Do you suspect you’re paying too much rent?

If you sublet your apartment, there’s a risk that you’ll pay too much rent. This is because some people that rent out their apartments take the opportunity to earn some extra money from it. This isn’t allowed according to Swedish law that states that rent has to be at a reasonable level. Meaning the rent can’t be too high based on what you pay for. Paying rent that is too high is also called usurious rent.

What is a reasonable rent is different depending on, among other things, the size of the apartment, location, what’s included in the rent, etc. But generally speaking, you shouldn’t have to pay more than the original rent when you sublet a rental apartment. And you shouldn’t have to pay more than the actual housing cost when you sublet a condominium. You can easily find out if you’re paying too much rent by, for example, talking to neighbors and asking what they are paying. Or by comparing the rent of other similar apartments. It’s important to remember when making such a comparison that the rent can differ by up to 5 percent. It’s when your rent differs significantly that you can be sure you’re paying too much rent.

What can you do if you pay too much rent?

If you pay too much rent, you can send an application to the rent tribunal to have the rent reduced. If the apartment is a rental, you can get back the excess rent you’ve paid. You can only get back rent up to two years back in time from the day you send your application. However, if you’re subletting a condominium, you cannot get back excess rent. If that’s the case, you can only apply to reduce your current rent.

Applying to have your rent reduced or get excess rent back can be overwhelming. That’s why we recommend contacting a lawyer who specializes in tenancy law. This way, you can make sure that your lawyer knows what your rights are and that they will help you with the process in the best possible way.

Talk to a lawyer

Do you need help from an expert in rental and housing issues? Book a video call with Carl Seffer in the Kliently app.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

Have you ever had disturbing neighbours?

Do your neighbours make a lot of noise that bothers you? Do you find it difficult to have peace in your home because of it? Sometimes, having neighbours can be complicated. We all can unfortunately find ourselves in situations where we have neighbours with whom we absolutely don’t get along. And often it’s because of disturbing neighbours.

The first thing you should do, if you’re in this position yourself, is to try to talk and solve the problem together with your neighbour. The best thing, of course, is if you can come to a solution together. Especially since problems like this can arise due to misunderstandings. Maybe your neighbour has very young children who have difficulties settling down. Talking to the neighbour is both the easiest option and the one that will hopefully lead to better neighbourliness in your area. But if your neighbour doesn’t listen to you and continues with the disturbances, there are a couple of things you can do to resolve the situation.

What to do if you have disturbing neighbours

You can always take your complaints directly to the landlord/housing association. If you live in rental apartment, they often have a hotline for disturbances that you can call as well. The neighbour that causes the disturbances will then be notified about the complaints and get a chance to do better.

If the reason for the disturbances is that the neighbour is careless, they have to try to stop with the disturbances. However, should the problem persist, you could file a new complaint to show that nothing has changed. If a person receives several complaints about disturbances, there’s a risk that the person won’t be allowed to stay in the apartment.

If your landlord or housing association doesn’t listen to you, you can also contact the Rent Tribunal and ask for help. In that case, it’s important to write down what the disturbance is and when it happens. By writing down a list with date, time and description of disturbance, it will be easier for the Rent Tribunal to help you. The Rent Tribunal is a type of court that deals with rental and housing issues.

Talk to a lawyer

Do you need help from an expert in rental and housing issues? Book a video call with Carl Seffer in the Kliently app.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

Do you think you’ll have to pay for damages on your rental apartment?

If you live in a rental apartment, you as a tenant are responsible for looking after the apartment and not causing any major damages. At the same time, it’s completely normal for wear and tear to occur in an apartment, especially if there are several of you living there. So where does the line go between normal wear and tear and major damage? When does the landlord have the right to demand that you pay for damages? And when do you have the right to refuse it?

