Buying property in Sweden: there is no notary
The appointment that the whole house purchase builds up to in many countries, Germany included, doesn't happen in Sweden. No notary's office, no reading-out of the deed, no notarial register. Instead you sit in an estate agent's office, sometimes only on a video call, sign two pages of paper, and you own a house. That unsettles buyers from notary countries in two ways: it feels both pleasantly unbureaucratic and worryingly thin.
Both are true. A Swedish property purchase has fewer formalities than a German one, and precisely for that reason more of the duties fall on you. I moved from Germany to Sweden in 2022 and since then I've photographed several hundred properties a year for estate agents in Gothenburg and on the West Coast. Sweden isn't more lax about it. It distributes the responsibility differently.
What a notary does in Germany, and what takes its place in Sweden
Let's use Germany as the worked example of a notary system. There, it's the law, not habit. § 311b(1) of the German Civil Code (BGB) says a contract for the transfer of ownership of land "requires notarial recording". Without a notary it's void. And it doesn't stop at one appointment: under § 925(1) BGB the conveyance (Auflassung) must be declared "with both parties present at the same time before a competent authority", in practice before a notary.
The notary isn't a service provider for one party but an independent office: the notary drafts the contract, checks the land register, advises both sides, holds back the payment until the priority notice is registered, and at the end applies for the transfer of title. That package doesn't exist in Sweden.
What does exist is the fastighetsmäklare (licensed estate agent), with a role that's missing in Germany: under Chapter 3, Section 1 of the Fastighetsmäklarlagen (Estate Agents Act), the agent must "ta tillvara både säljarens och köparens intresse", look after the interests of both seller and buyer. Under Chapter 3, Section 11, the agent may not act as an authorised representative of either side against the other. So the agent isn't the seller's lawyer, even though the seller pays the fee. Who pays the fee is covered in the mäklararvode article.
Four required details, two signatures, and that's all
Chapter 4, Section 1 of the Jordabalken (Land Code) is one of the shortest important provisions you'll ever read: "Köp av fast egendom slutes genom upprättande av köpehandling som underskrives av säljaren och köparen." A purchase comes about through a deed of sale that both sign; it must state the purchase price and contain the seller's declaration that the property is transferred. The Fastighetsmäklarinspektionen (FMI, the estate agents' supervisory authority) derives four required details from this: property designation, parties, purchase price, the seller's declaration of transfer.
That's it. If one of the four elements is missing, the purchase isn't voidable, it's invalid from the start. The supervisory authority puts it unambiguously: "Det är viktigt att köpekontraktet är riktigt utformat, annars är köpet ogiltigt." (It's important that the purchase contract is correctly drawn up, otherwise the purchase is invalid.)
The same rule explains why bids in Sweden aren't binding. If a purchase only comes about through a signed deed, everything before that is legally non-binding: the highest bid, the promise on the phone, the agent's email. For both sides. How the bidding process works is explained in the budgivning article.
If it's not in the contract, it doesn't exist
Chapter 4, Section 3 of the Jordabalken makes side agreements ineffective if they aren't in the deed of sale and concern certain matters: making the purchase conditional, changing the seller's liability for defects, or restricting your right to resell or mortgage the property.
In practice this means the promise "if the besiktning (survey) finds something major, we can get out" is worthless as long as it isn't a clause in the köpekontrakt. The same goes for a financing condition. And such conditions have a time limit: under Chapter 4, Section 4, the validity of the purchase may depend on a condition for at most two years from the date the deed is drawn up. A longer period makes the purchase invalid; if no period is stated, two years apply.
In Germany, a notary would point out a missing withdrawal clause, because advising is part of the office. In Sweden nobody asks. Your duty to inspect and how you draft the contract are the same thing seen from two directions: whatever you don't check beforehand and don't write in is your problem afterwards.
Köpekontrakt and köpebrev: two documents, not one
Buyers from notary countries expect one contract. In Sweden there are two. The köpekontrakt (purchase contract) is signed at the contract meeting and is the binding contract. The FMI says it directly: "Köpekontraktet innehåller alla villkor för försäljningen och är i sig ett bindande avtal om försäljningen." (The purchase contract contains all the terms of the sale and is in itself a binding agreement on the sale.) It sets out the purchase price, the handpenning (deposit), the handover date and the conditions.
The köpebrev (bill of sale) comes later, on the tillträdesdag (completion day), usually once the buyer has paid the full purchase price. It works as a receipt and is the document used for the lagfart (registration of title). Chapter 4, Section 5 of the Jordabalken sums up the logic: if the contract provides for a further deed of sale, completion is deemed to depend on payment of the purchase price.
If you mix the two up, you underestimate the first meeting. The köpekontrakt isn't a letter of intent before the real contract. It is the real contract.
The handpenning is also due at the contract meeting, and here there's no equivalent of the German notary escrow account. Under Chapter 3, Section 4 of the Fastighetsmäklarlagen, the agent should pass it on to the seller "snarast" (as soon as possible), unless otherwise agreed. That "unless otherwise agreed" is your lever: if the money should stay put until completion, you need a written depositionsavtal (escrow agreement) between buyer, seller and agent. The agent then holds it in a klientmedelskonto (client account) separate from their own assets and is personally liable for it. The supervisory authority's wording is soft, though: every agent "bör", should, have their own client account. That isn't a custody obligation like a notary escrow account.
