The complete queueing rules

Rules for queueing and housing mediation

Valid from 4 June 2024.

1   Queueing rules

Boplats Syd’s queueing rules contain basic rules for the housing queue, queueing times, queueing fees and the allocation of housing.

In addition to these basic rules, there are certain requirements that need to be met in order to apply for and be offered an apartment. These requirements are stated on the respective advertisement for the apartment.

1.1    Basic rules for being in Boplats Syd’s housing queue

• You can join the housing queue from the calendar year of your 16th birthday
• You must pay the annual queueing fee
• Your registration is personal to you

1.2    Registration in the housing queue

When you join the housing queue, you will need to provide your personal identity number, name, telephone number and email address.

If you do not have an email address of your own, you will be assigned a fictitious one. This will not be used to communicate with you.

You can receive emails via a representative if you register such a representative and state their email address.

If you do not have a Swedish personal identity number, you can enter your date of birth (year, month, day) instead.

By registering with the service, you agree to Boplats Syd saving and using your personal data that will be stored in Boplats Syd’s database. Boplats Syd complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and generally processes personal data based on the legal basis of public interest. This is based on our mission to provide municipal housing and because the company is a municipal authority.

Once you have paid your queueing fee, you can provide supplementary information for your registration. Once you have filled in all the required information, you can start to search for an apartment.

1.3    How your personal data is processed

We regularly check your registered Swedish address and update it in accordance with the information provided by the Swedish Tax Agency’s population register. You are responsible for ensuring that all your other personal information is correct and kept up-to-date. Log in to your personal page (“Mina sidor”) if you need to change or update anything. The following information is particularly important:

• Current income
• Place of work
• Current landlord with contact details for current residence (property owner, housing association, first-hand tenant or similar)
• Time residing with current landlord, if applicable
• Number of adults and children who will live in the apartment
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Co-applicant, if any
• If you are studying
• If you wish to receive physical mail or not
• Any registered payment defaults or debts

When you are being considered for an apartment, Boplats Syd will conduct checks of the documentation that you have submitted that shows your income. We check your registered details in the Tax Agency’s population register and the number of people in your family.

We conduct a credit check and check whether you have any payment defaults or debts before you are considered for a rental contract.

We update your registered data following our checks, but your submitted documentation and the results of our checks are only stored for a limited time. You will therefore need to renew your submitted documents regularly if you apply for several apartments.

1.4    Queueing time

Your queueing time is counted from the day on which the payment of the queueing fee has been received in Boplats Syd’s bank account. The queueing time that you accrue is personal to you. You cannot transfer your queueing time to someone else (see also 1.7).

1.5   Personal user account: “Mina sidor”

Log in on our website at www.boplatssyd.se. You can use “Mina sidor” to, among other things:

• Search for available apartments
• Upload your documents
• Answer Yes/No if you are invited to a viewing
• Answer Yes/No if you are still interested after the viewing
• Read information from us
• Pay the queueing fee
• Invite, approve or remove co-applicants

You cannot apply for an available apartment or answer Yes/No for an apartment by email. This must be done either via “Mina sidor” or by visiting/telephoning us during our opening hours.

You need to update your registered information at least once every 6 months. If you have not done this, you cannot apply for an apartment. If you have created a subscription of available apartments you need to confirm that you wish to keep it at least once every 6 months. If you do not, your subscription will be terminated.

1.6    Co-applicants

If you are a co-applicant with another housing applicant but do not have your own user account, you must create an account. If you register as a co-applicant, you do not have to pay a queueing fee. You will have your own co-applicant account, but you will not accrue any queueing time of your own.

If you are a co-applicant with another housing applicant, it is assumed that you will be living together in the apartment that you apply for, and you must link your co-applicant account to the housing applicant’s account. If you linked your account with a main applicant after an application has been made, you will not be counted as a co-applicant for that apartment.

On “Mina sidor”, you can confirm that you are willing to be a co-applicant with another housing applicant. You can only be a co-applicant with one other housing applicant.

