Response to interpellation 2025/26:285 on the problem with so-called sham writings
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 M considers it unacceptable that addresses are exploited for fake registrations 1. M argues that the government has strengthened the population registration and that Skatteverket has taken measures 1. M emphasizes that the government is tasking Skatteverket with analyzing extended notifications to vacation homes and investigating solutions for a specific postal address 1 2. M claims that work is being done under high pressure to repair the damage 3. M admits that it has been a major issue that many have been able to register at others' addresses and that this has now been addressed 4. M argues that honest people should be able to trust that properties are not occupied by criminals 4. 5 S argues that the government has not acted quickly enough and that the authority has shown sluggishness 5. 6 S considers it bad that people cannot feel safe in their homes 6. S argues that it is problematic when many can be registered at a vacation home and asks who takes responsibility for the decrease in value 6. S considers that no immediate stop is to be expected 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.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Mr. Speaker! Kalle Olsson has asked me whether it is my and the government's assessment that the Swedish Tax Agency has the powers needed to stop sham transactions and, if that is not the case, what measures I intend to take. The interpellor has also asked me whether I and the government will act so that the problems with sham transactions cease immediately.
It has been reported that addresses to vacation homes are being used by other people in a way that the owner of the vacation home does not want. It is the Swedish Tax Agency's possibility to register a specific postal address that has been used to register at other people's vacation homes and then receive mail there. This is unacceptable. Individuals' addresses should not be able to be exploited in this way.
During the mandate period, the government has significantly strengthened the population registration with resources and tools. Just over two years ago, the government ensured that the Swedish Tax Agency sends a notice if someone reports a move to your population registration address, so that you will know if someone is trying to register at your address. This contributes to increased security and a higher quality of residential information in the population registration.
The Government will instruct the Swedish Tax Agency to analyze the conditions for expanding the notification to also include vacation homes. I nevertheless want to clarify, Mr. Speaker, that we are working on a mandate for the Swedish Tax Agency to expand the notification to include vacation homes as well as investigate how the problems that exist with special postal addresses, where people's addresses are exploited, can be solved. I know that the Swedish Tax Agency has already taken measures and changed its working methods to counter the phenomenon. Individuals should be able to feel safe in their vacation homes.
Kalle Olsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! I will return to that. I intend first to say something a little more about the problem itself.
Most of us have, thankfully, never had to experience what it is like to have one's address cut off. For those who are affected by this, it can become a real torment.
It is not just about someone exploiting one's address as if it were some kind of administrative intrusion, but suddenly letters start appearing at one's home. They are often letters in all sorts of forms from various different sources from people you have never heard of. They are letters from insurance companies, banks, authorities, and so on.
But it doesn't end with you getting a mailbox full of mail. When law enforcement authorities start knocking on your door because they are looking for a certain person, it is quite uncomfortable. When one of the people who are now registered at your address contacts you in a not-so-pleasant tone and is very eager to get hold of some of the letters, it is close and uncomfortable.
Furthermore, there is naturally also the risk, which we have unfortunately learned after years of gang shootings, that criminals simply seek out an address and attack the house at that address because they believe a certain person is staying there. In reality, it is only an innocent vacation home owner who may happen to be at home.
The fake registrations often occur in such a way that an address seller sells an address, often linked to a holiday home, which becomes the address buyer's specific postal address. Just the circumstance that it is a specific postal address or contact address for persons with coordination numbers seems to have somehow short-circuited the system, if one is to be completely honest, and led to some form of collective paralysis.
When it comes to a specific postal address, it seems to be more important that the mail gets through than that the person who owns the mailbox actually accepts that mail should arrive just there. It is completely incomprehensible.
One might wonder if the problem has to do with the fact that it is essentially "only" vacation homes that are affected. I hope that is not the case. Here we are talking, not least, about many elderly people for whom vacation homes and permanent residences can be quite fluid.
When I first heard about dummy registrations, my spontaneous and possibly naive thought was: How difficult can it be? One just has to put in a block and require a confirmation from the property owner.
Mr. Speaker! I am just as surprised today. Why do the authorities fail to solve this? That question must be answered by Elisabeth Svantesson. She is in the government ultimately responsible for the population registry.
Elisabeth Svantesson says that she thinks it is unacceptable that people have their addresses hacked. The difference between us others and Elisabeth Svantesson is that she has unique opportunities to change that matter.