First of all, it’s important to understand that what counts as normal wear and tear is something that’s assessed on a case-by-case basis. However, there are certain guidelines that can be used as a starting point. Examples of normal wear and tear are minor scratches in parquet floors and holes and small marks in the walls. This is the type of wear and tear that normally occurs just from living in the apartment. Then there are times when damage occurs because someone has been particularly careless. And that’s when you’re obligated to pay for damages.

When is a tenant obliged to pay compensation for damages on a rental apartment?

When deciding whether the damages that has occurred in an apartment is normal wear and tear or not, a couple of factors are taken into account. One factor is how long the tenant has lived in the apartment and how extensive the damage is. The cause of the damages are also something that’s taken into account. For example, has your child painted on the walls? Or do you have bigger and/or deeper scratches on the floor that weren’t caused by just walking on it? Then the landlord may be entitled to claim compensation for damages from you.

How big the compensation will be depends on the damage and how much it would cost to fix it. In case of damages to the walls, the compensation is often the same as the cost of painting or wallpapering the walls. If there are damages to the floors, it may instead be the same as what it costs to, for example, sand and varnish the floors.

Do you think your landlord doesn’t have the right to claim compensation from you?

Since these situations are assessed on a case-by-case basis, it’s also easy for disputes to arise between landlords and tenants. If your landlord demands compensation for damages from you and you believe that they are at fault, you can turn to the rent tribunal. The rent tribunal is like a court that only exists for rent and housing issues. And it’s with them you can raise any disputes that arise between you and your landlord. To make sure that you have the law on your side, you can also contact a lawyer with experience in tenancy law. Then you can both get an assessment of what applies in your particular situation and get help pursuing your issue with the rent tribunal.

Talk to a lawyer

Do you need help from an expert in rental and housing issues? Book a video call with Carl Seffer in the Kliently app.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

Do you know what applies when you rent an apartment?

Are you renting your apartment and wondering about your rights as a tenant? Do you wonder if your rent is reasonable or too high? Or is your apartment in bad shape and you want to know if the landlord is responsible for refurbishing the apartment? As a tenant, you can expect that your landlord has some responsibility for the apartment you live in. And you have the right to demand that the apartment meet a certain standard.

The apartment must have a good standard

You have the right to demand that your apartment is of a good standard. This means that the most important functions should work without problems. This applies to white goods, pipes and plumbing as well as radiators. But it also means that you have the right to demand that the walls and ceiling be fresh and repainted at regular intervals. The same applies, for example, to kitchen cabinet doors and other interior items that belong to the apartment but don’t directly affect the apartments functionality. However, your landlord does not need to renovate the apartment to achieve a standard that is considered luxurious.

You can do minor renovations

If you want to repaint your apartment yourself, you have the right to do so. Even wallpapering and other small improvements can mostly be done as well. However, it may be good to consult with the landlord and get their approval first. This applies especially if you intend to paint or wallpaper in colors and motifs that aren’t neutral. As a landlord, you may want the improvements that are made in the apartment to be neutral in order to please other, future tenants as well.

Right to reduced rent

If your apartment has faults that affect the apartment’s functionality, you have the right to have the rent reduced. That is, as long as you aren’t the one that has caused the error. This doesn’t apply to cosmetic defects such as scratches in the parquet or minor damages to door frames. This applies if, for example, the white goods doesn’t work for a shorter period of time or if the toilet is broken and you can’t use it. It’s important to remember that you’re obliged to notify your landlord as soon as the damage occurs, regardless of whether you’ve caused it or not. In the event that you have caused the damage, you yourself have to compensate your landlord for the damages.

You decide when the landlord can enter the apartment

Even if the landlord owns the apartment, you have the right to deny them access. This applies if the landlord hasn’t notified you in advance that they intend to stop by to have a look. In the vast majority of cases however, landlords don’t usually stop by unless it is to check the condition of the apartment. For example, in the event that they have received a complaint from you that they need to look into. And if so, the landlord have to notify you when they intend to visit the apartment.

