Hyressättningsprocessen efter omfattande renoveringar : hur den påverkar de berörda hyresgästernas välmående

Sammanfattning: In recent years, the number of renovations of apartment buildings from the Swedish million homes programme has increased significantly. The renovations have resulted in major increases in standard of the apartments built half a century ago, and has thus resulted in substantial rent increases. In the past, the so called “Allbolag” prevented private property owners from charging rents above market rents, since the public property sector was rent normative. Since this law was amended in 2011, a greater interest was shown in the renovation of million programme apartment buildings since extensive renovations got more profitable than ever before. With a major rent increase as a result of the renovations it is a hot topic in the Swedish housing policy debate. Opinions differ in the debate where property owners see opportunities for increased value and profit in the properties, while the individual tenant has to deal with major rent increases, which in some cases rises up towards 80 percent. The tenants affected by the extensive renovations, and thus also the significant rent increases that follow, are affected not only economically but also on a personal and social level. People living in million programme apartments are fully aware of the consequences of a major refurbishment, and they also know that they have no power to influence the outcome or extent of the actions. This causes mental and, in some cases, physical stress on the individuals who have to live with the knowledge of that they eventually might be forced to move from their homes because of their inability to pay the rent. Your home is a hub for everything that is essential in life and it is where social networks of family, relatives and friends, work, school, health care and more are maintained, but when your home ceases to be a place where you can feel safe and secure it affects every factor in these networks. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain how a rent-setting process after an extensive renovation of Swedish million programme homes is conducted, and to describe how the affected tenants' well-being, in terms of anxiety and insecurity, are affected by this process. To achieve the purpose, we have conducted a qualitative survey through personal interviews which covers two tenants both of whom are affected by the problem, and two individuals who, on a daily basis, work with this problem and are well versed in the subject. Results that emerged from the study is that the rent setting system in the case of extensive renovations are not adapted for today's housing market, and that it therefore poses a problem. Tenants are virtually powerless when it comes to renovations of their apartments and their choices are to either keep their home and try to cope with the new rent, or move to a cheaper area which has not yet been renovated. The entire process, starting when the tenant learns about the planned renovation, until the project is completed has been shown to cause psychological problems for the individual, no matter if he chooses to stay put or move away. The study also shows that tenants undergoing a renovation process feel insecure in their home and that they also feel anxious and worried about the future of their living situation.