Mr. Speaker! One cannot sit on one's hands for over three years and do nothing and then now, at five in twelve, come up with that it is unacceptable. If anything is unacceptable.
Ordinary honest people should not have to be subjected to this. No one should have to lie down with a lump in their stomach. No one should have to refrain from going to their little paradise because they feel afraid, observed, or monitored.
The straight message to Elisabeth Svantesson and the government must be that you need to set up a new sporty timetable to solve the problem quickly.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Kalle Olsson, for the question! I completely share the view.
This has been a discussion for a long time. It concerns particularly the situation where 10, 15, 20 or 30 people suddenly have registered at one's own population registration address. I do not know how many years back in time this was, but I remember thinking: How difficult can it be?
Then I took responsibility for the Swedish Tax Agency, one of several agencies that I am responsible for. The government has addressed this issue, and I am very pleased that the agency about two years ago finally introduced the service where you get a "ping", as they say, or a notification when someone registers at your folkbokföringsadress. The Swedish Tax Agency has sent out approximately 500,000 such notifications, which is very good.
I think one should say it as it is. I believe that Ulla-Lena is sitting in a seat here in the spectator gallery in the Riksdag chamber. When I heard about her and the situation she had been subjected to, I was not aware that this is also a major problem. But as soon as I became aware of this, it was obvious for us at the Ministry of Finance to initiate a process. Skatteverket must also be able to solve this. Perhaps it is something more complicated than when it concerns one's folkbokföringsadress, but it doesn't matter – it must be solved. Therefore, the government has now also issued a mandate to Skatteverket to do just this.
It is exactly as Kalle Olsson says: vacation homes are often associated with a fire in the fireplace and so on… simply that which Kalle Olsson described in an even better way. It is about peace and rest and what one perhaps loves most of all. That the place becomes, both literally and figuratively, a place for criminals and for people who exploit and destroy is totally wrong. It should not happen in Sweden. That is also why Skatteverket is now receiving this assignment.
The government has, as you know, worked on many different parts of improving population registration and the census. But this is about peace and tranquility and that which we certainly did not talk about 30 years ago, when I was hardly even in politics – I had to start counting now and realize that I indeed was! This has become such a much larger problem in connection with the growing organized crime but also generally with different types of gang crime or people who simply want to harm other people or who do not care about what other people feel.
I thank you for the question, and I can promise both Kalle Olsson and those who are watching and listening to this that the government is on this issue and that we are formulating the assignment. I also know that Skatteverket has already started working on the issue. It is not always necessary to have an assignment from the government, but it can be a good push to give an assignment so that something really happens, even when it concerns vacation homes and other properties where one is not registered as a resident.
Kalle Olsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thanks to Elisabeth Svantesson for the answer!
As appears in the response, the government has proceeded quite offensively when it comes to the population registration issues. They have both added resources and new directives to Skatteverket. That is good; we agree on those. Then we can debate individual details such as whether a large-scale census is taking place in Sweden right now. I think it is only Elisabeth Svantesson who sees it. But never mind that now.
It is still strange that the government has not addressed the problem when it now has such an offensive approach. It is as if time has stood still. It becomes particularly serious because we know that inaccuracies in the population register are often a prerequisite and a form of entry for other crimes in the form of benefit fraud, welfare crime, and other things. This crime, as we know, involves enormous sums of money; just the address sales generate very large sums of money.
We are now approaching the end of the parliamentary term, and no immediate improvement is in sight. Elisabeth Svantesson mentions the assignment to Skatteverket that the authority shall analyze the conditions – I perceived that the Finance Minister was a bit clearer in her oral response – to introduce a notification for vacation home owners and review this with a special postal address.
When the experts at the Swedish Tax Agency have commented on the issue, they do, however, say that new legislation is needed. In that case, we end up in a completely different situation with a more protracted process. If we are to have a legislative process, perhaps a new investigation should be commissioned, and then this will not be completed in the near future.
This uncertainty only underscores that the government should have acted much earlier. I honestly do not think that all the blame can be placed on Elisabeth Svantesson. She is, of course, the highest responsible person for Skatteverket, but it is evident that Skatteverket has not fully done its job in this. There is a lethargy from the agency that is striking, and there is a sluggishness from the government's side to act on this lethargy. Those who are affected are those who live with this discomfort every day.
