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Accommodation 101: How to rent an apartment in Sweden

To describe it as ‘difficult’ to find a rental apartment in Sweden would be an understatement. In fact, it can be such a pain that some people give up altogether and move elsewhere. Don’t be one of them, here are some tips to help you navigate the Swedish rental market.

Published: 3 December 2018 10:57 CET
Updated: 31 December 2018 11:32 CET
Accommodation 101: How to rent an apartment in Sweden
Photo: Qasa

Let’s start at the very beginning. In Sweden, there are two basic types of leases. There’s the notoriously hard-to-acquire ‘first-hand’ contract (förstahandskontrakt) which is an apartment owned and rented out by a municipality or state-regulated rental company.

To get a first-hand apartment (första hand) you need to register with your municipality and join a waiting list. In the larger cities, you may be waiting for several years. In Stockholm, for example, there is currently a queue time of between 7 to 11 years.

If you’re new to Sweden and need somewhere to live within the next decade then you’ll probably have better luck finding a sublet apartment (andra hand). Like job hunting, you may need to dedicate a few intense days to finding an apartment (and once you do, act quick).

Where to find rental apartments in Sweden

Your first port of call should be Qasa, the largest marketplace for rental apartments available in English. It’s like an Airbnb for long-term rentals, making subletting safe and easy throughout your stay in Sweden. Setting up a profile is free and there are no sneaky hidden fees waiting to jump out at the last minute.

Blocket is another website where you can browse apartment listings. It’s a more traditional classified site that isn’t purely focused on home rentals (there’s a great furniture section to browse once you have found the perfect dwelling) and is only available in Swedish. The good news is that Qasa has a partnership with Blocket so you can easily apply to their best apartments directly from both platforms.

Photo: Qasa

How to stand out from other applicants

Competition is fierce on the Swedish rental market. Unlike some countries where you can simply sign for an apartment on the spot, in Sweden you often have to make your case for why a landlord should pick you.

Start by creating a free profile on Qasa to showcase the best version of yourself when applying for rental homes. Think of it as your digital resume for finding a home; here you can gather your references, prove your credit worthiness and show potential landlords just how fantastic you are.

If you still don’t have a Swedish personal number (personnummer), it’s advisable to have your employer also sign your rental contract. This will make you more appealing to landlords as they have some form of guarantee that you are trustworthy and can pay the rent. So before you start looking for an apartment, double check to find out if this is an option for you. Don’t worry if it’s not an option for you, Qasa still allows you to do everything without a personal number.

Time is of the essence

Speed is imperative but at the same time it can be tough finding the few homes that match all your criteria. The good news is there are tools that can help you. When you create a profile on Qasa, you’ll be notified the moment anything that suits your preferences becomes available. Once you get the notification, you can apply for that home with just one click.

Create your free Qasa profile and find your perfect apartment in Sweden

Keep your wits about you

Rental scams are a big problem in many countries and Sweden is no exception. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself. Provided you don’t sign any rental agreements on your own or make any payments without an intermediary, you have nothing to worry about.

Qasa provides the leading anti-fraud system on the market. Besides being incredibly easy to sign an agreement (everything is done digitally), they also secure your deposit in a separate escrow account. Your first month’s rent is then paid by Qasa to your landlord a week after you’ve moved in. This makes it impossible for a scammer to access your money prematurely and gives you time to move in and check everything is in order. It also means you can sign a rental agreement whilst still living abroad so you can move into your apartment the moment you touchdown in Sweden! How easy is that?

Here are some more tips to help you avoid falling prey to rental fraud.

Make yourself at home

Once the contract has been signed and you’ve moved into your new home, it’s time to make it your own. You’re living in the birthplace of IKEA so you’re hardly ever further than a stone’s throw away from one of its stores; there are also plenty of established online markets for furniture, art and other types of interior decor (we’ve already mentioned Blocket) to help you put your stamp on your new apartment.

Välkomna and you’re welcome!

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by QASA.

 
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READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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