You can always upgrade your co-applicant account to a housing applicant account and thereby accrue your own queueing time by paying the queueing fee directly via “Mina sidor”.

You are responsible for ensuring that your personal information is accurate and kept up-to-date. For example, if your income changes or if you change your email address, you will need to log in and update your details.

In order for you both to be named on the contract, your details as co-applicant will also be checked. You will therefore need to upload evidence of your income as a co-applicant, and we will conduct a credit check on you.

As a co-applicant, you cannot take over the housing applicant’s accrued queueing time (see also 1.7).

If you want to be listed as a co-applicant with a housing applicant and you have your own user account, you do not need to register again. On “Mina sidor”, you can confirm that you are willing to be a co-applicant with a housing applicant.

If two applicants are linked together, they automatically become co-applicants with each other. This means that only one of you needs to submit an application. You can only be a co-applicant with one other housing applicant.

1.7    Inheriting accrued queueing time

If a housing applicant passes away or moves to a permanent care home, the surviving spouse or cohabitant (as per the Swedish Cohabitees Act) can inherit their accrued queueing time. For the queueing time to be transferred, the surviving party must have been registered as living at the same address as the housing applicant for the past six months, and they must contact Boplats Syd no later than six months after the date on which the applicant passed away or moved into the care home.

This is the only circumstance in which accrued queueing time can be transferred to another person. Co-applicants who are not spouses or cohabitants (as per the Swedish Cohabitees Act) can never inherit an accrued queueing time.

1.8   Closing a user account

If you no longer wish to remain in the housing queue, you can close your user account via “Mina sidor”. You can also choose to refrain from paying the annual queueing fee before the next payment period begins.

When you leave the housing queue, your user account will be deactivated, and you will permanently lose any queueing time you have accrued. If you subsequently choose to re-register, the accrual of your new queueing time will begin from the date on which your payment is registered with us.

Your user account will be deactivated if:

• You close the account yourself via “Mina sidor”
• You do not pay your queueing fee within 60 days of your first registration
• You do not pay your queueing fee within 60 days after the annual queueing fee was due to have been paid
• You die and we become aware of this following a check of the population register

1.9   Closing a co-applicant’s account

If you have registered as a co-applicant, you can delete your account yourself via “Mina sidor”. Your account will also be automatically deactivated after 90 days if you are not linked to another housing applicant.

1.10   If we take over another housing queue

In the event that Boplats Syd takes over another landlord’s housing queue, the terms of this will be regulated in a separate agreement between Boplats Syd and the landlord. For example, people in the other housing queue may be allowed to take their queueing time with them when they move to our housing queue.

1.11   When you respond Yes after a viewing

If you have responded Yes to continued interest after a viewing and become number 1 in the queue, all other applications you have made will automatically be deleted.

1.12   Your queueing time will be reset if you receive a rental contract

Once you sign a rental contract, you will keep your user account but your accrued queueing time will be reset to zero. Your new queueing time will be counted from the date on which you move into your new apartment. If you have transferred accrued queueing time from another housing queue, that queueing time will also be reset to zero.

You can keep your accrued queueing time if you have signed a rental contract without security of tenure, such as for student housing or as a short-term contract.

2   Queueing fee

2.1    You pay a queueing fee every year

To retain your place in the housing queue, you must pay the queueing fee once per year. The fee is determined by Malmö’s Municipal Assembly. Since 2009, the fee has been SEK 300 per year.

When it is time to pay, you will receive a reminder when you log in to “Mina sidor” at www.boplatssyd.se. We will also send a payment notice to your email address or your registered home address.

If you choose to pay by Autopay, the queueing fee will be automatically deducted from your card 30 days before the end of the payment period. You are responsible for ensuring that your card details are up-to-date and that funds can be withdrawn from your card when the time comes.

You are responsible for ensuring that your fee is paid even if the payment notice does not reach you. You need to check yourself that you pay the fee on time every year.

