Response to interpellation 2024/25:711 on strengthened protection for individuals within housing cooperatives
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned increased protection for individuals within housing cooperatives. M argues that the government prioritizes creating safety in residential areas and that housing cooperatives should be given expanded opportunities to terminate members who commit crimes 1. M wants to facilitate things for cooperatives through a national housing cooperative register 1 and emphasizes that mobility in the housing market is important while simultaneously wanting to intervene against criminal activity 2. M believes that a holistic approach is being taken to ensure that housing cooperative owners have at least the same legal security as tenants 3. S argues that the government should tighten rules for pre-agreements and clarify other types of pre-agreements 4. S emphasizes the need for consumer protection and order against illegal subletting 5 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Markus Kallifatides has asked me whether the work to develop the rules surrounding the housing cooperative and the housing cooperative association is sufficiently prioritized within the Government Offices, and whether I and the government intend to return with legislative proposals in the area during this mandate period, and if so, which ones.
Let me first confirm what is commonly known, namely that the government is working on a broad front against crime and for increased safety in society. An important part of that work is to create safety in the country's residential areas. Persons who carry weapons in their residential area, who sell drugs on the street corner or in the playground, or who attack police or other emergency services through stone-throwing create insecurity for other residents in the area. It is also that which is the background to the government proposing last year that it should be easier to terminate rental agreements in more cases if the apartment is used to commit crimes or if the crimes were committed in the surrounding area.
The housing cooperative is one of our most common forms of housing today. In the same way as those who live in rental apartments, those who live in housing cooperatives have a right to security in their housing and the residential area. Housing cooperatives also have a legitimate interest in that the residents are well-behaved and do not commit crimes in the apartment or in the surrounding area. I therefore share Markus Kallifatides' view that in this respect there is no reason to see rental apartments and housing cooperatives differently. It is therefore why I have tasked an investigator to propose that housing cooperatives should be given extended possibilities to terminate the membership of housing cooperative owners who commit crimes in the residential area or use the apartment to commit crimes. To further increase security in housing cooperatives, the investigator shall also review the question of whether it should be easier to deny membership in a housing cooperative if the person applying for membership has committed a crime. The issue is being investigated in what we call a fast track, meaning that it shall proceed more expeditiously than usual, and this investigation shall be reported as early as the beginning of December this year. This confirms that the work to review the rules surrounding the housing cooperative and the housing cooperative association is very highly prioritized within the Government Offices during this mandate period.
I also want to take the opportunity to mention that a proposal to establish a national housing cooperative register has just been out for consultation. Such a register would, above all, make the handling of mortgages more modern and legally secure, and it would thus facilitate matters for the housing cooperatives. A housing cooperative register would also contribute to preventing and investigating crimes and contribute to more effective crime fighting aimed at assets.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister of Justice, for the answer!
Of Sweden's approximately 5 million households, nearly a quarter are found in one of the country's 30,000 housing cooperatives. The tenure form provides homes for 2 million people.
I myself once lived in a housing cooperative with perhaps the lowest operating cost per square meter in the country at that time. It was not my merit at all, but it was an experience that sharpened the insight that engaged members in an association can achieve great things. This applies to politics, public education, music, theater, and sports, but also to housing. Association life is a very valuable part of Swedish social life.
The housing cooperative as a form of housing is important; I believe that opinion unites the minister and me, and we need to nurture it. It is therefore excellent that the government, in accordance with our Social Democratic proposals, has appointed a rapid investigation into equating the responsibilities of tenants and housing cooperative owners for security. But my question here today, Madam Speaker, was and is broader and concerned more than this.
During the previous parliamentary term, an update of the condominium act took place with reinforcements of the legal protection for those who purchase or own a condominium. But the majority of the Riksdag then rejected a number of the then S-government's proposals. The Riksdag chose instead to issue two announcements – which the Moderaterna were part of – that the government should return and investigate how the condominium rules on pre-agreements can be tightened and how the rules for other types of pre-agreements than pre-agreements can be clarified and tightened.
Minister of Justice Strömmer has previously, in response to a written question, informed me and the public that work to consider these issues has been initiated in the Government Offices, and the government has stated that the issues should be investigated in a different context but has had nothing more to inform about on that matter.
This was, therefore, one of the three completely concrete points that I asked about. I have not perceived any answer to this part of my interpellation.
The second point I raised in my interpellation concerned the report Who owns the property (SOU 2023:55). There, rules were proposed to counter the conversion from rental apartment to condominium occurring without the tenants' real influence. There were also rules proposed regarding information about the person taking over the property in the case of property acquisition.
The Minister of Justice has also, on this point, welcomed proposals that contribute to order and clarity in the real estate market and that the proposals in the report are being prepared at the Ministry of Justice and requested to be able to return regarding the way forward.
Madam Speaker! Time is running out. Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer! How is it going with the two points that I have not received an answer on?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! The answer is that it is going well. We continue to work on those issues and will take a holistic approach now that we are also investigating a question that, unfortunately, was not investigated during the previous parliamentary term. The legislation – which I personally thought was very good – concerning rental housing was based on an investigation commissioned during the previous parliamentary term, even though we did not think it went far enough. For example, we also added the responsibility for children's crime in the local area when we eventually returned to the Riksdag on those issues.
It would naturally have been much better if the housing cooperative issue had also been handled in that context. There was no basis for that then, but we are correcting that now. We are also introducing an opportunity for the investigator to look at more issues – I have mentioned, for example, issues regarding registers, which are under handling.
