Rental accommodation

One type of housing in Sweden is a rental apartment (hyresrätt). It can be rented as either a first-hand or second-hand contract. Because it can be difficult to sign a first-hand contract without a guaranteed income or Swedish personal identity number, it is likely that your first experiences will be with second-hand apartments.

First-hand rental

A first-hand contract is signed between the occupant or person intending to rent the apartment, and the owner of the building. The most common way to get a first-hand contract is to register for the municipal waiting list (bostadskö). If you plan to move to a larger city such as Stockholm, Malmö or Göteborg, however, it may be quite difficult to find a first-hand rental apartment. The waiting lists can be several years long, making second-hand rentals significantly more common. In other, smaller towns and regions, you may register with the local municipality and get an apartment right away. To do this, you will first need a Swedish personal identity number (personnummer) and be able to prove that you have sufficient guaranteed income.

If you know the region in which you expect to live, you can find and contact the relevant municipal government here

Second-hand rental

A second-hand contract is signed between the occupant and the person who owns the apartment or holds the first-hand contract. There are a number of ways to locate offers and announcements for second-hand apartment rentals. Since these offers are always provided by private individuals through privately owned services, make sure you sign a formal contract.

To find and contact apartment owners directly, enter or find one of the following search words or phrases at one of the sites below: "hyra lägenhet" (rent apartment), "hyreslägenhet" or "hyresrätt" (rental apartment), "uthyres 2:a hand" or "uthyres andra hand" (second-hand rentals); "lägenhet + (name of specific city or region)", or "bostadsförmedling".

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