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PROPERTY

These are Sweden’s most expensive rental apartments

Where is the most expensive rental apartment in Sweden? Perhaps surprisingly, it's not in Stockholm. Here's a look at the ten most expensive rentals from 2019.

Published: 27 February 2020 15:18 CET
Updated: 1 March 2020 09:31 CET
These are Sweden's most expensive rental apartments
Gothenburg is home to the most expensive rental apartments in Sweden, according to data from 2019. Photo: Per Pixel Petersson/Imagebank.sweden.se

The most expensive home rented out in Sweden in 2019, at 32,160 kronor ($3,325) per month, was a seven-room apartment in central Gothenburg, according to property magazine Hem&Hyra, run by the tenant owners' union Hyresgästföreningen. 

The newly renovated apartment at Kungsportsavenyen 37 was almost 6,000 kronor more expensive than the second rental on the list, which is located in the same building. The building was built in 1897 and is situated along Gothenburg's iconic boulevard, often simply called Avenyn (The Avenue). 

The top ten priciest rentals, according to Hem&Hyra's analysis of 2019 data from housing associations and municipal companies in Sweden's five largest municipalities, were found in the most affluent areas of Sweden's three major cities, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

But there were also very expensive apartments on the rental market elsewhere.

Last year a five-room apartment in central Uppsala went on the market for 19,817 kronor a month. In Linköping another apartment brought in close to 19,000 kronor each month. 

Top 10 most expensive rental apartments in Sweden

  1. Kungsportsavenyen 37, Gothenburg. 7 room. Rent: 32,160 kronor
  2. Kungsportsavenyen 37, Gothenburg. 5 room. Rent: 26,783 kronor
  3. Vasagatan, Gothenburg. 6 room. Rent: 25,773 kronor
  4. Marietorps allé 3A, Malmö. 7 room. Rent: 25,759 kronor
  5. Husarviksgatan 18, Stockholm. 6 room. Rent: 25,549 kronor
  6. St Paulsgatan 10, Stockholm. 7 room. Rent: 25,059 kronor
  7. Götabergsgatan, Gothenburg. 6 room. Rent: 25,000 kronor
  8. Köpenhamnsvägen 95, Malmö. 6 room. Rent: 23,426 kronor
  9. Valhallavägen 96, Stockholm. 7 room. Rent: 22,645 kronor
  10. Köpenhamnsvägen 93A, Malmö. 5 room. Rent: 22,635 kronor

Source: Hem&Hyra Data: Statistics from the five largest municipalities in Sweden. Not all private landlords are connected which means that more expensive rental apartments may have been mediated outside of the list.

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How much is 'normal'?

In 2019 the average monthly rent in Sweden for a three-room apartment was 7,147 kronor ($739), according to Statistics Sweden.

But there are large variations depending on where you live.

In a municipality with fewer than 75,000 inhabitants, a family pays on average 1,600 kronor less for a three-room apartment than a household in Stockholm does.

And these statistics only take into account so called 'first-hand' contracts, which are subject to rent controls. These contracts in Sweden are in most cases given on a first-come, first-serve basis which means that you join a queue and are given priority based on your position in that queue.

In larger cities it's often impossible to find a first-hand contract without having first spent years, or even a decade or more, in the queue. In larger cities it can take many years in this queue to be eligible for a first-hand contract, so sub-letting or 'second-hand renting' is common. 

Renting in Sweden

Recent figures show a slow increase in available housing, but the shortage is still felt nationwide, and is especially problematic in the larger cities. The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) reports that 240 of Sweden's 290 municipalities has a housing shortage.

Municipal or state-regulated rental companies must abide by restrictions on how much they can charge in rent, based on aspects such as the number of rooms, quality of the apartment, location and proximity to services among others.

The Swedish Tenants Association negotiates rent for tenants who want collective bargaining, and in practice they negotiate levels of rent for 90 percent of Swedish rental apartments, which equates to over three million tenants.

A stated goal in their negotiations is that “rent should not exceed 25 percent of an average salary after taxes”. Based on the 2018 average salary of 34,600 kronor before tax each month, that would equate to a monthly rent of roughly 6690 kronor per person. 

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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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