The must-have vocab for buying a flat or house in Sweden

The early stages

The first step of any property buying journey comes well before any money has been spent - this is the part of the journey, often before you've even decided you're moving house, where you start scouring property sites such as Hemnet and Booli to see what's out there.

First off, what is it you're looking to buy? Are you interested in a villa (detached house)? Or is a radhus (terraced house) what you're after? Not wild about the idea of having to look after a garden, or want to stay in the city? Then a lägenhet (apartment) is your best bet.

If you're looking for a holiday home or a summerhouse with space for odling, or growing vegetables, then you want to look for a fritidsboende, or a tomt (plot) if you've always dreamt of building your own property exactly how you want it.

Or, have you always dreamed of buying a Swedish farmhouse out in the countryside? Then you can look for a gård, with or without its own skog (forest).

Once you've decided what kind of property you want to buy, you can narrow down your search by the maximum price (maxpris), number of rooms (rum) and the size of the living area (boyta/boarea). You might also want your apartment building to have a hiss (lift), or a balkong (balcony).

How do I read a floor plan?

Make sure to take a look at the planritning (floor plan) to get an idea of whether or not the property layout will work for you. Generally, Swedish properties aren't referred to as "two bedroom", rather by the number of rooms, then the acronym rok, short for rum och kök (room(s) and kitchen).

A one-bedroom apartment with a separate kitchen, a bathroom and no living room would be a 1 rok, an 1:a or an etta, for example. If there was one bedroom, one living room, a kitchen and a bathroom, it would be a 2:a, a tvåa, or 2 rok. This is why it can be important to look at the planritning, to see how many of those rooms are actually bedrooms. You might also see this written as 4 rum, varav 2 sovrum (four rooms, of which two bedrooms), if you're looking at larger properties.

In Sweden, you usually buy a property with appliances (vitvaror) included, but lights are not included, rather there will be plug sockets in the ceilings which you can plug your own lights into. So, if you're moving from abroad, make sure you buy the correct plugs in advance (or have floor lamps close to hand), so you're not left in the dark.

You're also likely to see quite a few acronyms on floor plans which may need explaining. DM for example stands for diskmaskin, a dishwasher. K/F is a kyl/frys or fridge-freezer. G is a garderob, a wardrobe. TM/TT stands for tvättmaskin/torktumlare, a washing machine and tumble dryer. You might also see KLK, klädkammare, which can also mean a wardrobe, usually in a hallway.

When you've found a property you think could be interesting, see if there are any visningar (viewings) coming up. You might need to anmäla (sign-up) for these with the mäklare (estate agent) in charge of selling the property.

If you're seriously considering buying a property in the near future, it may be a good idea to contact one (or multiple) banks for a lånelöfte, a lender's note before you start attending viewings. This is a non-binding promise from the bank or lending institute, based on your income, the price of the property and the monthly fee (avgift) for an apartment or terraced house, or the monthly running costs (driftskostnad) of a detached house.

Making a bid

So, you've found a property (bostad) you like, and you've been to a viewing. You think it's the one, so you put in a bid (lägga bud). Have a look at the starting price (utgångspris) for an idea on how much you should bid.

If you're lucky, no one else is interested. If not, you might end up in a budgivning (auction). Often, a mäklare will ask you if you have a lånelöfte before you start bidding, just to make sure you're serious. It's a good idea to keep the amount of money your lånelöfte covers secret from the mäklare you're buying from, as you don't want them to know the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay.

Once a bid (bud) has been accepted, the köpare (buyer) will meet with the säljare (seller) to sign the contract (underteckna kontraktet). Here, you should discuss things such as tillträde - the date where the buyer will be given access to the property, and how and when the buyer must pay handpenning - their deposit (usually 10 percent of the price of the property, due ten days after the contract has been signed).

Unlike in some countries, bids on an apartment are not legally binding, so the buyer or seller can pull out of the purchase at any point up until the contract has been signed with no legal repercussions.

The rest of the price of the property, the köpeskilling, is paid on the tillträdesdato, the day where the buyers get access to the property. You will usually get this from your bank on the day you move in, but if some of your deposit (kontantinsats) is dependent on the sale of another property, you may need to apply for an överbryggningslån - a loan which allows you to buy a new property before you have received payment for the property you're selling.