This is when you have the right to terminate your contract

Should your apartment have very large defects or if the apartment can be considered a health hazard, for example if there’s mold, you have the right to terminate your contract. This applies if your landlord doesn’t address the problem and do something to fix the damage. One of the most important rights you have as a tenant is that you should be able to feel safe and secure in the apartment you rent.

Talk to a lawyer

Do you need help from an expert in rental and housing issues? Book a video call with Carl Seffer in the Kliently app.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

Have you heard of the term retrieval request?

If you have a child that’s under state custody, you may have come across the term retrieval request. A retrieval request helps your bring your child home again if the child has been taken into state custody. If the social welfare committee decides that a childs well-being is at risk, they can step in and put that child in state custody. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, there are certain rules and processes that must be followed to ensure that the child is safe and well.

In Sweden, the term LVU is a mandatory law that controls the care of children. The law exists to make sure that children who get hurt in their home can be taken care of and hopefully be put in better living conditions. The reasons why a child is taken into custody can be both about home conditions and the child’s behaviour. And sometimes the child may need long-term care. While there are also times when the child’s family can make the necessary changes to ensure that the child can live a safe life at home.

Before a child is placed in custody, the Social Committee makes an assessment that confirms that the child’s health and/or development is harmed by living at home. The court will also have to establish that that assessment is correct before it’s possible to take a child into state custody. After that, the social welfare board has to make reassessments at least every six months regarding whether the child still needs to stay in custody or not.

How does a retrieval request work?

If your child has been taken into state custody and you want to bring them home, you can make a retrieval request. The child can also do this if they have reached the age of 15. The social service then investigates whether it’s reasonable to terminate the child’s custody. Social services only have up to four months to complete their investigation. When the investigation is completed, the social welfare committee makes a decision based on it. In the case they don’t approve the request, you can appeal the decision to the administrative court.

When making a retrieval request, you’ll get the help of a public assistant. You don’t have to pay for your public assistance since the state is responsible for those costs. Before making a retrieval request, you have to review the reasons why your child was placed in custody in the first place. If it was due to reasons that you are responsible for, you have to make the necessary changes the social welfare board considers you should make before your child can return home. If the harmful situation for the child hasn’t changed, your retrieval request won’t be approved.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

White seashells on the ground with one of the shells in rainbow colors symbolizing discrimination.

It may sound like a strange question, shouldn’t everyone know what discrimination is? But the fact is that there’s a difference between being discriminated against and, for example, treated unfairly. In order for an act to be considered as discriminatory, it has to fulfill a number of requirements. First and foremost, the discrimination has to be based on a person’s sex, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or belief, disability, sexual orientation or age. In addition, there are six forms of discrimination according to Swedish law that the act has to comply with. Below we’ll tell you more about the types of actions that count as discriminatory.

1. Direct discrimination

Direct discrimination regards to situations where one person is treated worse than someone else. You have to be able to compare the situations for it to count as direct discrimination. This type of discrimination can take place in several situations and an individual assessment is therefore always made of each situation. For example, it can be considered discrimination if you aren’t called to a job interview when you have a non-Nordic ethnic origin while a person with Nordic ethnic origin and the same or similar qualifications as you is called. Or if you’re a woman and have a lower salary than your male colleague even though you have the same or similar experience and skills.

2. Indirect discrimination

Indirect discrimination instead has to do with situations that may seem neutral but which leaves a certain group of people at a disadvantages. Some rules and guidelines can be discriminatory even though everyone has to follow them. It can be considered indirect discrimination if the guideline for a job is that having a driver’s license is a merit even though the job itself can be performed without you having to drive a car. This is because the guideline disadvantages many disabled people who don’t have the opportunity to obtain a driver’s license.

Only businesses covered by the Discrimination Act can be convicted of discrimination. Swedish Systembolaget can, for example, discriminate based on age and not sell alcohol to minors. In this case, you can’t claim that they’re indirectly discriminating against you if they deny you purchases when you can’t show valid identification.

