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Noise and nudity top Swedish list of neighbour no-nos

Swedes would rather live next to sex-crazed exhibitionists than rambunctious party animals, according to a new study, which also lists mean old ladies as the least desirable neighbours of all.

Published: 31 October 2008 14:54 CET
Noise and nudity top Swedish list of neighbour no-nos
Yuri Arcurs, Jyn Meyer, chaoss

The findings come from Swedbank’s real estate affiliate Fastighetsbyrån, and were released on Friday, October 31st to coincide with Neighbour Day (Grannens Dag) in Sweden.

According to the survey, six out of ten Swedes said they were bothered by their neighbours, while 62 percent of respondents said they felt it was they who were doing the disturbing.

“Having good neighbours is really important. In part people don’t want to have disruptive neighbours, but I’ve noticed that just as often potential buyers are worried that they themselves might bother their neighbours,” said Carina Husgård, an estate agent with Fastighetsbyrån in Stockholm.

Neighbour Day was started in 2000 by Kenneth Eneroth, a resident in the central Swedish town of Köping, to honour the region’s abundance of fantastic neighbours.

And judging by the Fastighetsbyrån study, Eneroth must not have lived near many bitter old ladies, who top the list of the sorts of neighbours most Swedes hope to avoid.

According to the survey, 26 percent of respondents said that they would rather not live beside an acerbic, elderly woman sensitive to noise.

“You can never win against an old lady who is alone, tired, and in pain,” said mediator Eleonore Lind to Fastighetsbyrån.

A close second on the list of undesirable neighbours is the boisterous party animal, which 24 percent of survey respondents said they would rather not have living in the apartment next door.

However, only 18 percent of women and 9 percent of men wanted to avoid neighbours who were sex maniacs with a penchant for loud lovemaking and walking around nude.

Fastighetsbyrån suggests approaching the building’s landlord or the cooperative housing association’s governing board to address persistent problems with a neighbour.

Rental or housing association membership contracts often have clauses regarding disturbances which can ultimately result in disruptive residents being asked to move.

Mediator Lind, who specializes in resolving disputes between neighbours, suggests that early introductions are the best way to get off on the right foot with a neighbour.

“You don’t need to be best friends with your neighbour, but at least trying to overcome anonymity can help increase security,” she said.

But if a problem arises, she suggests setting a time to discuss the issue with the offending neighbour in a neutral location, as well as demonstrating to the neighbour how their noises sound to others in the building.

The results are based on two separate studies carried out at the request of Fastighetsbyrån. The first was completed in October by the Reagera polling company and included interviews with 1,253 people aged 20 to 65.

The second was carried out in May by the polling firm Zapera and consisted of 1,074 interviews with respondents between 25 and 64-years-old.

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PROPERTY

INTERVIEW: ‘Most foreigners in Sweden don’t know they can get back excess rent’

In Sweden, people subletting apartments are not allowed to charge more in rent than they themselves pay. But foreign subtenants don't always know this. We asked Roland Sjölin, lawyer at the Swedish Tenants' Association, about how to get back excess rent.

Published: 18 April 2024 15:19 CEST
Updated: 21 April 2024 08:12 CEST
INTERVIEW: 'Most foreigners in Sweden don't know they can get back excess rent'

More and more of the people asking the Swedish Tenants’ Association, Hyresgästföreningen in Swedish, for help with excess rent are foreigners, Sjölin told The Local in an interview.

“The problem is that if you’re coming from another country, and you’re subletting an apartment, you’re probably not familiar with the rules in Sweden, because in other countries, it might be okay to overcharge your tenants.” 

He said that clients from India in particular seeking help from the association were now “very common”. 

“Many people come here to work as engineers in the IT sector and then have to rent somewhere,” he said, adding that as a group Indians appeared to be “very aware of their rights.”

Sweden’s rental sector is heavily regulated, with first hand contracts negotiated between landlords and the Tenants’ Association, and the rent that can be charged for second-hand contracts limited to only a small fraction above what the first-hand renter pays. 

“You’re not allowed to make any profit subletting an apartment in Sweden,” Sjölin explains. “You can only charge the subletting tenant the same rent as you [the first-hand tenant] are paying to your landlord, and then you can add the costs for internet and electricity, and perhaps a parking lot, if that is included.” 

Tenants’ Association lawyer Roland Sjölin. Photo: supplied.

You can also add a påslag or “markup”, if you are renting out the apartment fully furnished, but this cannot exceed more than 15 percent of the rent. 

That doesn’t mean that most landlords follow the law. The competition for rental apartments, especially in Stockholm, is so intense, that unscrupulous sublet landlords often try to get away with charging well over the legal amount, charging what is known in Sweden as ockerhyra, or “excess rent” and hoping that their tenants are too desperate to complain.  

What many foreigners do not realise is that even after the rental period is over, they can still get back any excess rent they have paid by applying to the Rental Board or Hyresnämnden, which functions like a court judging rental disputes. 

“If you have the evidence then it’s fairly easy,” Sjölin said. “I get a new case every second week on repayment of unfair rent, and I think that I win most of them.” 

“Nowadays, you can get paid back excess rent up to 24 months back in time, so people tend to get more money,” he added. “In some cases, they can get 200,000 kronor. In other cases, perhaps it’s only 30,000 kronor or 60,000 kronor. It depends on how long you have rented the apartment, and how excessive the rent you’ve been paying has been.”

The first step is to establish what would have been a fair rent, either by asking your landlord what they themselves pay directly or by checking with the Tenants’ Association.

“Because we negotiate most rents in Sweden, we normally know what the firsthand rent is,” Sjölin explained.

Then you need to collect together your evidence.

“It’s a good thing to have a written contract and also papers from your bank showing that you paid rent every month, and perhaps photographs of the apartment, so the rental board can get an idea of the apartment you were renting and what would be a fair rent, and also the termination for the contract so you can show the court how long you’ve been living in the apartment.” 

But Sjölin underlined that since Sweden has free burden of evidence, none of this is essential. 

“Even if you’ve been paying in cash, if you have witnesses who can testify what you were paying each month, you still have a chance of getting your money back. It’s a bit more tricky, but I’ve won two cases like that this year.” 

People in Sweden, he explained, tend to wait until the rental period is over before seeking to get paid back excess rent rather than challenging their landlord while they are still living in the apartment. 

“You don’t have any legal protection for your home for the first two years, so if you bring the matter up with the person you’re renting the apartment from you risk losing your contract and having to move out, so most people wait until they’re supposed to move anyway,” he said.

If you apply to the rental board for a refund close to the day you move out, you can then make your landlord pay back all excess rent paid in the 24 months leading up to the date you contacted the rental board.

If you are a member of the Tenants’ Association, you can contact them and ask for help with your application, but there are also specialist companies, like Orimlig Hyra AB who will buy your case off you and give you a refund within 48 hours, saving you a long wait in exchange for a cut of the money reclaimed. 

Sjölin said that the rental board normally took about 8 months to come to a judgement, but that if the person with the first hand contract appeals, that could extend the waiting time by between six months and a year.

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