Rent an apartment in Gothenburg

Rent an apartment in Gothenburg in nine steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Create an account on boplats.se with BankID or Freja Plus. You can start collecting queue days from the day you turn 17.

2. 2

   Step 2: Pay the annual fee of 200 kronor if you are 22 years or older. Without payment, the account becomes inactive after 30 days and you do not collect new queue days.

3. 3

   Step 3: If you are going to live with your partner: link your accounts as co-applicants, so your incomes are combined.

4. 4

   Step 4: Register with private landlords with their own queues and on HomeQ. our advice

5. 5

   Step 5: Declare interest for up to five apartments at a time, only those where you meet the landlord's conditions.

6. 6

   Step 6: Attend the viewing, answer yes or no on My pages and upload the certificates of income and employment when you are asked.

7. 7

   Step 7: Sign the contract with the landlord. Never pay anyone to get a contract.

   § 12 kap. 65 § jordabalken (1970:994), checked 3 October 2026

8. 8

   Step 8: Terminate your current rental apartment in writing. The notice period is three months to the end of the month.

   § 12 kap. 4 § jordabalken (1970:994), checked 3 October 2026

   § 12 kap. 8 § jordabalken (1970:994), checked 3 October 2026

9. 9

   Step 9: Make flyttanmälan (notification of change of address) to Skatteverket at the latest one week after the move.

   § 25 § folkbokföringslag (1991:481), checked 3 October 2026

How does Gothenburg's housing queue work?

Boplats Väst, Boplats Gothenburg AB, is the housing agency for rental apartments in Gothenburg and the surrounding municipalities. The company is owned by Gothenburg City. Both municipal and private landlords can rent out through Boplats, and the municipal housing companies rent out all their available apartments there.

You collect a queue day for every day the account is active. When you apply for an apartment, you are placed in a separate queue for that apartment, and the one with the most queue days who meets the landlord's conditions goes first. Boplats takes a credit report and checks the certificates, but it's the landlord who decides who gets the contract. You can have five applications of interest at a time. If you say no six times or more in six months, you cannot apply for new apartments until one of the no answers has disappeared, after six months.

Source: Boplats Väst: About Boplats Väst, Boplats Väst: Brokerage rules, Boplats Väst: From interest notification to contract, Framtiden: Housing seekers.

What does the housing queue cost and who can stand in it?

You can create an account from the age of 17. It is free until the day you turn 22 and costs 200 kr per year, including VAT, thereafter. You pay every year on the date you created the account, or on your birthday if you were under 22 when you registered. The account requires a personal identity number or coordination number and e-identification, BankID or Freja Plus.

If you do not pay within 30 days, the account becomes inactive. The queue days you already have remain, but you do not collect new ones and cannot search. After 24 months of inactivity, the account is deleted. The queue days are personal and cannot be shared with a partner, so Boplats advises you to both collect your own days.

Source: Boplats Väst: Create account and co-applicant, Boplats Väst: Pay the annual fee.

How long is the notice period?

Boplats does not indicate a fixed queue time. The queue time is determined by which apartment you are looking for: where many are looking, more queue days are required, and in areas with few apartments and little movement, they often go to people with many days. In the ad, you can see how many are ahead of you. If there are more than 50 people ahead of you, the chance of being offered a viewing is small. This is how it looked in all of Boplats Väst:

The queue days started being counted in September 2004, and Boplats writes that the average mostly says how long the queue has existed. The queue time per area and apartment type can be seen in the diagrams on Boplats statistics page.

Source: Boplats Väst: Boplats Väst in figures, Boplats Väst: How long does it take?

What are the municipal housing companies in Gothenburg?

Gothenburg City's housing companies are part of the Framtiden group, which has over 76,000 apartments. Four of the companies rent out apartments, and all four mediate their vacant apartments through Boplats:

• Poseidon Housing AB, about 28,700 apartments.
• Bostadsbolaget (Göteborgs Stads Bostadsaktiebolag), approximately 24 600 apartments.
• Family homes in Gothenburg, approximately 20 000 apartments.
• Gårdstensbostäder, about 2,800 rental apartments.

Do you already have a first-hand contract with one of the four companies and have lived in the apartment for at least 12 months? You can also apply via Omflyttningsplatsen. There, your housing time is the queue time, and you are in the queue automatically.