2.2    No fee for co-applicants

As a co-applicant, you do not pay a queueing fee. You will therefore not accrue any of your own queueing time.

2.3    If you do not pay on time

When you register for the first time, you have 60 days in which to pay. Your queueing time is counted from the day on which the queueing fee has been received into our bank account. If you do not pay on time, your user account will be deactivated.

If you have a user account that is due for renewal, you will also have a period of 60 days in which to pay. These 60 days are counted from the end of the last period for which you have paid. If you pay your queueing fee in time, you will keep your user account and your accrued queueing time. During the period in which your user account remains unpaid, you cannot search for apartments. If payment is not received by Boplats Syd within 60 days, your user account will be deactivated and you will lose your accrued queueing time.

As your participation in our queue is voluntary, we do not send demand letters or claims for payment to enforcement agencies.

2.4    If you would like to have your queueing fee refunded

If you should change your mind, you have a 14-day right of withdrawal when you pay your queueing fee for the first time. This withdrawal period starts from the date on which we receive your payment.

If you have already applied for an apartment, you lose your right of withdrawal.

You do not have a right of withdrawal for subsequent years’ queueing fees, because the contractual agreement between you and Boplats Syd is concluded in conjunction with the first payment.

You can exercise your right of withdrawal by emailing info@boplatssyd.se with a clear statement of your wish to withdraw your involvement. Once you have exercised your right of withdrawal, we will close your user account.

3   Rules for housing mediation

• How we decide who is proposed as a tenant

Boplats Syd has a straight queue. This means that all apartments are allocated according to queueing time. The applicant who has been in the queue for the longest period of time and meets the landlord’s requirements is offered the apartment.

An available apartment is advertised on our website, usually for between three and seven days. If you are a housing applicant and have paid the queueing fee, you can apply for any apartments for which you meet the landlord’s requirements.

If several applicants with the same queueing time apply for the same apartment, the applicant who applied for the apartment first will be ahead in the queue for this particular apartment.

3.2    You must meet the requirements in order to be approved

It is the landlord who decides on the requirements that must be fulfilled for you to be approved as a new tenant. For example, the landlord can make demands regarding:

• What type of income you have
• Your minimum income
• How many people may live in the apartment
• What age you need to be

The requirements imposed on applicants may vary from one apartment to another, and for different types of apartments, but they may not be changed for any specific apartment during the course of the allocation procedure.

Specific requirements may be imposed for, for example, apartments that are reserved for students, youths or seniors, or apartments that have been reserved for applicants who have transferred from another housing queue that we have taken over.

This could also apply to those apartments that have first been reserved for applicants already living with the landlord. Landlords have the right to rent up to one third of their apartments to their own tenants.

In the first instance, these apartments are offered to existing residents who already have a first-hand contract with the landlord. The applicable requirements will be stated in the respective advertisement for each apartment on our website.

If you do not fulfil the landlord’s requirements at the time that we review your details and documentation, this can mean that you may not:

• apply for the apartment
• be invited to a viewing
• be offered a rental contract

As a housing applicant, you must always meet the landlord’s requirements yourself. If your own monthly income is not high enough, and you have linked a co-applicant to your user account, you can include your co-applicant’s monthly income. It is assumed, however, that you will be living together in the apartment for which you apply.

If you meet the landlord’s requirements by combining your income with your co-applicant’s income, your co-applicant will also need to meet the landlord’s requirements, as well as any requirements relating to payment defaults and debts.

If you linked with a co-applicant after the deadline for an apartment that you have applied for, your co-applicant will not be included in your application for this apartment.

If you choose to remove a co-applicant, you will have to meet all of the landlord’s requirements yourself. If you do not meet the requirements yourself, you will not be approved for the apartment in question.

3.3    No discriminatory requirements may be imposed

Any requirements set by the landlord must comply with the terms of the Discrimination Act. This means that people may not be treated differently because of their gender, transgender identity, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation or age. Age requirements may be applied in category housing, such as housing for youths or seniors.

