Ion Ciorici

When you want to rent an apartment even in Botswana you just simple go to the owner of the apartment, sign some papers, give some cash and freely you can move in right the next day.
In Sweden ….oh oh…crazy…it is like you marry the apartment .

To manage to find an apartment in Stockholm, convince the owner that you are the right person, convince the owner of the whole building, convince the district, where the apartment is located is not an easy thing – it is like you are trying to convince the nation that you are the right president.

First let me start out by saying that this article is not designed to be critical . One thing above all should be stressed: There is an acute shortage of rental accommodation not only in Stockholm, but in every Swedish city.

An article written by a Swede in Stockholm describes that “moving every month, living illegally, and paying double the actual rent” is normal in Sweden in order to have somewhere to live.

Sweden’s rarely mentioned dark underbelly is the rental property market where large sums of cash change hands daily in exchange for rental contracts.
Housing shortages are caused by three factors:

A. Rental levels and rent increases are tightly controlled

B. The rent for an apartment is based on it’s ‘use‘ above all else and not it’s location. The word ‘Use’ in this context can usually be interpreted as the apartment’s size. So an apartment will probably cost the same to rent whether it’s in central Stockholm or a 1000 kms away in the middle of nowhere.
Rents do tend to be slightly higher however for recently built or renovated apartments. The Swedish rental system gives little benefit to those that choose to rent in the countryside.

C. Renting can often be cheaper than buying an apartment.

As you may know I have decided to remain in Sweden because of the new job. When I started looking for a flat I got an uneasy feeling because I had a problem finding anything. I looked on the all possible web pages, local paper’s and there was nothing.

Anyway an excellent free website to find something to rent anywhere in Sweden or to just look at costs is Blocket. I also want to add that finding a short term rental of a couple of months with a second-hand contract is not that difficult, it’s long term rentals that are the problem.

Basically in Sweden there are two forms of rental contract. A first hand contract which the tenant takes out directly with the owner of the property gives the tenant a high level of security. They can be fairly sure that they can continue to live in the property. But first hand contracts are scarce because apartments in many cities are scarce.

The second hand contract however is basically a sublet by someone who has a first hand contract and doesn’t want to loose it. Maybe there are going away on holiday, maybe they are working somewhere else for a while but often they are moving with no intention of ever coming back. You come across Swedes all the time who will tell you about some first hand contract they have on the other side of the country for an apartment they haven’t seen in years and which they have no intention of giving it up because…. well they are hard to get aren’t they! And only the clinically insane would relinquish a first hand contract in Stockholm (without a substantial cash payment that is).
A first hand contract in a desirable location is so hard to get, people will make an illegal under the table payment to get them ranging from 10,000SEK to much much more. In Stockholm it might cost 150,000SEK in black money to get a central one room apartment. On Blocket.se you find grainy digital pictures of unremarkable washing machines and the blunt question: ‘who will give me 30,000sek for my washing machine?’. Welcome to Sweden’s massive black economy .

One of the fastest way to find an apartment is just to post on blocket.se a short info about yourself, something like “Nice tall Moldavian seeks apartment…..everything of interest”. You can get lot of calls and rental proposals.
If you don’t choose this way, you can just keep sending your CV and picture and try to convince.

Another strange thing that happened was that I was rung up by a small property company who wanted to offer me a first hand contract. They checked me out and seemed happy and invited me to view the property. What I didn’t know is that I was invited along with about 20 other people. It was an annoying waste of time and illustrated how property companies feel they can create a ‘beauty contest’ out of unwitting participants.

So in conclusion my advice on renting an apartment in Stockholm is:

* Put an add in the paper and see what comes up. You might get lucky.
* Don’t live in Stockholm unless you’ve got a really good salary and a lot of patience.
* If you have the right contacts in a property company, apartments can appear out of thin air.
* If you’ve got the money and plan to stay awhile then buy don’t rent.
* If you are offered any first hand contract, take it, it’s a bargaining chip.

After 3 months of unsuccessful apartment search my employer helped by contacting a real estate company. In the end they also find an interesting add on blocket.se. The employer really did a great job by convincing the owner of the apartment that Moldavians are nice guys and they don’t keep guns at home .

If you are so curious, the apartment is located in a very cosy area – Aspudden – just 12 minutes from the city centre.
Some pictures:

Guests are welcomed anytime