The Swedish housing market

In Sweden, you can rent or buy somewhere to live.
You can rent an apartment,
join a housing cooperative, buy a condominium buy or a private house.

Rented apartment (Hyresrätt)

If you rent an apartment from a company
that rents apartments,
you live in a rented apartment.

You are a tenant
and the person who rents it to you is your landlord.

The Tenancy Act has rules for
what you can do
and what the landlord can do.

This is what the tenant must do (Det här ska hyresgästen göra)

You must pay the rent in time,
and you must look after and care for your apartment.
You must not disturb your neighbours
and you must tell your landlord
if anything breaks in your apartment.

You pay the rent at the end of each month
for the next month.
If you do not pay, you can loose the apartment
The rental contract says
how much you have to pay in rent.

You must look after and care for your apartment.
You must clean windows, kitchen fan
cooker, refrigerator and freezer, toilet, water traps and floor drain.
You change fuses and light bulbs.

If you have a problem with light switches or electric outlets
you must talk to your landlord.
If you break anything, you have to pay for it.

You can paint and put up wallpaper yourself if you want to.
But it must be well done
and not spoil the apartment.

You must not take walls away
or put up walls
without asking the landlord.

If you want to put up a parabola
you must talk to the landlord
so that you put it up the right way.

If you are a tenant in a building
with many other tenants
you must not disturb them.
You must not play too loud music
or scream.

If you are going to have a party
it is a good idea to tell your neighbours first.

If your neighbours complain a lot
and you do not stop disturbing them
you can loose your apartment.
If you are disturbed by your neighbours
you must talk to your landlord.

This is what the landlord must do (Det här ska hyresvärden göra)

You must be able to contact your landlord
if you want to.
The landlord must mend things that do not work
or are broken.
The landlord must make sure that
the apartment is not damaged.
The landlord must make sure that
the apartment has heating and water.
The landlord must make sure that
you are not disturbed.

The Tenancy Act says that an apartment must have:

Heating
Hot and cold water
Drain
Toilet, hand basin and shower or bath
Electricity
Laundry room
A store room in the roof or cellar.

Sometimes, the store room is inside the apartment.

Home insurance (Hemförsäkring)

It is important that you have home insurance.
If you do not have home insurance,
it can be very expensive and difficult for you
if there is a fire or water flows over
in your apartment, for example.

Rooms you share with other tenants (Rum som du delar med andra hyresgäter)

You share some rooms in the building
with other tenants.
These are the laundry room, cellar or roof
staircase and yard.

How to use the laundry room:

Book a time
Follow the instructions for using the machines.
Clean the laundry room when you are finished.
Wash the machines as well when you are finished.

How to use the staircase:
Nobody is allowed to put bicycles
prams, shoes, skis, sledges
or other things in the staircase.
They must not be in the way if there is a fire.
So you are also not allowed to put things
in the staircase that could burn,
like newspapers or bags of rubbish.

If you are going to move out of your apartment (Om du ska flyttta från din lägenhet)

If you want to move
you have three month´s notice.
This means that you have to tell
the landlord you are going to move
three months before you do move.

When you leave your apartment
the landlord will inspect your apartment.
If the landlord finds any damage
you may have to pay for the damage.
If you have not cleaned when you leave
you may have to pay for cleaning.

The Tenant´s Association (Hyresgästföreningen)

You can join the Tenant´s Association (Hyresgästsförening)
This is an organisation that works to
give support to tenants.
They also negotiate
how much the rent must be.

Housing cooperative (Bostadsrätt)

A cooperative housing means an apartment that you buy.
You also buy a share of a cooperative housing society
that owns the building and the apartments.
You pay some money to the society every month.
The money is used for mending
and looking after the house.
If you refrigerator or freezer breaks
you have to pay for it yourself
because you own it.

Condominium (Ägarlägenhet)

Condominiums are a new idea in Sweden.
They are only found in new buildings
and you actually own your apartment,
not a share of a cooperative society.

Private house (Villa)

You buy a free-standing or terrace house,
you own it and you look after it yourself.

Recycling (Återvinning)

We recycle our rubbish in Sweden.
This means that we use things again
to save the environment.
For example, we make new paper
from old newspapers
and new glass bottles from old glass jars.

There are recycling stations (“bottle banks")
in your municipality.
You can leave rubbish there and it will be recycled.
You must put rubbish in different places like this: