Subletting tenant-owner apartments: new 2026 rules

Subletting a tenant-owner apartment second-hand has long felt uncertain. For both the landlord and the one moving in. On 1 July 2026 the rules changed, and they apply now.

This guide goes through what the change means in practice. What actually changed? Which grounds do you still need for permission? And what should you as a tenant check before moving in? One thing is worth saying straight away: the change is less dramatic than headlines suggest. The permission and grounds requirements stand exactly as before.

What changed on 1 July 2026?

Three things. The first concerns how previous lettings weigh in. Having let the flat before should now only count if the letting happened on a significant scale. The benchmark is that a year or two does not count as a long time, while around five years of letting can normally count as significant. So letting once before is not in itself reason to refuse you an extension, as long as your original grounds remain.

The second clarifies where the line runs between keeping a lodger and subletting second-hand. Living in the flat yourself to a notable extent counts as a lodger. The benchmark usually named is 80 to 100 days a year, or two to three days a week. Living there less than that counts as second-hand letting. And then permission is needed.

The third is biggest but least visible in debate: a new Private Letting Act replaced the Act on Letting Your Own Home. It changes, among other things, how rent may be set. More on that in the next section.

What did not change, by contrast, are the permission requirements themselves. You still need respectable grounds, the association judges as before, and no new rule says an application is automatically approved if the board takes time answering. The recommendation remains permission one year at a time, although permission for a whole study or work period occurs.

The new Private Letting Act

The old 2012 Act on Letting Your Own Home is replaced. The most important change concerns rent. Earlier rules started from the home’s market value. Now the rent tribunal can instead change rent that is materially higher than what is generally charged for other private lettings. The comparison is thus against what others actually charge, not against a calculation on the home’s value.

Two boundaries are worth knowing. The act covers only landlords who are private individuals or estates of the deceased, and it does not apply if the landlord regularly lets more than two flats. The former limit to the first letting is removed, as is the requirement that letting must not happen as a business.

Important if you already rent: the old rules keep applying to contracts signed before 1 July 2026. Which rulebook governs your rent is thus decided by when the contract was written, not by today’s date.

Which grounds still count for permission?

It did not become free rein. You still need respectable grounds, and the association may refuse if grounds fall short. What changed is how a previous letting weighs in, not that the grounds requirement disappears.

Approved grounds are the same as before: temporary work or studies elsewhere, letting to close relatives, trial cohabitation, illness or caring for a relative, and a hard-to-sell flat. For work and studies a commuting distance of roughly 80 to 100 kilometres is usually the benchmark. Applying, write your grounds concretely and preferably attach papers proving them.

Letting purely for profit, with no thought of moving back, is still not in itself grounds granting permission.

What you should ask to see as a tenant

Finding a second-hand flat through SökHem or elsewhere, do not settle for the landlord saying everything is in order. Always ask to see the written permission from the tenant-owner association before signing. Valid permission is your most important protection in a second-hand deal.

Permission must be dated and current. Not an old paper from a previous letting. Check it covers your whole intended stay. If the landlord can show no permission, or it expires mid-tenancy, ask sharp questions before committing.

Someone letting without permission can worst case lose their tenant-owner apartment. And then you as a tenant may be forced to move, entirely without doing anything wrong. So checking permission is no needless bureaucracy. It protects your own housing.

Tenant rights in second-hand letting

You hold rights to reasonable rent and protection against being dismissed any which way. How reasonableness is judged now depends on when your contract was written. For contracts from 1 July 2026, rent compares against what is generally charged for other private lettings, and the rent tribunal can lower it if materially higher. For older contracts the previous rules apply, starting from the home’s market value.

Finding rent too high, you can have it tested by the rent tribunal. That holds after the rule change too. The law change affects how previous lettings weigh in and how rent is judged, not your right to have the matter tested.

More second-hand flats: what it means for you searching

When thresholds drop, more people usually let. Whoever let once before and hesitated applying again now holds weaker reason to abstain, since a previous letting weighs lighter in testing. So more second-hand flats may appear during the second half of 2026, especially in big cities, where most people search.

On SökHem you can post a rental profile writing that you seek second-hand housing in an area, with your wishes. Matching a flat to what you want, you get a message, without sitting watching listings yourself. In a market expected to move more, it is a simple way to stay a step ahead and get matched when the moment comes.

Legal basis

Permission for second-hand letting of tenant-owner apartments is regulated in Tenant-Owner Apartment Act (1991:614) chapter 7, section 10, with tribunal testing in section 11. The fee associations may charge sits in section 14. Rent levels and notice periods letting your own tenant-owner apartment follow the Private Letting Act in the wording applying from 1 July 2026. Always check the latest wording at riksdagen.se.