Two witnesses and three months: what registration depends on
This is the least obvious trap. The validity of the purchase doesn't require witnesses; Chapter 4, Section 1 doesn't mention them. The lagfart does.
Chapter 20, Section 7 of the Jordabalken lists the reasons for which a lagfart application is put on hold. Number 1: "vid köp, byte eller gåva överlåtarens underskrift på fångeshandlingen icke är styrkt av två vittnen", in a purchase, exchange or gift, the transferor's signature on the deed is not confirmed by two witnesses. The FMI adds the practical side: if the witnessing is missing, the purchase is valid, but you only get a provisional lagfart. Your own signature doesn't need to be witnessed, but the seller's does. If an estate agent runs the meeting, that's routine. In a direct private sale, it's the point where things go wrong.
Then there's the deadline that a notary handles in Germany. Chapter 20, Section 1 of the Jordabalken obliges the buyer to apply for registration themselves; Chapter 20, Section 2 sets the deadline: "Lagfart skall sökas inom tre månader efter det att den handling på vilken förvärvet grundas" was drawn up. Three months from the contract deed.
Since 1 July 2026 there's an extra hurdle that catches foreign buyers off guard. Lantmäteriet (the Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority) requires an identity number: "Privatpersoner ska ange svenskt personnummer eller samordningsnummer vid ansökan." (Private individuals must state a Swedish personal identity number or coordination number when applying.) Without one of these numbers the application isn't granted; the procedure is put on hold and processing fees are added. What counts is the date of signing the köpekontrakt. If you're buying before you're registered in Sweden, get the number early: see applying for a personnummer. Processing times at Skatteverket are unpredictable.
What it costs you, and what you don't pay for in Sweden
Let's work it through, with Germany as the comparison. Purchase price 500,000 euros, land charge (Grundschuld) 400,000 euros. The 1.0 fee under Table B of the German court and notary fees act (GNotKG) is 935 euros for a transaction value of 500,000 euros and 785 euros for 400,000 euros:
- Notarial recording (KV 21100, rate 2.0): 1,870 euros
- Completion (KV 22110, rate 0.5): 467.50 euros
- Supervision (KV 22200, rate 0.5): 467.50 euros
- Notary net 2,805 euros, with 19 per cent VAT 3,337.95 euros
- Land register: transfer of ownership (KV 14110, 1.0) 935 euros, priority notice (KV 14150, 0.5) 467.50 euros, land charge (KV 14121, 1.0) 785 euros
Total around 5,525 euros, roughly 1.1 per cent of the purchase price, excluding property transfer tax, the estate agent's fee and expenses. None of it is negotiable: the German Federal Chamber of Notaries describes notary costs as "uniformly regulated nationwide by the Court and Notary Fees Act" and "prescribed by law".
In Sweden this item disappears. You don't pay anyone for the contract itself. The state costs that remain are the stämpelskatt (stamp duty) of 1.5 per cent for private individuals, assessed on the higher of the purchase price and the previous year's taxeringsvärde (tax assessment value), rounded down to the nearest thousand, plus 825 kronor expeditionsavgift (processing fee) for the lagfart. If a new pantbrev (mortgage deed) is added, it's 2 per cent of the mortgage amount and 375 kronor per inteckning (registered mortgage). The calculation is in the stämpelskatt article.
Cheaper, but not the same purchase: in Germany you pay an independent lawyer to draft the contract, check the land register and advise you. In Sweden the bill disappears, and so does the service.
What you should actually do
Three things before you sign.
First: read the köpekontrakt as the binding contract it is, and do it beforehand, not at the meeting. Every condition that matters to you (besiktning, financing, handover date) has to be in it as a clause, with a deadline. Under Chapter 4, Section 3 of the Jordabalken, verbal promises on exactly these points are ineffective.
Second: if the purchase price is a stretch for you or something about the property is unclear, get your own legal advice. A lawyer costs money here, money a buyer in Germany would have paid as a notary fee anyway. The estate agent is obliged to be neutral, not to advise you, and that's exactly the gap the notary fills. I couldn't find any statistics on how many foreign buyers do this; the logic of the situation suggests very few do.
Third: sort out your samordningsnummer (coordination number) and the witnesses before they hold you up. Two witnesses for the seller's signature, an identity number for the lagfart, a three-month deadline. The whole process from lånelöfte to tillträde has its own article; how to read a listing beforehand so you know what you're getting into is covered in the Hemnet article.
Buying a house in Sweden isn't riskier than buying one in a notary country. The risk is just distributed differently. Nobody does the checking for you, because nobody is paid to.
Buying a House in Sweden: Practical Guide, the in-depth guide on this topic, is currently available in German: see it in the shop.
I'm Sebastian Schiefner, a photographer in Gothenburg, and I help people who are moving to West Sweden with finding a home and buying property. Free intro call.
