A tenant-owners’ association (Swedish acronym: BRF), is, in purely legal terms, a cooperative economic association whose purpose is to let tenant-ownership rights apartments within the association’s building to their members.
A tenant-owners’ association must be registered and have at least three members, its own statutes, a Board of Directors, and an auditor. A tenant-owners’ association is a legal entity that owns the association’s building and usually also owns the property on which the building stands. The association is, therefore, also responsible for maintaining the apartments, the building, and the land in good condition to the extent that responsibility for the same does not, by law or statute, lie with the individual tenant-owner.
A tenant-owners’ association is represented by the Board of Directors, which is appointed by election at the association’s General Meeting. The Board is tasked with handling the day-to-day management of the association in accordance with the provisions of the association’s statutes, the resolutions by the association’s General Meeting, The Residential Tenancy Act, and the Cooperative Economic Associations Act.
In a tenant-owners’ association, it is the members who jointly administer and take decisions on buildings, land, and common areas. Members exercise their vote at the association’s General Meeting.
A housing association is, in other words, a predecessor of today’s tenant-owner associations. New housing associations may not be formed nowadays, but what you can do is re-register an existing housing association as a tenant-owners’ association. A housing association is a cooperative economic association, just like a tenant-owners’ association, but a housing association is only subject to the provisions of the Cooperative Economic Associations Act and the association’s own statutes.
Landahl can provide advice in conjunction both with the registration of a new tenant-owners’ association and tenant-owner apartment newbuilds, and in connection with issues arising in an already extant tenant-owners’ association or housing association. We can also assist in conjunction with disputes between associations and members, etc., and with the drawing up and interpretation of agreements, including agreements during a newbuild, i.e. reservation agreements, advance agreements, and letting agreements.