Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

PROPERTY

Sweden’s ten priciest places to live revealed

The costs of maintaining a house in Sweden can vary by as much as 15,000 kronor ($2,300) depending on where the house is located, according to a report published on Friday by the Swedish Homeowners Association (Villaägarnas Riksförbund).

Published: 18 January 2013 14:23 CET

Sweden's ten priciest places to live revealed

“The research shows that there are big differences based on where you live. And sometimes these differences are hard to explain,” Joacim Olsson, deputy head of the Association, told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

The housing costs are based on property taxes, electricity costs, water and sewage, insurance and an estimated maintenance cost that is assumed to be the same nationwide.

SEE ALSO: Sweden’s most expensive addresses

According to these parameters, Tjörn, near Gothenburg, is the most expensive municipality in the country to own a house, with annual operating costs of 57,364 kronor.

Close behind was Värmdö, east of Stockholm, with 57,331 kronor, followed by central Sweden’s Hammarö municipality, where homeowners can expect to shell out an average of 57,107 kronor a year.

On the other end of the scale, Lycksele was the cheapest with costs of only 42,005 kronor, with Malå and Boden not far behind. All three areas are in Sweden’s far north.

Olsson pointed out that parliamentary decisions linked to the energy sector are one factor that leads to varying prices, and that the Swedish Homeowners Association is now reviewing if each municipality is calculating their charges optimally.

SEE ALSO: Ingatorp outhouse: Sweden’s oldest secular wood building

“That operating costs can vary so much and that political decisions are often the reason why means local and county decision makers get a failing grade,” Olsson said in a statement.

The most expensive municipalities in Sweden, together with annual costs:

Tjörn: 57,364 kronor.

Värmdö: 57,331 kronor.

Hammarö: 57,107 kronor.

Öckerö: 56,536 kronor.

Sotenäs: 56,339 kronor.

Bollebygd: 55,883 kronor.

Kil: 55,757 kronor.

Tanum: 54,993 kronor.

Svalöv: 54,757 kronor.

Vellinge: 54,529 kronor.

Sweden’s cheapest ten municipalities, with annual costs

Lycksele: 42,005 kronor.

Malå: 42,816 kronor.

Boden: 43,633 kronor.

Norsjö: 43,820 kronor.

Berg: 44,462 kronor.

Tibro: 44,568 kronor.

Malung: 45,038 kronor.

Vindeln: 45,108 kronor.

Ragunda: 45,196 kronor.

Sorsele: 45,196 kronor.

The Local/og

Follow The Local on Twitter

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

Url copied to clipboard!