My firm opinion is that when we close this term, we will have a broad and proper preparatory basis to take important steps forward to ensure that the person who lives in a condominium and is active in a condominium association has at least the same legal security as the person who lives in a rental apartment.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Madam Speaker! I must conclude that I will likely not receive answers today on two of my three points. I raised the changes regarding the responsibility of condominium owners for safety in the local area, including minor children living at home, but I had, therefore, two other, very concrete condominium-related questions. They concerned the individual's legal position and protection as a condominium owner in different situations, as well as the order and regularity of the real estate market in a broader sense. But I will not receive any answers here, I believe.
The Minister for Justice took the liberty of mentioning a bit of a bonus question here, namely the one about the housing cooperative register. I then take the same liberty and highlight a bonus question about the housing cooperative as a form.
In recent years, the occurrence of subletting of condominiums has increased noticeably, especially in the country's metropolitan regions. HSB has had the extent of this mapped out, and the result is quite alarming. Among condominium associations in our three major cities, 43 percent state that unauthorized subletting of condominiums is taking place. Every fifth association states that the subletting occurs for criminal purposes. All of this happens despite the fact that subletting of condominiums for profit is not permitted at all.
This is serious. Illegal subletting creates insecurity in the housing cooperative. Not knowing who even your neighbor is or who is moving around in the property spreads fear and anxiety even among those who live in the housing cooperative.
On the government's table, however, there are now proposals that go in a completely different direction, namely to further facilitate the subletting of condominiums. It must be said that there have been quite a few and powerful reactions to these proposals in the public debate. I wonder how the Minister for Justice views this, especially in light of the recurring and very clear markings of how central the work on security is for the government. Is it really appropriate, Gunnar Strömmer, to further make it more difficult for boards in condominium associations to maintain order and tidiness also in those properties?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! No, it is true: Markus Kallifatides does not always receive answers to his questions at the exact moment he wishes. On the other hand, he receives information regarding concrete delivery and concrete reforms moving forward. We are now addressing a completely central issue in this area, namely ensuring that the protection for a housing cooperative owner regarding safety in the local area shall be at least as strong as it is for tenants. It is a very welcome and great step.
Furthermore, we are doing this in the fast track that one sometimes hears the Social Democrats think is too fast. I believe, however, that the level of urgency in these matters is so high that it is justified, and I am very pleased that we now have such a process underway.
Regarding the bonus issue that arose concerning the subletting of condominiums, I am thinking of two things. For the first, we have no general interest in our country of creating stagnation on the housing market. We have an interest in mobility on the housing market. We have an interest, not least in large cities, in being able to make housing available in a flexible way.
At the same time, for the second point, there is no one who is completely in doubt that we must also ensure that this is not used for criminal purposes. An important matter that the investigation we have now commissioned is looking at, again, is how one can be able to intervene forcefully against condominium owners who are criminals or engage in criminal activity. That question also hits the situation that Markus Kallifatides is now raising, namely people who, for example, dispose of their condominiums in a way that is not compatible with the rules that the condominium association has set up or with the legislation as a whole.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank Gunnar Strömmer for the answers. The right of tenure is an important part of our society, and I thank the Minister for Justice for our conversation here today on how we can safeguard the right of tenure.
The purpose of my interpellation was to continue to be both critical and constructive in relation to the government's work in this area. We Social Democrats have been proactive and preemptively suggested that the government should do what the government is now doing regarding the security of condominium owners and responsibility for security in the local area. We do not want to be obstructive at all, but rather be constructive in that process.
My overall question was, therefore, whether the work more generally with developing the regulations surrounding the housing cooperative and the housing cooperative association is sufficiently prioritized within the Government Offices. However, I do not really get any answer, and I must accept that, regarding the two concrete points that I raised.
During her time as Prime Minister, Madam Speaker, my party leader Magdalena Andersson promised to "turn over every stone" to break organized crime. It is a promise that she and we Social Democrats hold fast to. In that case, it may even be necessary to reform the law on housing cooperatives.
But the housing cooperative issue is greater than the hunt for organized crime. It is about security, including a kind of consumer protection, for us as individuals. It is reasonable that both the state and the housing cooperative's board know who lives in a property that one owns. It is reasonable that the person who acquires a housing cooperative share, Madam Speaker, enjoys a protection that at least resembles the protection I have as a consumer when I buy food in the grocery store.
So there is more to be done, Madam Speaker. In fact, the current government has promised to do more that it has not yet done.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I thank Markus Kallifatides for the opportunity to discuss these important issues today.
This business of turning over every stone is a somewhat risky metaphor. What possibly characterized the year-end was that we found an entire quarry full of unturned stones, even in this area, which we have now had full sight to turn over, test without preconditions, and do something about.
In the legislative product that was the origin of our discussion on condominiums – I mentioned the issue of rental apartments and the tenant's responsibility for crime both in the apartment itself and in the surrounding area – the Social Democratic government had made a very clear demarcation of which stones were not to be turned over. This concerned the responsibility for crime committed by children. If we had followed the directives from my predecessor, a rental apartment tenant would therefore have a much greater responsibility for a 17-year-old who is a lodger in the rental apartment than for their own child who is 17 years old.
On the contrary, one could say that it was not turning over stones but blinkers that characterized a great deal of the handling also in this important area.
With this said, I am however very grateful for and positively disposed towards the exchanges we have had regarding the housing cooperative. There is no doubt that there is very much to do there and for all the people we are talking about, especially those who hold housing cooperatives but also the associations, the responsible association life that Markus Kallifatides brings up. There are very strong individual and public interests that argue for these issues to be prioritized highly. They are now prioritized highly, and we are doing so very expeditiously in several parallel legislative processes. I believe that will be to the benefit of both the individuals it affects and for the security in society as a whole.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.