Basic House Dictionary

After travelling down the slippery slope of property ownership, yet again, I've decided to start jotting down a few things I've learnt about Swedish property along the way. I must admit that, sitting back in New Zealand, it all looked pretty simple on the property websites. But some of the subtle differences have caught me offguard. There are 3 major types of accomodation you can purchase as a home. The first is a villa, or enfamiljshus. This is your run of the mill, standard house. You buy the house, and the plot of land it sits on. You pay rates to the kommun for roads, rubbish collection, water use, and sometimes for heating use. The second type is a rådhus, or "row house". It's essentially the same as a villa, but your neighbours' houses join to the two sides of your house. They are also generally smaller than a villa. Again, you generally get a bit of grass. And a fence if you are lucky. The 3rd type is known as bostadsrätt. This usually applies to apartments (lägenhet), but can also include a villa or rådhus. Bostadsrätt ("right to live") properties are generally much cheaper to purchase, because you're only buying the right to live there, and not the roof, windows, front door, or gardens. You pay a fixed monthly fee to a Body Corporate who maintain the building itself and the land. These fees can vary greatly so you need to add the monthly fee to the purchase price of the apartment, to get a true price comparison. Check on what is included, or excluded, in the monthly fee. A very cheap fee might exlude heating costs. Sometimes it might be cheaper long term to buy a house. If that's your thing. Sitting outside of this group of properties is the fritidshus. This is a holiday house, or stuga, and there are bucketloads of them scattered around the Swedish countryside. As a rule, you can only live in these properties on a temporary basis. For weekends or holidays. Not full time. I say, as a rule, because, depending on the circumstances, the local kommun may grant permission for a holiday house to be used as a home. If there is infrastructure in place, and it falls in line with the council's zoning plans etc. But it's not a right to do so. This is where Sweden differs from many othe countries. In NZ, a house is a house is a house. I would be perfectly entitled to move myself, my wife, children, my mother in law, and her 3 goats, into my beach front holiday home. And live there forever. Without exception. Not so in Sweden. Many fritidshus are classified as seasonal occupation only. So check that one out thoroughly before investing.