Hidden defects after purchase: what applies and what you can claim

You won the bidding, signed the contract and moved in. Months later you find damp behind a wall or a foundation crack nobody mentioned. First thought: the seller must pay for this. But it is rarely that simple.

Whether you can claim anything depends on two things. What you should have found yourself before purchase. And what the seller should have told. These are the rules of hidden defects (dolda fel), and they differ quite a bit between a house and a tenant-owner apartment.

What actually counts as a hidden defect?

A hidden defect is not just any defect. For a defect to count as hidden, three things must hold at once.

The defect must have existed already at purchase. It must have been impossible to find in a careful inspection. And it must be something you could not have expected given the house’s age, price and condition.

Many miss the last point. Buying a seventies house, you cannot be surprised by worn surfaces or ageing drainage. That is expected. A hidden defect surprises even whoever looked properly.

And defects you actually learned about are never hidden. Was it in the survey report? Did the agent say it at the viewing? Was there a seller remark? Then it does not count. You bought the house with that knowledge.

Duty to inspect and duty to disclose: who answers for what?

Here two duties pull opposite ways, and most disputes are decided where they meet.

You as a buyer hold a duty to inspect (undersökningsplikt). That means going through the home properly before buying. Missing a defect you should have found, it is your problem afterwards. You cannot return to the seller demanding money for something you could have seen yourself.

The seller holds a duty of disclosure (upplysningsplikt). Knowing of a serious defect, they must tell. A seller deliberately silent about a known problem can owe even if the defect was discoverable.

Think of it like this: your duty to inspect protects the seller, and the seller’s duty to disclose protects you. The more carefully you inspect, the more defects fall outside what you should have found yourself, and the stronger you stand if something truly was hidden.

Houses and villas: seller liable up to ten years

Buying a house, meaning a house, terraced or linked house, the Land Code applies. The seller can be held liable for hidden defects up to ten years after purchase. A long time, and one reason house deals can feel riskier than flat deals.

But ten years does not mean relaxing. Once you find the defect, you must complain within reasonable time. So contact the seller fairly soon after discovering the problem. Sitting on the discovery for a year hoping it resolves can cost you the right entirely.

And remember the duty to inspect. Skipping the survey to win the bidding leaves you weak. A proper survey report is not just protection against hidden defects; it is often the only proof you actually inspected the house.

Tenant-owner apartments: shorter deadline, another law

For tenant-owner apartments the Sale of Goods Act applies, not the Land Code. And there the deadline is much shorter. Sellers answer for two years from moving day. Finding a hidden defect after that, the seller is as a rule out of reach, so acting fast matters here.

Even within the two years you must complain within reasonable time of noticing the defect, same principle as for houses.

One more important thing: buying a tenant-owner apartment, you buy not the property itself but the right to live in the flat. Defects in what the association answers for, frame, roof, facade and pipes, belong to the association, not the seller. What you can complain about to the seller is defects inside your own flat.

What you can claim, and how the process looks

With a well-founded claim, some remedies exist. You can demand a price reduction, that the seller pays to fix the defect, and in serious cases cancel the purchase. If serious and the seller caused it, damages can also come into play. In practice most cases land in a price reduction or the seller covering the repair.

Agreeing nothing, it moves on. For tenant-owner apartments you can turn to the National Board for Consumer Disputes (ARN). Otherwise courts apply. A hidden-defects dispute can cost dearly and drag out, with the outcome never obvious, because the burden of proof often weighs heavily on you.

Two things are therefore worth gold. Home insurance with legal protection, which can cover parts of a possible process. And hidden-defects insurance, which the seller takes out and can dampen conflict if something appears afterwards.

How you protect yourself best, already at the viewing

The best protection against a future dispute is never landing in one. And that job starts long before you sign.

Document. Photograph everything looking doubtful: damp spots, cracks, uneven floors, rust, discolouration. Write down what the agent and seller say spoken, and ask written confirmation of the important facts. Spoken promises are hard to prove once disputes start.

No survey report around? Ask for one, or order your own buyer survey before placing binding bids. A good report does two things at once: it meets your duty to inspect and gives you a more honest basis for the bid.

And finding the home through a property watch on SökHem, where the seller came to you because you seek exactly this, spending time and money on a proper review is extra worth it. You get time to examine condition calmly instead of being pressed by a Sunday viewing and Monday bids. The more you know about condition before the contract, the safer the deal for you both.

Legal basis

For houses, Land Code chapter 4, section 19 covers defects and buyer inspection duty, section 19 a complaints within reasonable time, and section 19 b the ten-year limit from moving day. Remedies of price reduction, cancellation and damages sit in chapter 4, section 12. For tenant-owner apartments, movable property, the Sale of Goods Act (1990:931) applies: section 17 on what counts as a defect, section 19 on existing condition, section 20 on buyer inspection, and section 32 on complaints and the two-year limit. Remedies live in Sale of Goods Act sections 37, 39 and 40.