New subletting law in Sweden – what are theconsequences?

Sammanfattning: There is a housing shortage in Sweden and in Stockholm in particular. In the draft budget of 2013, the Swedish government proposed a series of measures to boost the sublet supply. The most important component was the introduction of a new subletting law. The intention of the new law was to enable homeowners interested in subletting their property to get a quick and comprehensive overview of the legal framework for this. A less constricting rent control, abolished protection from lease termination and a shortened period of termination notice for both landlords and tenants was proposed to increase the incentive for subletting as well as making the market more transparent and easier to survey for would-be tenants. Apart from the new law and some resulting changes, a change in the Bostadsrättslagen was also proposed, which would have the effect that the boards of local housing associations could no longer decline subletting applications on the basis of applicants lacking so called valid reasons for subletting. The new law and the resulting changes were passed but not the change in the Bostadsrättslagen, after being subject of criticism from the political opposition and several of the committee reports. In this essay, I investigate how much this has changed the outcome, as far as possible, considering that less than six months have passed since the new law was taken into practice. My conclusion is that the fact that the change in the Bostadsrättslagen did not pass will mean that a significantly smaller number of subletting deals are made in the region where housing is most needed.