Is it appropriate to int roduce free subleasing in Bostadsrättslagen?

Abstract: Today, Sweden suffers from a shortage of housing in many of the country's growth areas, a shortage of housing that hardens the country's growth and the creation of new jobs. Svenskt Näringsliv believes that several measures are needed to solve the shortcoming. (Svenskt Näringsliv 2019) The structures in housing policy therefore need to be reviewed and a longterm solution is a must. In the short term, however, there is a possible saving in the country's tenant-owned apartments that, with more generous rules on subleasing, could provide a necessary supplement to temporary housing where needed. According to the current provisions of Bostadsrättslagen, a tenant-owner may sublease his apartment if the board of the tenant owners’ co-operative agrees to this. In cases where consent is not required, the tenant-owner has the opportunity to turn to Hyresnämnden, which will test the interests of the two parties against each other in order to decide the issue. Thus, it can be stated that it is not up to the tenant-owner himself to decide whether he can sublease his apartment. The revisions that have been made since Bostadsrättslagen was issued have been to the benefit of the tenant-owner. Despite this there are today various restrictions that prevents the tenant-owner from freely subleasing his apartment. The purpose of this essay has therefore been to clarify the reasoning behind the provisions of the regulations, test its relevance based on the current situation and finally to analyse whether it is appropriate to introduce free provisions on subleasing, for independent use, to the advantage of the tenant-owner. In order to investigate this, an overall literature study was first conducted to map the extent of the issue in sources of law. Subsequently, an in-depth analysis of the sources of law, considered relevant regarded to the purpose of the thesis, was performed. The sources of law that were processed in this essay were laws, proposition of laws and government reports. Consequently, case law and parliament reports has not been addressed in this paper. Lastly, the question was answered with anchoring in the in-depth literature analysis. The conclusion is that it is appropriate to introduce free subleasing in Bostadsrättslagen if the benefits of this provision outweigh the scope of the work that a revision of the law could entail.