Just as we heard, Ulla-Lena Lindqvist is sitting here today following the debate. She, if anyone knows what it is like to have one's address completely taken over by strangers, or "lodgers" as she herself sometimes calls them with a certain ironic undertone. She is following the debate from the gallery, as mentioned. Her nightmare has now been ongoing for over two years. In articles, Ulla-Lena has testified to the discomfort, the helplessness, and the frustration it entails to be subjected to large-scale address hijacking. By sharing your story, Ulla-Lena, you have truly contributed to bringing up the issue, among other things here to the Swedish Riksdag. I am grateful for that.
Despite repeated contacts with the Swedish Tax Agency, several police reports and media attention, – lo and behold – 66 people were still registered at Ulla-Lena's address the other day! And as recently as December, a person was added to the address.
I say this in connection with the Minister's claim that the Swedish Tax Agency has done certain things and perhaps some improvements. I honestly believe that one would have to look with a microscope to find those improvements.
I imagine that Ulla-Lena, like everyone else who is tormented by the address seizures, wishes for both clearer and more offensive messages from the Finance Minister about when this is going to be over. When will one be able to stop feeling that one is living in a state of emergency?
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you again, Kalle Olsson, for the debate! It is important.
I do not quite recognize the description that the government is not taking action on problems. We are working for high pressure in many areas, especially when it comes to the criminal economy and crime, with repairing what has been damaged over many years.
I have mentioned a few things, and I will not continue the list. But regarding the question of a population registration address that several other completely unauthorized people are registered at, we have finally dealt with that. As I said, it is 500,000 people who have received such a notification regarding population registration.
My point is that I want to solve all the problems that I am responsible for solving. This is, of course, completely unacceptable; I share that view. It is completely unreasonable that it still looks like this for Ulla-Lena and for probably many others.
That is why we are now truly increasing the pressure on the Swedish Tax Agency and giving the agency assignments. I will follow up on this closely and closely with the agency; that is of course. This is a situation that no one, neither Ulla-Lena nor anyone else, should have to experience. One's own safe place should not be seized, kidnapped, and claimed by anyone, regardless of the reason.
I take this most seriously, and I will ensure that the Swedish Tax Agency works much more on the issue and also does what is required, that is to say that this shall not also be able to occur on properties where one is not registered as a resident and which others utilize in different ways.
Kalle Olsson (S)
Mr. Speaker and Minister! Interpellations are based primarily on questions, and here the question was whether the Swedish Tax Agency has the powers required to stop fictitious reporting and whether the government will act to ensure that this ceases immediately.
Unfortunately, the answer is no to both questions. The Swedish Tax Agency does do things, ranging from somewhat clumsy reminders to put a lock on your mailbox – where perhaps one should also urge the address sellers not to bring a crowbar – to actually succeeding in removing one or another fictitious person. Some stop in the near future is therefore not to be expected. If it turns out that we must produce new legislation, it could, in the worst case, instead drag on. I hope that is not the case, but when one listens to the Swedish Tax Agency's experts, one can suspect that it might be so.
It is too bad, Mr. Speaker. To feel safe in one's own home is not asking for too much. To have control over who has access to one's address is also not asking for too much. There are also, in addition, things, Mr. Speaker, that we have not touched upon here today. How exciting is it, for example, to put a vacation home up for sale if it turns out that 30–40 people are registered there? Then the alarm bells start to ring. Who takes responsibility for that depreciation in value?
I perceive that Elisabeth Svantesson fundamentally agrees with us that it must not proceed in this way and that we must do something. The difference is precisely that Elisabeth Svantesson has a unique opportunity to do something about the matter, and it is not good, Mr. Speaker, when the one who has the greatest opportunity to act is the one who is last to act. Now it looks like four lost years.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Mr. Speaker! I think this is bordering on party-political bickering, and that is not something I intended to engage in.
Let me just say that it is under my responsibility for the Swedish Tax Agency and as Minister for Finance that we have had the major issue regarding folkbokföringsadresser, that is, that many have been able to register at your, my, and others' addresses. We have now addressed this, and I will therefore change this. Exactly how we do it, we will have to come back to; I trust that the Swedish Tax Agency will come up with better methods than what I can suggest. We shall see.
Of course this must be resolved. It is perfectly obvious that honest people who behave themselves and do everything right should be able to trust that their property, vacation home, and whatever it may be will not be occupied or exploited by criminals. It is simply a fundamental part of a strong social contract.
Of course we are working on this, and we will ensure that Skatteverket works as quickly as possible so that both Ulla-Lena and many others can feel secure and not exploited by the criminal systems.
Have a nice weekend – thanks, Kalle!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.