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Know your rights: How hot is your apartment in Sweden allowed to be?

Sweden is currently experiencing a heatwave, and for many people it's uncomfortably warm indoors as well as outside. But there are guidelines if you're renting an apartment in Sweden that gets unbearably hot.

Published: 27 July 2019 07:53 CEST
Updated: 8 June 2023 09:32 CEST
Know your rights: How hot is your apartment in Sweden allowed to be?
There are limits to how hot your apartment is allowed to get. Photo: Hasse Holmberg/Scanpix

In general, the indoor temperature in your home should be no more than 24C, but this is raised to 26C during the summer, under recommendations from Sweden’s Public Health Agency.

However, the guideline is that tenants shouldn’t be living in conditions where indoor temperatures are above these levels for an “enduring” period of time. Exactly how long that can be isn’t written in law, but according to housing magazine Hem&Hyra, it’s usually considered to be at least a couple of weeks.

If the indoor temperature in your home exceeds these levels for longer than this, it’s considered an “inconvenience to health”, meaning that landlords are obligated to take measures aimed at reducing the temperature. This might be by installing special blinds or applying sun protection films to windows, for example.

But during temporary heatwaves, the maximum habitable temperature is raised another 2C to 28C. That means that if your apartment has been 27C inside for two weeks, unfortunately you’re not entitled to ask for these same measures. 

And the temperature guidelines do not apply during “extreme weather conditions”, which means that during an extreme heatwave (or cold spell during winter) you might need to live with uncomfortable temperatures for a short period of time. In that case, your best option might be investing in a fan and taking other measures to keep cool, such as regular icy drinks and cool baths or showers.

But if you’ve been living in a rental property where the temperature has exceeded these maximum levels over a long period of time, you could be entitled to claim a partial refund of rent.

In other words, this applies if the indoor temperature was over 24C for at least a few weeks outside summer, or over 26C for several weeks during the summer season.

In order to make this kind of claim, you’d need to keep a regular record of the indoor and outdoor temperatures over an extended period of time. You first need to ask your landlord to try to fix the problem, but if that doesn’t work you can contact the Rent and Tenancy Tribunal (Hyresnämnden).

There are no fixed guidelines on how much you can claim back, since each case is addressed individually.

In the meantime, if you’re struggling in the heat there are several measures you can take independently to reduce the temperature in the apartment. These could include keeping blinds closed during the day while you’re out, opening windows at night to let in cooler air, and perhaps using fans.

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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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