How much contents cover do you need in Sweden? Work it out

Start with the right value and the right policy

In Swedish home insurance, or hemförsäkring, household contents are called lösöre. They include furniture, clothing, electronics and kitchen equipment. Your home’s market price and mortgage balance do not belong in your contents total. Fitted interiors and installations may fall under other sections of your insurance, so do not automatically add kitchen cabinets or a heat pump to the inventory.

Find your policy schedule and terms. Check whose belongings and what property the policy covers. There may also be rules for borrowed or rented items.

Next, check how the overall amount works:

• A sum you choose: you need to estimate the value and select a sufficient sum insured.
• A fixed sum: compare your belongings with that amount anyway. A high standard limit may not be enough for every household.
• Full-value cover or contents cover without a selected overall sum: check what this means in your particular contract. Specific limits and valuation rules may still apply.

Setting the contents sum insured and calculating compensation for a damaged item are different questions, even where the policy refers to the same valuation rules for both.

Look for the sections on försäkringsbelopp, värdering and ersättning: the sum insured, valuation and compensation. Purchase prices are useful records, but not automatically the figures to enter. Depending on the category, the rules may use the price of a comparable new item with deductions, or a market value. Apply your policy’s rules consistently.

If you are unsure, ask your insurer: “How should I value my belongings when checking the overall contents sum insured?” Konsumenternas also explains valuation, insurance amounts and compensation in Swedish.

How to inventory your belongings room by room

1. Do a first walkthrough

Walk through your home and open cupboards, wardrobes and drawers. Note what is in each room. Taking photographs can help you revisit anything you miss.

Use this list as a starting point:

• Living room: sofa, armchairs, tables, television, audio equipment, rugs, lamps, books and art.
• Bedrooms: beds, mattresses, chests of drawers, clothes, bed linen, jewellery and personal items.
• Kitchen: crockery, glasses, cutlery, pans, knives, small appliances and other movable kitchen equipment.
• Hallway: coats, shoes, bags and storage furniture.
• Bathroom: towels, haircare appliances and other movable items.
• Storage areas and garage: tools, bicycles, sports equipment, suitcases, holiday decorations and seasonal items.

Add other spaces, such as a study or children’s rooms. Check separately how the policy treats your employer’s property or items used for business.

2. List larger and valuable items individually

Record computers, televisions, bicycles, jewellery, art and expensive furniture separately. Note the item, room, purchase year, purchase price and estimated value under the policy’s rules. Record the basis and date of each estimate too.

You do not need to find every old receipt before starting. Write down what you know and mark anything that needs checking. For evidence supporting a claim, see our guide to Swedish home insurance without receipts, in Swedish.

If you already keep a digital valuables register, use it as a starting point. Check that the information is current and that its values are suitable for this calculation. Recording an item in your own inventory does not, by itself, mean that the insurer has accepted its value or insured it separately.

3. Estimate the remaining items in groups

Smaller groups can make everyday belongings manageable: plates, glasses, towels, books and similar items. Estimate quantities and a reasonable value per item using the valuation basis you have checked.

For example, your working notes might show 12 glasses × SEK 50 = SEK 600. These figures only illustrate the calculation; they are not recommended valuations for glassware.

Keep individually listed belongings separate from the rest. If you have already recorded a coffee machine, do not include it again under “other kitchen equipment”. Give clothing one place in the summary so it is not counted both by person and by room.

Home inventory template: calculate your contents value

Copy this table into a document or spreadsheet. Count each item once. “Other belongings” means only items that have not already been recorded individually.

Inventory date: ______
Policy and terms version: ______
Valuation rules used: ______

For each row: individually listed items + other belongings = room total. Then add up the room totals.

Flag uncertain estimates in your working notes. Check the largest uncertainties before deciding on an amount, especially if your total is close to the policy limit.

Worked example: from individual items to an overall amount

A fictional household has reviewed its belongings and applied its policy’s valuation rules. Its summary looks like this:

The individually listed items account for less than half of the total. Counting only the larger items would have left SEK 166,000 out of the estimate.

In this example, the household has selected a contents sum insured of SEK 250,000. It therefore needs to contact the insurer about an amount that covers at least the calculated SEK 300,000 and check that it has valued the items correctly.

These figures are not standard values for a particular household size or number of rooms. Your belongings may be very different.

A low sum insured can affect a partial claim too

Underinsurance may arise where the policy requires the sum insured to match the value of the insured property and the amount is significantly below that value. Compensation may then be reduced proportionately under Chapter 6, Section 3 of the Swedish Insurance Contracts Act (in Swedish). A small underestimate does not automatically trigger such a reduction.

Separate, simplified example: The property is valued at SEK 800,000 under the policy, but the sum insured is SEK 400,000. A partial loss has an otherwise eligible claim amount of SEK 40,000 after the applicable valuation.

If proportional reduction applies, the calculation is:

SEK 40,000 × (SEK 400,000 ÷ SEK 800,000) = SEK 20,000.

This shows only the effect of underinsurance. It does not include the excess, known as självrisk, or any other limits. The policy’s structure and any guarantees or exceptions also need to be checked.

Check specific limits separately

The overall total tells you how much property needs to be covered. It does not tell you everything about the cover for each item.

Fictional example: A bicycle is valued at SEK 50,000 under the policy, but the maximum compensation for the particular bicycle loss is SEK 30,000. Increasing the household’s overall sum insured does not, by itself, remove that limit.

Flag items that need a separate check. Read the rules for bicycles, jewellery and watches, for example, and for belongings in storage areas or away from home. Check both the financial limits and the types of damage covered. Accidental damage cover, often called allrisk or drulle, does not automatically increase or remove every limit.

A separate policy for a valuable item is not, by itself, a reason to deduct it from your inventory total either. First check how the contracts require it to be treated.

Before you put the list away

• You have included the right people’s belongings and all relevant spaces.
• Clothing, kitchen equipment and stored items are included.
• Each item appears only once.
• Valuations follow the policy’s rules.
• You have compared the total with the contents sum insured.
• You have checked valuable items and specific storage locations separately.
• Your list is dated and easy to find again.

Review the inventory after major purchases, an inheritance, someone moving in or other household changes, and preferably when the policy renews.

A combined inventory gives you a better basis for checking your insurance. insurAGI helps you bring insurance documents together and get an overview of your cover. Learn more about insurAGI and join the waitlist.