3. Lack of accessibility

Lack of accessibility as discrimination is about how an organization has adapted to people with disabilities or special needs. Organizations are obliged to ensure that people with disabilities can take part in an equivalent way to people without disabilities. There are also other special laws and regulations linked to accessibility to facilitate the disabled and increase accessibility. Examples of such laws are the School Act and the Work Environment Act.

What an organization has to do to be considered accessible depends on several factors. Among other things, the organizations finances and practical conditions are considered before assessing how it should be adapted.

4. Harassment as discrimination

Harassment is about offending another person or a group of people. It can involve derogatory comments, ostracism, gestures and the like. The person subjected to harassment decides whether the action is offensive. The person who’s victimized also has to be clear that the act is offensive for it to count as harassment. A prerequisite for being able to claim that something is harassment is that the person harassing has it made clear to them. However, there are of course situations that are so obviously offensive that the person being harassed doesn’t need to speak up.

5. Sexual harassment

Just as the term indicates, sexual harassment has to do about actions that are offensive and of a sexual nature. Examples of sexual harassment are comments with sexual allusions, touching inappropriately and the like. Even situations where a person claims that they meant well can be considered sexual harassment if they’re of a sexual nature and the person who’s exposed experiences discomfort.

In the case of sexual harassment, it’s also enough that the act itself is harassing for it to count as discrimination. You don’t have to refer to the fact that you’re a woman, disabled or so in order to claim that the act was discriminatory.

6. Instructions to discriminate

It’s also considered discrimination if a person forces someone else to discriminate. For example, store managers can’t tell their employees to deny a certain group of people from entering the store. And restaurant owners can’t tell their staff that they shouldn’t serve a certain group of people. For it to count as instructions to discriminate, there has to be a dependency relationship between the person giving the instruction and the person receiving it.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

Does your cookie policy include all the necessary information?

Companies that want to get to know their users and analyze their behavior can use cookies to do so. It’s a good way to improve your offers and make sure your users get the information that benefits them the most. If you use cookies on your website, you have to have a cookie policy where you inform about how you use cookies.

Most websites use cookies, i.e. small text files with information that is stored in browsers. By saving cookies in the browser, the user’s experience of the site becomes smoother. It’s because of cookies that users can collect products in a shopping cart knowing they’ll remain until the next time they visit the site. It’s also because of cookies that users only need to log in to sites once and choose to keep themselves logged in even after they’ve closed the browser.

This is what your cookie policy should contain

Your cookie policy has to be clear and easy to understand. Users have to be able to quickly understand what it means to accept or not accept cookies. Simply put, what the consequences are for each choice. In addition, your policy has to include:

• what cookies are. The user has to be able to quickly understand what cookies are and how they work.
• how and why you use cookies. You don’t have to get into details, but should give an overall, clear explanation of which type of cookies you use and what the purpose for using them is. As a separate paragraph in this section, you can also include whether you use cookies from a third party, for example if you use Google Analytics.
• how the user can disable cookies. The user should both receive information about how they deactivates cookies and what happens when they do so. You can also link to other pages where the user can follow instructions on how to disable cookies. In this section, you can also explain how users delete the cookies that have already been saved.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

Make sure to protect yourself against card fraud

According to The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, the number of card frauds has increased by 70% during the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2022. This applies to frauds where the physical card hasn’t been stolen, instead the card numbers have been exploited. It’s a big increase in this type of crime and there are some things you can do to protect yourself against card fraud.

The most important thing, of course, is to never give out your card number to anyone. On many sites on the internet, you can pay by entering your card number. Even in those cases, it’s important to be careful. Only shop on sites you know you can trust and that you know are serious. If it’s a site you don’t previously know, make sure to look for reviews about how others have experienced that particular store. Check the store’s own reviews, both on their website and in the comments on their social media. And check if you can find reviews about the store at an independent review site. Search Google and see if there are articles or forums where others warn against shopping on that site.

All banks have different security solutions for card purchases. These can be both activated and deactivated. Check with your bank what applies to your card and consult with them which security option suits you best.

