Housing in Sweden is mostly of a very high standard. It is seldom that you will find a really "bad" room at a really low price. Instead you will probably pay a little more and get something of adequate or good quality.

Swedes are reknowned for having one of the highest rates in the world for living alone. It is fairly well unheard of for a bunch of friends to get together and share the rent in a one bedroom house. It is on the other hand quite common that someone would live in a self contained one room studio/unit - where the kitchen, bedroom and loungeroom are all part of one single room. This independence also extends to how people use their rooms: it is most unlikely that you will find housing where more than one person shares a room, and even more unlikely that you will find a housing provider willing to allow this. This can be problematic for those of you who find living in this manner comfortable (and cheap!), and you should in general not expect to be able to find such housing.   

It is good to be aware of these differences when looking for housing!

Even more importantly: The housing market in Uppsala is very different to many markets around the world. Regulation of the rental prices ensures that everyone can find affordable housing. But this same regulation has arguably led to problems with supply and demand - the demand for rental properties is much greater than the supply. This leads to the phenomenon of "queing" for housing: You will not find rental properties in the classifieds in the papers. Instead you will most often need to register with a given housing company and start collecting "queue days". When applying for an apartment, the person with the most amount of queue days, that is the person who has waited the longest time, will get the apartment.

This means that the market is not very liquid - there is not a high turnover of rental properties. People tend to get a contract and then hold it. If people need to move out for whatever reason they will often keep their contract and sublease their property privately. Check the Student Union's database of privately leased housing, called studentboet: http://www.studentboet.se/en/

What does all this mean for you? It means that it is difficult to get housing here. It means that if you have been given a contract then you should think very seriously before terminating that contract, because it is possible that you will not find a new place to live. But, given that you understand all this it is now time to uncover a little bit more about specific forms of housing.

In Uppsala you will not really find student dormitories, at least not in the sense that they exist in other countries. But we will come to that. It is first worth taking a detour to look at the different types of housing that there are here.

"Corridor" housing. This is where a number of rooms are connected with a common corridor, a common kitchen and a common loungeroom. The classic example is the Flogsta corridor - 12 rooms, a small balcony, small loungeroom and a kitchen with an oven, a couple of refrigerators and a microwave. Corridor rooms may have their own shower and toilet, or you may share a shower and toilet with your corridor mates. Some corridors do a lot of stuff together - they may have regular dinners, parties and other activities - and some are much quieter. It really does depend on those who live there. While your kitchen may never quite reach the standards of cleanliness that your own kitchen would, a corridor lifestyle is generally very social anda great way to meet new friends.

Rooms in a shared accommodation. There is a variety of different types of shared accommmodation. You may find rooms in flats, rooms in houses or rooms in "dublettes" - a sort of twin room arrangement. You may move in with housemates who are very much into socialising and sharing the cooking duties and so forth, or you may find yourself living more or less independently.

An interesting accommodation form is the "kollektiv" - which is as it sounds, collective housing. While this housing form is coupled, in the Swedish lexicon, to various social or political movements, it is not necessarily so. The practical aspects of collective housing are generally that one lives as a family would: one shares the bills, cooking, cleaning and laundry. This is in fact something that many private people do in shared housing in many other countries. So, there are "collectives" where people share a certain view and it is more or less a requirement for moving in, and there are also collectives where people simply want to live in a more family-like living situation, without the political connotation.

Are you confused about housing in Uppsala?
This is a must read before you decide to come to Uppsala (or indeed if you are already here but do not know what you should do with housing). The housing situation is somewhat special in Uppsala and can be hard to understand as a foreigner. This page explains what housing is available to you and what you have to do to get it. It also shows a more personal perspective on life in the various housing areas.

Housing in Uppsala is in all likelihood very different to housing in
your homeland. It explains what it is that is so different about
housing in Uppsala and also what housing you are eligble for. 

Why should you read this? Because it is somewhat tricky acquiring
housing in Uppsala, and you don’t want to turn up in November expecting
to be able to fix something when you arrive and all of a sudden it is
freezing cold and you don’t have anywhere to live!

So, read on!

Watch out for scams!
Quite recently we had a few incidents where international student
got scammed when they tried to secure second-hand housing through
advertisements they found on the internet. While you should not be
afraid to secure housing this way, most of the advertisers have the
right intentions and it is still one of the best ways to find housing.
It is good however, to read the general advice to prevent scams in the
file attached below this page!

And of course if you feel insecure about your contract or landlord you are most welcome to contact the Student Union at any time for advice.

What exactly is the housing situation in Uppsala?
The short answer to this is that it is both good and bad! The good
news is thusly: The rental market is highly regulated, which means that
very good quality accommodation is available at reasonable prices. The
bad news is this: As anyone who has read a little economics knows this
leads to a shortage of supply. The result of this shortage is that
almost all housing relies upon some sort of queue system, whereby one
registers with a housing provider and when you apply for a rental
object your ability to get it depends on how many days you have in the
queue. This makes it tough for internationals, and indeed even those
Swedes who come from other parts of the country.

