, on the Contact us page of sato.fi, there is a list of printable forms such as the housing application form, power of attorney, and notice of termination form. These forms do not meet accessibility requirements, partly because they cannot be read by assistive technologies. A schedule for correcting this has not yet been defined.

Content from other systems

Some content on our websites originates from external systems and any potential accessibility issues in this content are due to the original sources. None of this content relates to the online housing service.

• Open job postings

• Press and stock exchange releases with attachments

• PDF files of financial reports

Accessibility evaluation

The accessibility of SATO's digital services has been technically assessed. Our goal is to conduct additional evaluations with a test group during 2025.

Give us feedback

If you notice significant accessibility issues on sato.fi or OmaSATO, please let us know. On the feedback form, select the category “Other” to ensure your message reaches the correct team.

Feedback form ›

Accessibility oversight

In Finland, compliance with accessibility requirements is monitored by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom. If you have submitted accessibility feedback to us and are not satisfied with our response, you may contact Traficom.

Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom
Digital accessibility and oversight unit
saavutettavuus@traficom.fi
Switchboard phone number: 029 534 5000

Accessibility statement updates

This accessibility statement was created in June 2025 and has not yet been updated.

This page was translated using artificial intelligence. In the event of discrepancies, the Finnish version shall prevail.