Source: Framtiden: Subsidiary, Framtiden: Apartment seeker, Poseidon: How the rental works. Number of apartments according to Framtiden, 5 October 2026.

What requirements do the landlords have?

Each landlord sets their own terms, which are stated in the apartment's advertisement. You must show that you meet them yourself. Boplats and the landlord check your income and employment through certificates, such as employment contracts and the last three pay slips, decisions from Pensionsmyndigheten (the Swedish Pensions Agency) or decisions from CSN (the Swedish Board of Student Finance). The certificates must be valid even when you move in. Boplats can also take residence references on how you have managed your residence and rent payments over the last 24 months. The landlord can refuse a contract if you have provided incorrect information or lack acceptable references.

Two examples: Poseidon rents out newly produced apartments, in houses that are at most four years old, to those who have a monthly income after tax that is higher than the monthly rent. Wallenstam requires an annual income before tax of at least three times the annual rent, twice for pensioners, and does not accept applicants with payment remarks. The requirements must not be discriminatory, and age requirements may only exist in, for example, student and senior housing.

Source: Boplats Väst: Brokerage rules, Boplats Väst: From interest notification to contract, Poseidon: How the rental works, Wallenstam: Queue rules and criteria.

Which private landlords have their own queues?

Some private landlords advertise through Boplats, others have their own queue or use the marketplace HomeQ. Here are some that rent out in Gothenburg, in alphabetical order. We do not recommend any of them over others.

• HomeQ is a marketplace where landlords such as Balder, Riksbyggen, Stena and Willhem advertise.
• Stena Fastigheter has rental apartments in Gothenburg, Mölndal and Kungsbacka and publishes its available rental apartments in Gothenburg via HomeQ. Some rental apartments on Stena's own Mina sidor are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Wallenstam has its own housing queue. You need to log in and renew your interest at least every other year, otherwise the account will be closed. The queue points will be reset when you sign a contract.
• Willhem rents out most apartments through HomeQ, except for new production. Willhem writes that a first-hand contract never costs money.

Check the rules with each landlord before you register your interest, as they can change.

Source: HomeQ: Sweden's rental market, Stena Fastigheter: Rent an apartment, Wallenstam: Queue rules and criteria, Willhem: How to find an apartment.

How do I get an apartment faster?

Boplats mentions four ways. New production usually has higher rent and therefore fewer applicants. One-room and smaller two-room apartments are applied for by fewer people. With a short-term contract, you live in the apartment for a shorter period and keep your queue days. Student apartments often have fewer applicants, but you need to be a student or have an admission certificate. The queue order is still always queue time among those who meet the conditions.

Source: Boplats Väst: Get housing faster, Boplats Väst: Brokerage rules.

First-hand contract or subletting?

With a first-hand contract, you rent directly from the landlord, and the main rule is that you have protection against eviction, i.e. the right to stay. The contract you get through Boplats is personal: you must register and live permanently in the apartment, and you cannot transfer it to anyone else.

If you are renting in the second hand, the person with the first-hand contract needs the landlord's consent or the approval of the Rent Tribunal, and the rent cannot be higher than the first-hand rent with additions for furniture and amenities. Read more in the guide to renting in the second hand. Be wary of those who charge for arranging a contract. It is a crime to request or receive such compensation.

Source: Residence West: From expression of interest to contract, Residence West: Brokerage rules, Jordabalken, 12 kap. (riksdagen.se). 12 kap. 39, 40, 55 and 65 §§ jordabalken (the Swedish Land Code).

What do I do when I have received the contract?

Write the contract and then terminate your current rental apartment. The notice period is three months to the end of the month, and the notice must be in writing if you have lived there for more than three months. Calculate the date and use the template in the guide to terminate the rental apartment. Then flyttanmälan to Skatteverket no later than one week after the move. The rest of the move, from removal company to inspection, is in moving to Gothenburg step by step.

Do you not know where in the city you want to live? Read where to live in Gothenburg, with the proportion of rental apartments per city district. More guides on the rental contract, inspection and law can be found under the rental apartment.

Source: Jordabalken, 12 kap. (riksdagen.se), Skatteverket: Flyttanmälan. 12 kap. 4 and 8 §§ jordabalken, 25 § folkbokföringslagen (the Swedish Population Registration Act).

Template for expression of interest to private landlord

Fill it in and download it as Word or PDF. All templates are under templates for the move.

The law behind it

The sections summarised, with a link to the legal text on riksdagen.se.