For adapted apartments, there may be specific requirements regarding needs/disabilities.

3.4    Requirements for the allocation of senior housing (55+ and 70+)

Senior housing are offered on the basis of accrued queueing time, on the condition that the applicant and any co-applicant meet the landlord’s requirements and fulfil the landlord’s age requirements.

3.5    Requirement for permanent residence

It is never permitted to queue or apply for an apartment on behalf of someone else. To receive an apartment via Boplats Syd, you must move in to that apartment, register as living there and make it your permanent home.

If you have applied for an apartment together with a co-applicant, you must both move into that apartment together, register as living there and make it your permanent home.

3.6    Your personal details and the checks we perform

You are responsible for ensuring that we have the right information about you.

We will check the accuracy of the information you have provided by contacting the Tax Agency’s population register, the Swedish Enforcement Authority and credit institutions.

We update:

• Your address in accordance with the Tax Agency’s population register
  We check to see whether you:
• Meet the landlord’s requirements
• Have any payment defaults
• Have any registered attempts to seize property due to unpaid debts
• Have any debt restructuring
• Have any debts registered with the Enforcement Authority
  We will also:
• Check how many people will live in the apartment
• Check the documentation you have submitted that shows your income
• Conduct a credit check on you
• Update your registered information following our checks

In order for your submitted documents to be approved, they must be able to be read and understood by Boplats Syd. The landlord will:

• Check whether you have any rental debts
• Obtain references from your current accommodation

If you have linked a co-applicant to your user account, we will conduct the same checks for your co-applicant. You must therefore ensure that your co-applicant uploads their documentation.

3.7    Applying for an apartment

You must always apply for the apartments you are interested in yourself. If you receive an invitation to a viewing, you must accept by responding Yes before the deadline. The same applies after the viewing if you are still interested in the apartment.

This applies regardless of whether the apartment has a physical viewing, a digital viewing or no viewing at all. If you do not answer YES in these steps, your application will be automatically removed from that apartment.

3.8    Viewings

Viewings can take place in different ways. Usually, you will be invited to a viewing at the home of the tenant who is moving out of the apartment that you have applied for. A representative of the landlord will often be present at the viewing, but not always. Most landlords require that you or your representative attend a viewing in order for you to be approved as a tenant. The viewing invitation will state whether attendance at the viewing is compulsory or not.

Sometimes it is not possible to offer a viewing of the apartment. This is the case, for example, for newly built apartments or apartments that are being renovated. These apartments will instead be presented in the form of architectural drawings. Digital viewings are also sometimes offered. You will then be shown photographs or a video of the vacant apartment.

In the event of a digital viewing or no viewing, you cannot expect to see the apartment before you might

move in. This means that you must respond by answering Yes or No after viewing a floor plan, photographs or a film of the apartment.

3.9    Conditions for being proposed as a tenant

To be proposed as a tenant, you must fulfil all of the landlord’s requirements. If your own monthly income is not high enough, or if you would like your co-applicant to also be named on the contract, your co-applicant must also meet all of the landlord’s requirements.

If you linked your account with a co-applicant after an application have been made, your co-applicant will not be included in your application for this apartment.

If you have not provided us with the correct information, or if you do not reply to us or the landlord within the specified time, your application will not be approved.

3.10   Guarantors, capital and deposits

If your income (alone or together with your co-applicant) does not fully meet the landlord’s requirements, the landlord may still allow you to apply for an apartment if you can show that you can provide

security in the form of a guarantor. It will be stated in the respective advertisement for the apartment whether and under what conditions the landlord agrees to this.

The landlord will then contact the guarantor to check that the guarantor does not have any payment defaults or debts and has sufficient income to cover both their own and your housing costs.

There are also some landlords who will allow you to apply for apartments with lower income requirements if you can prove that you have sufficient capital or if you pay a deposit of a number of months’ rent as security. If this is possible, it will be stated in the advertisement for the apartment.

