No bostadsrätt insurance supplement in Sweden: who pays for damage?

A leaking dishwasher can leave you with a ruined kitchen floor. If you have no bostadsrättstillägg, either through your own policy or through your housing association, you may have to pay the full cost of restoring the parts you are responsible for. But water damage does not always follow the same rules. Where the leak started can determine whether the cost falls to you or the association.

This guide explains three types of damage, the costs you may still face and what to check when your association says the supplement is included. It concerns Swedish insurance and the Swedish form of housing known as bostadsrätt.

Do you need a bostadsrätt insurance supplement?

A bostadsrätt is a right to occupy a home as a member of a housing association, a bostadsrättsförening, which owns the building. As the holder of that right, you are responsible for maintaining certain parts of the flat. These can include flooring and fixed fittings. The exact division of responsibility depends on Swedish law and the association's statutes.

You need insurance cover for the parts you are responsible for. A bostadsrättstillägg is the insurance supplement that can provide this cover. You can arrange it yourself, but the association may also have a collective supplement covering your flat. If so, assess whether that cover is sufficient before buying or keeping a separate supplement. Konsumenternas Försäkringsbyrå explains the insurance options for a bostadsrätt.

Three types of insurance may be relevant to the same incident:

• Your home insurance, hemförsäkring, protects your belongings and includes liability cover if someone demands compensation from you. It can also reimburse necessary and reasonable additional accommodation costs if you have to move out while insured damage is repaired. Agree the arrangements with your insurer before organising temporary accommodation. Read about home insurance and additional living costs.
• The association's buildings insurance, fastighetsförsäkring, insures the building and can cover damage to its structural parts. Having buildings insurance does not itself mean the association has a collective bostadsrätt supplement.
• The bostadsrätt supplement can cover damage to the parts you have a duty to maintain. These usually include surface finishes and fixed fittings, subject to the policy's limits and exclusions. Read about the scope of bostadsrätt insurance.

You therefore still need your home insurance even if the association has a collective supplement. For a wider introduction, read our guide to what home insurance covers in Sweden.

Water damage in a bostadsrätt: who is responsible?

Your maintenance responsibility, underhållsansvar, means you must keep certain parts of the home in good condition. The Swedish Bostadsrätt Act and the association's statutes define those parts. You may have to repair them even if you did not cause the damage through carelessness. The insurance terms then determine whether the policy pays for that work. An insurer's refusal to pay does not, by itself, transfer the repair responsibility to someone else.

The table outlines three situations. The examples assume that no one has been negligent and that the statutes follow the usual division of maintenance responsibility.

The division of responsibility is explained in more detail by Konsumenternas on water damage and Bostadsrätterna on damage from water supply pipes.

For vattenledningsskada, damage from a water supply pipe, the association's extended responsibility concerns the damage caused by the escaping water. Responsibility for repairing the pipe itself must be assessed separately under the maintenance rules in the law and statutes.

With a dishwasher leak, the investigation must establish exactly where the water escaped. Finding water in front of the appliance is not enough to determine responsibility. Under Svensk Försäkring's industry recommendation from March 2025, an important boundary is the shut-off mechanism of the isolation valve: a leak before or within that mechanism is treated as water supply pipe damage, while a leak after it is treated as other water damage.

A domestic water supply pipe, tappvattenledning, supplies cold or hot water to the home. Leaks from heating pipes and drains do not fall under the same special rule.

There are also exceptions to the association's responsibility for water supply pipe damage. You may become responsible for repairs inside the flat if the damage was caused by negligence or neglect by you, a member of your household, a guest, someone else you have accommodated there or someone working in the flat on your behalf. This is governed by Chapter 7, Section 12 of the Swedish Bostadsrätt Act.

If damage occurs, contact both the association and your insurer. When the structure needs drying, that work must be coordinated with restoring the flat's surface finishes.

The association includes the supplement: do you need your own?

A collective bostadsrätt supplement may make a separate one unnecessary. But “it is included” tells you nothing about excesses, exclusions or the claims process. The association is the policyholder, which can mean contact with the insurer has to go through the board. Check both the cover and the practical arrangements. Konsumenternas explains how collective cover can differ from your own supplement.

Send the board these questions:

• Is there a collective bostadsrätt supplement covering my flat, and which insurer provides it?
• Can I have the policy schedule and the complete current terms, including any special terms?
• What damage is covered? Are leaking bathroom surface finishes and waterproofing layers covered, and what exclusions apply?
• What excesses apply to leaks and bathroom damage? What amount would I have to pay as a member?
• How are age deductions calculated? Is there a maximum deduction, and when does that limit not apply?
• Are there compensation limits or requirements for quality documents from bathroom renovations?
• Who reports a claim? Can I contact the insurer directly, and who should I contact in an emergency?
• How will I be told if the insurance changes, moves to another insurer or ends?

Ask for written replies and keep them with the policy terms. You will then have something concrete to compare with your own cover.

Excesses and age deductions: costs even with a supplement

The excess, självrisk, is the part of an insured claim you pay yourself. Check whether different excesses apply to leaks or bathroom damage.

Age deductions, åldersavdrag, reduce the payment when older flooring, bathroom fittings or other building parts are replaced. The deduction can apply to both materials and labour, including removal and reinstatement. A cap on age deductions may have exceptions for worn-out parts or older bathrooms. Read both the deduction table and the exceptions. Konsumenternas explains age deductions.

Excluded parts and damage can cost more than the excess. Cover for damage caused by a leak does not necessarily pay for repairing the part that leaked. Some policies exclude the surface finish or waterproofing layer through which water escaped. Others may cover it under specific conditions, including compliance with the industry rules that applied when it was built. Read about limitations in bostadsrätt insurance.

Compensation limits and upgrades you choose can also leave a shortfall. Ask for a breakdown of who pays what before ordering more expensive materials or extending the renovation beyond repairing the damage.

The association's excess for damage to the building is not automatically your debt just because the leak began in your flat. Such a demand can be a damages claim, for which the association must establish a basis for your liability, such as negligence. That is separate from your responsibility to repair your own floor. Bostadsrätterna explains this distinction.

If the association or a neighbour demands damages from you, report the claim under the liability section of your home insurance. Your insurer can investigate whether you are liable and help you respond. Read about liability cover at Konsumenternas.

Check the association's cover before cancelling your supplement

Request the association's policy schedule and terms. Compare bathroom cover, excesses, age deductions and compensation limits with your own supplement. If anything is unclear, ask the insurer to explain how the terms would apply to your bathroom or kitchen floor.

Then decide whether your own supplement provides protection you still need. Keep your home insurance even if the association's bostadsrätt supplement is sufficient.

The linked external guidance and policy sources are in Swedish.