Card fraud is a problem both online and in real life

Sometimes ATMs and gas pumps can be rigged to collect card details that are then used in fraud crimes. It may not always be easy to tell if an ATM or gas pump you intend to use is rigged, but there are some things you can keep an eye on. If you can wiggle the keypad or the card reader, it’s best not to use your card there.

A solution that’s effective but can feel complicated if you do a lot of shopping online is to keep internet purchases on your card blocked. Whenever you want to shop online, you can just activate online purchases for that brief moment. Although it may seem like an ordeal, this solution works really well to prevent you from becoming a victim of card fraud.

If you’ve already been the victim of card fraud, it’s important you block your card and report the crime to the police immediately. The card can be blocked by calling your bank and the crime should be reported by calling 114 14.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

Make sure you know what applies before travelling

It’s been a few years since Brexit and the initial shock has worn off. But even though life has moved on, it can be difficult to know what applies when travelling to the UK after Brexit. So we’ve listed everything you need to know so you can spend more time enjoying your trip.

When travelling to the UK, you have to have a valid passport. It’s the only form of ID they accept when entering the country. This applies regardless of why you’re traveling there and which country you’ve traveled from. In some cases, you also need a visa to enter the country. For example, going to the UK to work or study requires a visa. But if you’re going there as a tourist or to visit someone, you won’t need a visa as long as you don’t stay longer than six months. This also applies to business trips when going there for meetings or conferences. However, you need a visa regardless of why you’re going there if you intend to stay longer than six months.

UK after Brexit – what about when you’re in the country?

Once you’re in the UK, you can use both your national drivers license and the European Health Insurance Card if needed. However, you’ll also need to arrange an international driver’s license if you plan to drive there. An international driver’s license is a translation of your Swedish driver’s license. You can use it when you plan to drive in countries outside of Sweden. Though you aren’t allowed to drive with only the international driver’s license and need to carry your Swedish driver’s license with you as well. If you plan to travel between Ireland and Northern Ireland, you can do so freely until 1 January 2025.

A good thing to keep in mind when traveling to the UK after Brexit is to check for any price changes in your mobile plan. Previously, mobile operators weren’t allowed to charge extra fees when traveling to the UK, but that is allowed now. So make sure you know what the costs are so you don’t get an unwanted surprise with your next bill. This applies to both call, SMS and surfing costs.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today

What applies according to the right of access to private land?

If you have an apple tree on your property, you know that the trees usually produce fruit in abundance. This leads to many people usually advertising on social media that others are free to come by and pick apples from them. However there are also people who enter other people’s yard to pick apples and then referring to the common right of access to private land.

According to the common right, we’re allowed to “cross someone else’s land and temporarily stay there”. But what about the fruit that grows there? Can anyone pick from your apple tree?

The fact of the matter is, it’s a common misconception that anyone can walk into other peoples property and start picking apples. According to the common right of access to private land, you can pick berries and mushrooms that grow in forests and fields. You can also pick seeds, nuts and cones from the ground. But the apples that grow on your apple tree are considered as your property. This means that not just anyone can come in to your property and pick your apples. This applies to both the apples that grow on the tree and those that lie on your yard.

Should branches from your tree extend over to the neighbor’s property, the neighbor has the right to cut those branches as long as it doesn’t damage the tree. Your neighbor also gets to pick the apples that fall on their yard. When the apples fall on the neighbor’s yard, they’re considered to be the neighbor’s property. It’s only when they remain on the tree or have fallen onto your yard that the apples are considered as yours.

So when are you allowed to pick apples then?

Some municipalities grow apple trees on municipal land. Those trees are considered as cultivated apple trees. You’re not allowed to pick fruit and berries that are obviously cultivated. However, many municipalities usually advertise that residents can pick the fruit as long as they make sure there’s enough fruit left for others who also want to pick. So in other words, make sure to always ask the owner if you can pick. Or find the nearest apple tree at Äkta Vara. Many owners advertise there that others are free to come and pick from their trees.

Download the Kliently app for legal help today