How to rent office space in Stockholm, step by step
Moving to new premises has two parts: finding new premises and ending your current lease. Start by reviewing your lease, because the notice period often decides the whole timetable. For commercial leases that run for an indefinite period, the notice period is usually at least nine months, but it can be longer depending on what you have agreed.
What should you look for in your lease?
Indefinite period or fixed term
Notice must be given to end a lease that runs for an indefinite period. The same applies to a fixed-term lease, if you have rented the premises for more than nine consecutive months. Otherwise the lease is extended, for an indefinite period unless it says otherwise.
The notice period
Under the Swedish Land Code (Jordabalken), it is usually at least nine months, both for leases that run for an indefinite period and for fixed-term leases longer than nine months. It can be longer depending on what you have agreed. Two examples: if you give notice on a lease for an indefinite period on 10 March, it ends at the end of December. If a fixed-term lease expires on 31 December, notice must be given no later than 31 March of the same year.
How to give notice
As a rule, notice must be given in writing. Read more about terminating a commercial lease.
Can you move before the lease expires?
Yes, if the landlord agrees, or in some cases with the permission of the Regional Rent Tribunal (Hyresnämnden). There are two routes:
Assignment of the lease
Someone else takes over your entire lease. This requires the landlord’s consent. If the landlord refuses without reasonable cause, or does not reply within three weeks, you may give notice on the lease. If someone takes over your business in the premises, the Regional Rent Tribunal can give permission for the assignment, provided the landlord has no justified reason to refuse. If you have had the premises for less than three years, exceptional reasons, meaning very strong reasons, are required. After an assignment with consent or permission, you are released from the lease for the period after the assignment, unless another condition has been set.
Subletting
You let the premises to someone else but remain the tenant. This too requires the landlord’s consent. Without consent, the Regional Rent Tribunal can give permission for a limited period, but only in some cases. One example is if you are temporarily unable to run your business in the premises. If the subletting lasts more than nine months, the person renting from you may be entitled to compensation when you give notice. That right can be waived in a separate agreement, but in some cases the approval of the Regional Rent Tribunal is also required.
Without permission, you can lose the premises
This applies if you assign or sublet without consent or permission. Unless you put the situation right without delay after the landlord has told you to, or apply for permission and are granted it, the landlord can terminate the lease early.
If you need to leave the premises early, we can help you find someone to take them over or rent them on a sublease. Read more about how we help you leave premises early.
How can Locality help?
We help you find the new premises, from the needs assessment to a signed lease. Are you moving your headquarters, or do you need more space because you are growing? Read more about new headquarters and expansion.
If you need legal help, we work with the most experienced lawyers in the industry, who have expertise in your particular issue.
How it works
Review your current lease
Find out whether the lease runs for an indefinite period or for a fixed term, how long the notice period is and what happens if nobody gives notice. Work out the last day on which you can give notice. It may come before you have signed a new lease.
Needs assessment
Together we discuss how you work, the size of your team, your budget for the premises and when you need them. What do you need from the premises, now and in the future?
Shortlist
You get a shortlist, not a list of everything. It can include advertised premises, upcoming vacancies and premises available on a sublease or through an assignment of the lease.
Viewings
You choose which premises you want to see, and we book the viewings. Afterwards they are compared side by side: space, location, total cost and flexibility.
Discussions with the landlord
We are a sounding board and a bridge between you and the landlord.
Signed lease
We are involved until the lease is agreed and signed.
Give notice on your current lease
Give notice in writing and in good time. If you want to end the lease early, you can agree on this with the landlord. Another option is to assign the lease. You can also sublet the premises, but you then remain responsible for your lease. Assignment and subletting require the landlord's consent or, in some cases, the permission of the Regional Rent Tribunal (Hyresnämnden).
Move out
Unless otherwise agreed, you must leave the premises no later than the day after the lease period has ended. By 12 noon on that day, the premises must be available to the next tenant. If that day is a Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, the next working day applies instead.
Frequently asked questions
- Do we have to give notice on the old lease before we have found new premises?
- It may be necessary. With a notice period of nine months or more, the last day for giving notice may come before you have found anything new. If you have a fixed-term lease and miss that day, the lease is extended, for an indefinite period or as stated in the lease. So start looking in good time.
- Are we released from the lease if we sublet the premises?
- No. You remain the tenant and are still responsible to the landlord for your obligations under the lease. Of the two routes, only an assignment of the lease, with the landlord's consent or the Regional Rent Tribunal's permission, releases you from the lease for the period after the assignment, unless another condition has been set.