Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
HOMES

HOMES

In pictures: Stockholm office turned into mini apartment

Decorator Tommy Doverdalen tells Houzz.se's Amanda Strömberg about how he turned a small office into a stylish 44-square-metre apartment in Stockholm.

Published: 15 September 2016 08:00 CEST
In pictures: Stockholm office turned into mini apartment
The apartment. Photo: Fredric Boukari Photography

“We've got to do things spectacularly,” explains Doverdalen. During his many years as a carpenter, he got the chance to work with some of the best interior designers in Europe – and along the way he made sure to pick up on all their clever tips and tricks. So when he this year, along with architect Johan Wessel, was asked to separate an office in Stockholm and turn one side into an apartment, he did not hold back.

Location: Östermalmsgatan, Stockholm

Size: 44 square metres

Creator: Tommy Doverdalen, carpenter and decorator who runs the company Tom Trick AB, and Johan Wessel, an architect who runs his own company, Johan Wessel Xthlm. Framed picture of John Lennon below, a personal gift to Tommy, photographed by Richard Avedon.

Tomtrick
Photo: Fredric Boukari Photography – Sök inredningsidéer för moderna allrum

The room’s tricky design forced them to come up with several smart solutions. “We didn’t plan to build a loft but the roof to the basement stairs is right there, which means that there is a concrete box that can not be moved. Therefore, we concluded that the best solution was to build a loft with storage underneath,” says Doverdalen. In addition, it was found that the ceiling was too low to accommodate a standard kitchen, therefore he had to cut the cabinets they bought from Ikea to make them fit.

Tomtrick

“I wanted the kitchen to be fun and therefore chose a green colour that really stands out.” The colour was matched with a worktop in Carrara marble and knobs in brass. “It makes it feel a bit more luxurious, and I like that,” says Doverdalen. 

Tomtrick
 
Tomtrick

The sleeping loft is one of Tommy's favourite places in the apartment, mostly because of the nice openness that the beautiful glass railing creates in an otherwise fairly tight space. The bolts that attach the glass to the grey storage cabinet from Ikea are a nice detail.

Tomtrick

The photograph of Jimi Hendrix (performing at Gröna Lund in Stockholm) is Doverdalen's own. The wallpaper Nuvolette is from Cole & Son/Fornasetti.

TomtrickTomtrick

You've got a nice view of almost all of the 44 square metres of the apartment from the sleeping loft. Mirror from Drömhuset Östermalmstorg.

Tomtrick

White Ikea cabinets divide the dining room and living room.

“It was somewhat of a challenge to create good storage in the small area that we had to work with, but I think we managed to create smart and good-looking solutions,” says Doverdalen. Armchairs LC4 created by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, available at Nordiska Galleriet.

Tomtrick

They splurged a little extra on the bathroom and went for luxury materials. The walls are covered with high-quality Carrara marble Class 1 and the floor has been covered in patterned concrete tiles from Kakelspecialisten. In addition, Tommy chose to show off some of his special hallmarks.

“I love the Flo lights so much that I use them in every job I do. Another thing that is typical for me is that I always put up heated mirror pads behind the mirror, that way you avoid the steam created when showering.” 

Get more inspiration in The Local's Homes section

Come see more Nordic lifestyle, design and architecture over at houzz.dk and houzz.se.

For members

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
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.

SHOW COMMENTS