Pysäköintivirhemaksu saapui siitä huolimatta, että pysäköintilupa oli voimassa.

Because Finnish writes compound nouns as single words.

• pysäköintivirhemaksu = pysäköinti (parking) + virhe (error/violation) + maksu (fee/payment)
• pysäköintilupa = pysäköinti (parking) + lupa (permit)

This is very normal in Finnish. English often writes similar ideas as separate words, but Finnish usually combines them.

A useful rule: the last part is the main word.

• ...maksu = a type of fee
• ...lupa = a type of permit

So pysäköintivirhemaksu is literally something like parking-violation-fee.

Not exactly.

• pysäköintivirhemaksu is the official term for a parking penalty fee.
• sakko means a fine, but often in a broader or more general sense.

In everyday speech, many Finns may casually say parkkisakko, but the more official/legal wording is pysäköintivirhemaksu.

So if you see pysäköintivirhemaksu, think official parking penalty charge.

Saapui is the past tense of saapua, which means to arrive.

So:

• saapua = to arrive
• saapui = arrived

In this sentence, it suggests that the parking penalty notice arrived, probably by mail or electronically. It sounds a bit more formal than just tuli (came).

So:

• kirje tuli = the letter came
• kirje saapui = the letter arrived

Both can work in some contexts, but saapui often sounds more official or written.

The sentence has:

• a main clause: Pysäköintivirhemaksu saapui
• a subordinate clause: että pysäköintilupa oli voimassa

And between them you have the linking expression:

• siitä huolimatta, että = despite the fact that / even though

So the structure is basically:

• Main event: the parking penalty arrived
• Concession/contrast: even though the parking permit was valid

This kind of structure is very common in Finnish.

It means despite the fact that or even though.

You can treat it as a fixed expression:

• siitä huolimatta, että ... = despite the fact that ...
• siitä huolimatta, että pysäköintilupa oli voimassa = despite the fact that the parking permit was valid

It introduces a contrast:

• one fact would make you expect one result
• but a different result happened anyway

Here, you would expect a valid permit to prevent a penalty, but the penalty still arrived.

Because Finnish has two common patterns here:

1. X:n / X:stä huolimatta = despite X
2. siitä huolimatta, että + clause = despite the fact that ...

In this sentence, what follows is a whole clause:

• että pysäköintilupa oli voimassa

So Finnish uses the clause pattern:

• siitä huolimatta, että ...

Compare:

• Pysäköintiluvasta huolimatta pysäköintivirhemaksu saapui.
  = Despite the parking permit, the penalty arrived.

• Pysäköintivirhemaksu saapui siitä huolimatta, että pysäköintilupa oli voimassa.
  = The penalty arrived despite the fact that the permit was valid.

The second version is a bit fuller and more explicit.

Siitä is the elative form of se (it/that).

• se = that/it
• siitä = from that / about that / despite that, depending on the expression

In siitä huolimatta, että ..., it points forward to the clause introduced by että. In other words, it is part of a fixed pattern meaning roughly:

• in spite of that, that...
• more naturally: despite the fact that...

You do not need to translate siitä separately every time here. It is best to learn the whole chunk:

• siitä huolimatta, että

Because Finnish normally uses a comma before a subordinate clause.

Here the subordinate clause starts with että:

• ..., että pysäköintilupa oli voimassa

So the comma separates:

• the main clause
• from the subordinate clause

This is very standard Finnish punctuation.

Oli voimassa means was valid / was in force.

This is a very common Finnish expression:

• olla voimassa = to be valid / to be in effect / to be in force

So:

• lupa on voimassa = the permit is valid
• lupa oli voimassa = the permit was valid

You use this with things like:

• permits
• laws
• contracts
• offers
• passports
• tickets

It is a fixed and very useful phrase.

Because voimassa is the inessive form of voima.

• voima = force, power
• voimassa = in force

So literally, olla voimassa is something like to be in force. That is very close to English, actually.

This is one of those Finnish expressions where the case form is part of the fixed phrase:

• voimassa not
• voima not
• voimaan in this meaning

So it is best learned as a whole unit:

• on voimassa
• oli voimassa

Because the whole situation is being described as a past event.

• saapui = arrived
• oli = was

The sentence is saying:

• the parking penalty arrived
• and at that time, the permit was valid

Finnish often keeps the tenses consistent like this when describing a past situation.

If you changed it to present tense, the meaning would change:

• Pysäköintivirhemaksu saapuu siitä huolimatta, että pysäköintilupa on voimassa. This would sound like a general statement or something happening now.

Yes. A simpler version would be:

• Pysäköintivirhemaksu saapui, vaikka pysäköintilupa oli voimassa.

This also means The parking penalty arrived even though the parking permit was valid.

The difference is mostly style:

• vaikka = simpler, very common, straightforward
• siitä huolimatta, että = a bit more formal, more emphatic, closer to despite the fact that

So both are correct, but the original sentence sounds slightly more formal or written.

Yes. Finnish allows different word orders depending on emphasis.

For example:

• Siitä huolimatta, että pysäköintilupa oli voimassa, pysäköintivirhemaksu saapui.

This means the same thing, but now the concessive part comes first:

• Despite the fact that the permit was valid, the penalty arrived.

The original version starts with the main event:

• Pysäköintivirhemaksu saapui ...

So the choice is about emphasis, not basic meaning.