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Thousands of newcomers in Sweden at risk of homelessness

Thousands of newcomers to Sweden risk becoming homeless in Sweden in spring next year, as many municipalities are struggling to find housing for new arrivals.

Published: 24 October 2017 15:59 CEST

Thousands of newcomers in Sweden at risk of homelessness

File photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT

Those people with short-term employment contracts are at greatest risk of losing their home, according to Sveriges Radio Ekot.

Since March 2016, Sweden's municipalities have been tasked with providing accommodation for some 60,000 new arrivals to the country who had been granted asylum.

This was part of the Settlement Act, introduced as a response to the huge numbers of refugees, and although there's no official deadline written into Swedish law, most municipalities linked it to the Establishment Agreement, a two-year period during which new arrivals are entitled to free Swedish language and job preparation classes.

This means that in March next year, the first of these housing contracts will expire, raising the question of where their inhabitants – an estimated 15,000 people – will live after that deadline. The situation will be particularly difficult for those not in employment when the contract expires.

“My view is that all municipalities are facing the same problem. There are relatively few [new arrivals] who have managed to get their own homes,” Jesper Schönberg from Haninge municipality told Sveriges Radio.

According Per-Arne Andersson, Head of the Education and Labor Department at Sweden's Municipalities and County Council (SKL), around 100,000 people will be in need of housing in 2018, including the 60,000 already covered by the Settlement Act as well as those who are moved from Migration Agency facilities this year and the next, after having asylum applications approved.

About 50 to 60 percent of the municipalities say that they are in a good position to manage the housing situation, Andersson told TT, but the others have reported “great difficulties”.

The majority of Swedish municipalities were facing a housing shortage before the 2015 migration crisis, with only one municipality saying that it had a surplus of housing in 2017.

READ ALSO: The story of Sweden's housing crisis

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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