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Sub-leasing without permission

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Sub-leasing a rented apartment or locally known as renting second-hand is only allowed if the property association agree and they usually want a fairly good reason for allowing it. Even lending the apartment to someone without charging rent requires permission. Renting out a room while still occupying the apartment does not require anyone’s permission.

With leases in popular areas being so hard to come by tenants will sub-let if they are going abroad for a year, moving to study or work for a year or two and are not willing to give up their lease.
 
Sub-letting without permission can lead to pretty harsh consequences and a mother of two recently discovered. While it has been alleged that she sub-leased the entire apartment two of her tenants have stated in the Rental Tribunal that they were only renting a room.
 
When the case was appealed and went to the High Court the housing association produced two of her neighbours who witnessed that families lived in the apartment, making it impossible for her to also have lived there. The High Court ruled, based on their claims, that she was to be evicted immediately and lose all rights to the apartment.
 
The original owner, Stockholmshem sold this block of apartments in 2008 to the occupants. Those owner-occupiers are now able to sell this woman’s apartment at market price, substantially improving the financial status of the corporation, potentially also benefiting Stockholmshem.
 

 

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Finding a second-hand contract

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Look for second-hand contracts on the net.
It is possible to get a second-hand contract quite quickly, even if that is not ideal. The requirements are usually not as high. It is however important to be careful and to know your rights, otherwise you risk signing an insecure or illegal contract with a ridiculous rent. If your are in a crisis situation then take an expensive apartment – you can always report it to Hyresnämden afterwards and be reimbursed but make sure you save all documentation.

Don’t be too fussy about where you live.
Check out how good public transport is in the area, especially in the evenings and on weekends. The train, tram or bus might just take you directly to where you need to go. Go out to different suburbs and look around to get a feel for the area. It is usually easier to find an apartment further out of town.
 
Find out if your municipality offers rent guarantees.
A municipal rent guarantee is a guarantee commitment made by a municipality that covers a tenant’s obligation to pay rent. The purpose of the guarantee is to provide support for households that have the financial capacity to meet the costs of their own housing, but yet, despite this, have difficulty getting established in the housing market and finding rented accommodation with security of tenure.
 
Look to find accommodation with others.
Can you consider sharing with someone else, or others. Sharing can be a good option for single parents, students and people here on there on.
 
It is usually easier to find a large apartment to rent than a smaller one and the combined income will give you greater opportunity. You may also end up paying less for the space than if you were renting on your own.
 
While only one person might be on the lease it is possible to write an agreement between the parties involved covering payment and period of notice. It is also possible the landlord is willing to sign a joint agreement – or kompiskontrakt.
 
Advertise yourself.
Put up signs in the area you would like to live in. Use paper and tape on signposts, noticeboards and anywhere else where it is appropriate. It is cheap and often gets results. But be careful, never go and look at an apartment on your own.
 
Spread the work to everyone you know.
Use your own network, friends of friends, colleagues, neighbors and anyoneelse you can. You never know who knows who.
 
Have all your paperwork ready.
Potential landlords usually want a whole lot of paperwork - so make sure you have it ready and don’t miss your chance. They usually want an extract from the population register, evidence of your employment, references, evidence of income, bank details, prove of studies etc etc. If you don’t have what they need it might be worth organising someone who is willing to go guarantor.
 
Don’t give up!
Always be nice and polite – even if the situation feels hopeless sometimes. You never know who might be your future landlord.
 
Based on advice given on JagVillHaBostad.Nu
Please note that this organisation does not have their own queue system but is a membership based organisation whose goal is to support those in need of housing.
 

 

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Swapping Your Apartment

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If you already have a first hand contract somewhere, you can also agree to swap properties with somebody else who has a first hand contract. This may be convenient if your circumstances change – you have children and you want to move from a small city centre location to a bigger suburban town or your children leave home and you want to hit the city lights again. There is no queuing involved in this – you just need to find somebody who is happy to swap with you. Such properties are advertised through agencies, in the papers and on web-sites such as www.hemnet.se. Look for ‘hyresrätt’ properties looking to ‘byte’ (exchange). Another good site is www.bostaddireck.com. It’s mainly Stockholm based at the moment – with several thousand flat swap options advertised there – but does have options across Sweden.

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Sub-Leasing an Apartment

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The other main source of rental properties is through house or apartment owners who let their own properties out or those who have their name on the lease.

Increasingly Sweden is moving towards a market-based rentals but the roots lie within a very controlled situation. There was a time when the majority of apartments were rental contracts and the price atttached to them was based on the size and ammenities rather than the location. That has however changed dramatically, especially in the big cities, and a DN article in May 2008
stated that owner-occupancy (bostadsrätter) has increased by 41% since 1990.
 
Renting a owner-occupancy apartment (bostadsrätt)
The owner must have the permission of the management committee of the block in order to rent out their apartment. Some tenants associations are more lenient that others but often the owner (landlord) is only allowed to let out their property for a limited period of time.
  