3.11   If you abuse the system, you will be given a warning

It is important that the allocation service we provide is as efficient as possible, and this includes ensuring that the information applicants provide about themselves is correct. If we find that you have abused the service, you may be issued with a warning. The warning does not affect your accrued queueing time. You will receive a warning if:

• You are in the queue for an apartment and have answered Yes to express continued interest after a viewing but then drop out
• You have been proposed as a tenant to the landlord and then drop out
• You are accepted as a tenant by the landlord but do not sign the rental contract
• You have provided misleading information in your user account

You can see whether you have received a warning and the reason for it on “Mina sidor”. If you receive two warnings within a period of 12 months, you will be blocked from applying for apartments for at least six months (see paragraph 3.12).

3.12   If you break the rules, you will be blocked from applying for an apartment

You may be blocked for various reasons, and this means that you will not be able to apply for apartments at Boplats Syd. Being blocked does not affect your accrued queueing time.

You will be blocked from applying for apartments for a period of six months:

• If you have received two warnings within a period of 12 months, the time is counted from when you received the most recent
• If you act inappropriately or threateningly in contact with individual landlords, departing tenants at the viewing or in contact with Boplats Syd. We also always report such cases to the police.

If you have bad residential references, you may be blocked by individual landlords.

3.13   If you submit false documentation

You will be blocked from applying for apartments for two years if you submit false documentation. If we have launched an investigation into the problem, you will be blocked for at least two years or until the investigation is complete. We always report matters to the police if we consider any criminal act to have taken place.

You can see whether you have been blocked and the reason for it on “Mina sidor”.

3.14   The provision of a Yes answer is binding

If you answer Yes to an apartment after a viewing, this response is binding. If you become number 1 in the queue, all other applications you have made will automatically be deleted. We will review your documentation to check that you meet the landlord’s requirements.

If you become number 1 in the queue for an apartment to which you have responded Yes, you will not be able to apply for any new apartments.

3.15   Errors in case processing

If Boplats Syd or the landlord makes an error in the processing of your case, which results in you not being given the apartment you should have, you will be offered an alternative apartment that is of as equivalent standard as possible. This only applies if it is your case that has been incorrectly processed, and not if you became number 1 in the queue because we had committed an error in the processing of another applicant.

You must notify us of this yourself within seven days. If an error in the case processing can be demonstrated, we will then offer you another apartment of as equivalent standard as possible as soon as we are able to do so. By equivalent we mean with regard to rent, size, area and positioning. The housing agency has the right to interpret what constitutes equivalent accommodation.

You have the right to decline the offer, and you can receive a maximum of two such offers.

There is no deadline to a compensation case, and it may therefore take some time if an equivalent apartment cannot be offered. If, before you are offered a replacement apartment, you receive another apartment, the case will be closed.

You are responsible for ensuring that we can contact you using the details provided on your page. We reserve the right to close a compensation case if we cannot reach you after a certain

number of attempts/years.

3.16   Applications for employees

Employees of Boplats Syd can also be registered in the housing queue and apply for housing under the same conditions as others in the housing queue. The proposal of an employee, or a close relative of an employee, as a tenant to a landlord must be approved by the appropriate manager.

An employee of Boplats Syd may not be involved in the processing of a case that concerns them personally or a close relative. A close relative is defined as a spouse, cohabiting partner, partner, child, sibling or parent, or a parent’s cohabiting partner, partner or spouse.

3.17   If you have a complaint

If you would like to submit a complaint, you should contact Boplats Syd’s customer service. If your complaint concerns an apartment that have been allocated, the following applies:

1. The relevant housing officer will first check whether the allocation was processed in the correct
2. If you wish to take your complaint further and have it investigated, you must submit this in writing. A response to the complaint will then be provided by the manager concerned within three weeks.
3. If you do not accept the written response, the complaint can be finally considered by the Managing Director of Boplats Syd.

If the complaint concerns a deviation from the current rules, it can be referred to the Board of Boplats Syd. You cannot appeal against a decision made by the Board of Boplats Syd to any other body.