Kiselgatan 95 rental: what to check before you sign

Kiselgatan 95 rental: what to check before you sign

If you searched for what to check before signing a rental at Kiselgatan 95, you probably have an offer on a flat there and want to know what to look at before you pay or sign. Kiselgatan 95 is in Varberg, postcode 432 56, in Hallands län. These are the checks we would have wanted you to have, built on the Tenancy Act and on the Swedish Union of Tenants' advice.

We cannot tell you who owns the building, how large the flat is or what the rent is: that cannot be verified for a single address without asking the person letting it. Everything below you can check yourself, against the contract and against the law.

Where Kiselgatan 95 is – and why the address matters

Kiselgatan 95 is in Varberg municipality, postcode 432 56. First check: do street, number and postcode match the advert and the contract? A discrepancy – the wrong town, the wrong postcode – is a reason to stop before money changes hands.

Second: who are you signing with? Note the landlord's name and company or personal identity number, and the role – owner, manager or first-hand tenant subletting. According to the Union of Tenants the contract should state landlord, tenant, the flat's address, its type and size, tenancy and notice period, the rent and what it includes, storage and other spaces, extras from the previous tenant, and the general and special terms.

Checklist: what to check at Kiselgatan 95, point by point

Take the contract in hand and tick the boxes. Anything you cannot get an answer to is a question to ask before you sign.

1. A written contract. The law does not require one – oral agreements are valid, and writing is formally required only if the landlord or tenant asks (Chapter 12, Section 2). Ask anyway, or it is your word against theirs.
2. The rent as a fixed amount (Chapter 12, Section 19). A moving market price is something else.
3. What is included: heating, hot water, electricity, fibre, parking, storage – in the rent or billed separately?
4. Tenancy and notice period: open-ended or fixed-term, and how many months.
5. The deposit: the amount, when it is paid, and that it is in the contract.
6. Clauses that do not apply. Much of the Tenancy Act is mandatory in the tenant's favour: a clause worse for you than the law does not apply – for example a ban on lodgers.
7. The condition. The landlord must keep the flat in good condition, and you are entitled to a rent reduction for defects you did not cause.

If Kiselgatan 95 is being sublet

The sublessor needs the landlord's consent, otherwise the rent tribunal can try the matter (Chapter 12, Sections 39–40). Without it the first-hand tenant risks their own contract – and you are left without a home when it is discovered.

The rent must be reasonable: a furnished flat may carry a supplement of at most 15 per cent of the rent, and supplements for electricity, water, fibre and similar may not exceed the actual cost. If you paid too much you can claim the excess plus interest from the rent tribunal – two years back for contracts signed after 30 September 2019, one year for older ones, and within three months of moving out.

Expect less security: under two years in a sublet you have no security of tenure and can be given notice; an open-ended contract has three calendar months' notice, in writing. A fixed term of nine months or less with no notice clause simply ends.

Deposit, fees and the rent statement

A deposit is security, not advance rent. It should not exceed a couple of months' rent, must be noted in the contract, and is returned after you move out if nothing is damaged. Ask for a written receipt before you pay.

The rent-setting fee finances the Union of Tenants' negotiation work in buildings with a negotiation agreement. Where one exists, all rents in the building are negotiated whether you are a member or not – so the fee on your statement means the rent is negotiated, not invented by the landlord.

Never pay extra to get the contract: it is a criminal offence to demand or accept a special payment for letting someone rent a home, and the person doing it risks their own tenancy. Asked for cash on top of deposit and rent, do not pay – and keep everything in writing.

Security of tenure and notice periods at Kiselgatan 95

A first-hand contract normally gives security of tenure from day one. If the landlord wants you out, the dispute goes to the rent tribunal: under Chapter 12, Section 49 the landlord must refer the case there no later than one month after the tenancy ends, otherwise the notice has no effect. The protection can be broken, but that needs grounds such as unpaid rent or neglect.

You can waive it, but only in a separate document, and usually with the rent tribunal's approval. Never sign that on the spot because everything is in a hurry.

Notice for an open-ended tenancy is three months to the nearest month-end unless you agreed on longer (Chapter 12, Section 4); after three months it must be in writing (Chapter 12, Section 8). Your duty of care (Chapter 12, Section 24) means looking after the flat and answering for damage by you or your guests – take out home insurance and register your address.

If you get no answers – do this next

Ask in writing. No answers, or answers that keep changing, is an answer in itself. The Union of Tenants advises members and offers legal help on 0771-443 443; disputes go to the rent tribunal, which can also set a reasonable rent under Chapter 12, Section 55.