The Path to a New Home
On this page you can see step by step how to get an apartment through Bostadsförmedlingen i Stockholm (The Stockholm Housing Agency).
1. Join the Stockholm Housing Agency
To apply for housing with us, you need to be registered as a housing applicant.
Anyone who is aged 18+ and who has a Swedish national identification (personnummer) or coordination number (samordningsnummer) can register with us. You sign up here on our website.
It costs SEK 200 per year. You can have a co-applicant people and queue jointly with them.
2. Search and register interest
You search among the advertisements with vacant homes on our website and register your interest yourself when you have found an apartment that you want to live in.
You’ll find the available properties listed under Lediga bostäder (Vacant apartments).
You need to be logged in to our website in order to register your interest in available apartments.
The landlords’ letting requirements may differ: some may, for example, require a minimum income, while others will accept tenants on income support.
You may register an interest in a maximum of three apartments at the same time.
Apartments are allocated on the basis of the time spent in the housing queue. Not everyone is looking for the same housing. Because of this, the queue time varies between different apartments. Queueing times are often shorter outside central Stockholm or for higher rent apartments.
3. View apartment and respond
Some landlords do not offer viewings, but if they do, if you’ve registered your interest and if you’ve been queueing for longer than other applicants, you’ll be invited to a viewing. After the viewing, you need to decide ifyou are still interested in the apartment. The easiest way to do this is to go to Mina sidor (My Pages) on our website where you can answer Yes or No.
You may be offered several alternative apartments, particularly with newly build apartments. If this happens, you must state your order of preference for the apartments you are interested in.
4. Housing offer
When the advertising period is finished (and in some cases a viewing and/or a ranking of several apartments) is over, we make a list of all the people who are interested in the apartment. If you meet the landlord’s conditions and have the longest queue time, you will receive a housing offer. In the housing offer, we tell you what you need to do as the next step to get the apartment.
5. Show verification
We will contact you to go through the certificates that the landlord wants to see. You can prepare yourself by producing certificates showing that you meet the conditions stated in the advertisement.
The most common types of verification needed are certificates of employment and income, proof of where you are currently living, and of the number of people in your household.
Students applying for student housing may need to be able to prove that they are enrolled in a university, college or vocational programme.
6. Sign the lease and move in
Once you’ve provided verifications showing that you meet the landlord’s requirements, we will propose you to the landlord as a tenant. Once the landlord has approved you, you and the landlord will sign the contract. And then it’s time to move in!
All contact after this point will be with your landlord. You will pay the rent to the landlord.
Remember to notify the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) of the change in your official registered address when you move in.
7. Congratulations!
We hope you’ll be very happy in your new apartment. As long as you keep paying the annual fee, you will remain in the housing queue, but unless you have received an apartment where you get to keep your queue time, your queue time will be reset. Your new queue time will start on the date when you got your apartment