Renting from a lease-holder (hyressrätt)
The lease-holder must have the permission from the housing corporation in order to rent out their apartment. Some are more lenient that others but often the owner (landlord) is only allowed to let out their property for a limited period of time and usually has to have a valid excuse. Smaller property owners will often not agree to sub-leasing apartments.
 
Legal implications
The renting of property is heavily controlled by the law, in favour of the leasee, in order to protect them.  Landlords are not allowed to charge what is reasonable. It is possible to calculate what they are likely to be paying in mortgage repayments and monthly charges. They are also allowed some buffer to cover their own costs but if they charge their tenant a lot more than this – clearly renting for profit - the tenant can appeal to have the rent reduced. This means that most people do not rent out apartments for profit but for convenience – while they are away short term, waiting for the right time to sell and so on. The downside for a tenant is that this offers little long-term security and many tenants end up bouncing around from apartment to apartment every six months.
 
There are some properties which are only available for lease to a company – the landlord gets extra security. If you are moving with your company or already have a job arranged, it is worth negotiating to see if they will pay your rent directly and then deduct it from your pay. This will open up more housing options – and possibly the most desirable ones.

 

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"First Hand" Rental Contracts

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The upside of the regulated rental market is that if you get a ‘first hand’ rental – i.e. one where your name is on the lease - the rents are not market regulated but strictly controlled and you could get a real bargain. The downside is that you may have a very long wait for a popular sized property in a popular area. A ‘very long’ wait can amount to ten years or more.

If you are able to spend more money than the average person can afford on housing, the wait will be a lot shorter.

Priority is also given to those with special needs for housing – as evidenced by statements from a doctor, social worker or similar. Having nowhere to live is not considered an adequate enough need.

To make the queueing more complex, there may also be more than one ‘company’ that manages the kommun’s property. These companies are also responsible for maintaining your property and should be your first point of contact if you have problems with the property after moving in.

Advice to anyone wanting a first-hand contract:

1. Find out what housing queues exist in your area
Register yourself for any queue you can, private or centrally run by the municipality.

It may cost to be included in the queue - not enormous amounts but introduced in recent years to reduce the number of people who put themselves or their children on it in the hope that they will acquire an apartment in an attractive area in the future.

Make sure you know if the method for granting leases is based on "first in best dressed" or some other method.

You also need to be active whilst in the queue - register your interest in specific apartments as they become available. A list willbe open for registration for a few days and once the lists closes those who have been in the queue the longest will get an opportunity to view the property.

2. Find out what private landlords exist in your area
Some will have a website with their own queue system. Ring, email and write letters to express your interest.

Once you have viewed the property you can express interest in taking over the lease and depending on how high in the queue you are you can say "yes". Saying yes however, gives you no guarantees. Once you have submitted all the required information, which will include verification of your earnings and possibly even bank accounts plus letters of recommendation, your application will be processed. If you meet all the requirements (including possible minimum income) you just might get to sign the paperwork giving you a lease with your name on it.

Official Queues for Rental Properties

Göteborg
Boplats Göteborg
Portal that administers most of the rental properties in Göteborg
JagVillHaBostad.Nu (I want somewhere to live now)
A more extensive list of each company administering rental properties in Göteborg

Helsingborg
No central queue
JagVillHaBostad.Nu (I want somewhere to live now)

Jönköping
JagVillHaBostad.Nu (I want somewhere to live now)
Have the most extensive list of companies in the area.

Linköping
No central queue
The Municipality's List of Landlords

Lund
No central queue for all apartments
Lund Municipality's Housing Company
is one of the largest property owners in Lund and have their own queue.
JagVillHaBostad.Nu
list a few other housing companies in the area.

Malmö
Boplats Syd
A newly opened queue for Malmö properties.

Stockholm
Stockholm Municipality's Apartment Queue
register to maximise your chances of getting a first hand rental agreement as quickly as possible.
JagVillHaBostad.Nu
list the housing companies in greater Stockholm.

Umeå
No central queue
JagVillHaBostad.Nu
list the local companies

Uppsala
Uppsalahem
The largest of the housing companies and have their own queue.

Visby
AB Gotlandshem
marknad@gotlandshem.se  
Visbyhem
private landlord info@visbyhem.se 

Nationwide Housing Companies & Search Engines

HSB - a membership based housing cooperative
Stena Fastigheter - apartments in Göteborg, Halmstad, Lomma, Malmö, Lund, Stockholm, & Uppsala
Vasakronan - apartments in Göteborg, Malmö, Stockholm and Uppsala
Wallenstam - apartments in Götebory, Helsingbory & Stockholm

Bovision Search engine for all rental property as well as property for sale.
Hyresrätten.se Search engine for rental properties in Göteborg, LInköping, Malmö, Stockholm & Uppsala

Student Housing

Sökstudentbostad.se lists information about student housing companies in Sweden.
Student & Bostad - search engine for student housing in Göteborg, Stockholm, Uppsala, Linköping, Luleå, Lund, Malmö, Umeå & Örebro.

 

JagVillHaBostad.Nu
Please note that this organisation does not have their own queue system but is a membership based organisation whose goal is to support those in need of housing.

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