The Svea Court of Appeal rules that there will be no compulsory management of six rewritten apartment buildings in Vårberg in southern Stockholm - and thus goes against the Tenants' Association's demands. Association chairwoman Marie Linder was on site at the property in question a couple of hours after the verdict was handed down on Tuesday.
- I think the decision is too damned. It is an insult to the tenants who live here, she says.
According to Marie Linder, the next step is clear: New legislation is required in the area.
In the background, the eight-story buildings tower up. The facades are cracked and worn. The area looks like a construction site with demolition debris surrounding a parking lot. Here and there rebar sticks out of the concrete.
- You have to remember that it is children who grow up here. Would this be accepted at Östermalm? asks Marie Linder.
The Court of Appeal's judgment is in line with the decision taken by the Rent Board in December last year. Even then, the Tenants' Association refused its demand, citing that the situation in the buildings did not "with sufficient strength" speak for compulsory management. The decision in December also meant that the Tenants' Association would pay the landlord Elsafemhundranio KB (Elsa) SEK 50,000 for legal costs.
In Tuesday's judgment it appears that the Court of Appeal has noted several shortcomings in the management of all houses over several years. The court notes that Elsa has "shown a pattern which meant that the company delayed taking even urgent measures".
At the same time, the court states that several of the deficiencies previously reported have been remedied and that there are no sufficient grounds for compulsory administration.
The verdict cannot be appealed either.
- This is the last instance. The decision means that you can live under these circumstances and be forced to pay full rent, says Jens Waldenström, litigation lawyer at the Tenants' Association.
He looks across the parking lot at the six patched houses.
- It looks like a bomb has gone off, he says.
The message is received with consternation by several of the residents of the houses. Both Imad Kilani and Rex Stålhammar sigh that the landlord Elsa - and the owner Björn Aaserud - were right in the Court of Appeal.
- It is stressful. I am cursed, says Imad Kilani.
The problems with the houses have been going on for a long time. Several people have testified to DN that it has been about elevators that don't work, electric cables that are temporarily suspended, a large number of pipes in basements that have been fixed with silver tape, sewage smell in apartments and stairwells. It has also been about windows that draft, cracks in walls and gaps in fire protection.
Several of these deficiencies have been remedied when DN is on site on Tuesday. The laundry room is fresh. The windows have been replaced in the houses and renovation work has begun on the facade. There are no longer any visible electrical cables hanging in strange places.
But the residents are critical of the efforts on Elsa's part - and several believe that measures are only taken when the problems are noticed in, for example, the media or before court proceedings.
It is described as "cosmetic improvements" that are happening far too late.
- There is a very bad atmosphere among us in the houses now. For years we have had problems and now they are going to fix the windows. But that's not enough for us, says Ivica Buco, resident and local chairman of the Tenants' Association in Vårberg.
Björn Aaserud has previously told DN that he is not proud of how the property looked when DN visited the site in the spring of 2025, but referred to plans for extensive improvement and expansion at the site. Among other things, the apartments were to be completely renovated.