Okay, what housing options are available for me?
Good question! I am glad that you asked! Depending on what type of student you are you have varying options for housing.

There are a number of different categories of students:

• Free-mover or Master's student – An international student who arranges their own studies and is not part of any exchange program

• Doctoral student – A student who is taking part in a Doctoral Program
• Guest Researcher – A person undertaking research for a shorter period

Master’s Student/Doctoral Student/Guest Researcher
On the Student Union's website studentboet you will find detailled information about the housing situation in Uppsala, as well as available housing, and links to all accommodators in Uppsala.

• Exchange student – A student who is temporarily here under an exchange agreement
  Read more about housing as a Exchange student

In case you are really stuck there are a number of places where you can
arrange an extended stay for anywhere from a few days to a few months. Click here to see a list of these.

Still feeling lost? Contact our Accommodation Officer Markus at bostad@us.uu.se or +46 18 480 3120

Master’s Student/Doctoral Student/Guest Researcher
There is comprehensive information available from the International Office. I strongly reccommend reading it first.
Read the information from the International Office

The most important thing for a these students to remember is to fill in the “Housing Application Form” which you should have received from the University. Without this your options are if not limited then seriously complicated. If you haven’t got one of these forms then contact your “contact person” – that is the person who is arranging your studies at the institution, or international office in certain cases. It is usual that this category of students stays in the Lilla Sunnersta housing area.

Once you have completed this form it is then up to the University to arrange housing for you. Unfortunately you do not have guaranteed housing. While the University will try with all effort there are often cases where housing cannot be sorted out. Why is this? This is because of the aforementioned housing shortage. Housing is only guaranteed for exchange students, as it is part of their exchange agreement. Anything that is left over is available for students in this category.

It is important that you are organised in time and that you maintain good contact with your “contact person”. Above this, your options are the same as a student who is a free-mover.

Go back to the general gudie to housing

As an international student your accommodation situation is quite different to an exchange student. The biggest difference, and disadvantage, is that you do not receive guaranteed housing. Unfortunately the University’s hands are tied due to Swedish law, which does not allow a public authority such as a university to sub-lease rooms, with the exception of to exchange students and guest researchers. While the government is looking at reforming this law it doesn’t help much for students coming to Sweden now. While the Student Union can help with many questions they cannot arrange housing either.  

So what can you do?

Firstly, I would like to point out that it will take a lot of work on your behalf to secure housing. It is definitely not impossible but it is tiring. If you follow these steps you will have gone a long way to securing your housing. A comforting thought is that despite the apparent difficulty in getting housing all students end up one way or another having somewhere nice to live. This guide is going to be quite long, so please take the time to read and understand the information – you may even want to save it for future reference.

1. Contact your contact person at the department and ask for help finding housing. It is possible that they have contacts on the housing market, or indeed have their own solution to the problem. This is the first thing you need to do. It is also a good general piece of advice to maintain good contact with your contact person. This will ensure that you have a smooth start to your time in Uppsala.

2. Fill in your Housing Application Form. This form can be obtained from your contact person at the department. Will filling out this form get you housing? This is difficult to say. The Housing Application Form is primarily there for exchange students (due to the law mentioned above). However, there are always students who book a room and for one reason or another decide not to come. Thus, a number of rooms become available. It is these rooms that you will get access to by filling in this form. As you can see, it is impossible to know how many rooms are available until perhaps as late as August or even September. So, by all means fill in your form but it is uncertain how many rooms will become available. This year it is unlikely that any rooms will become available.

The next section is the part where you have to do some work yourself! Before continuing I recommend that you read some short documents prepared by the Student Union that explain the rather unique housing situation in Uppsala. http://www.uppsalastudentkar.nu/en/housing/expectations
You can get an idea of how much things cost here: http://www.uppsalastudentkar.nu/en/life/cost

Now that you have read and understood how things work here, you should continue your search for housing. Remember, because of the shortage of housing it is important to not be too choosy – all housing in Sweden is of a good standard. Once you have moved in to a room, and have a roof over your head you can continue searching for your dream room or apartment. But make sure that you get that roof over your head first! I would even recommend looking at unfurnished rooms. Because you are staying two years the cost of buying furniture is not so great, relatively speaking, and also it opens up a much larger market to you. See the end of this email for some tips about finding furniture.

3. Heimstaden. This housing company does not have a waiting list or “queue” for its rooms, which is advantageous for students who do not have hundreds of days in a housing queue. Their website can be found at www.heimstaden.com Check there regularly because new rooms become available often. The rooms are “corridor” rooms in a student area called “Flogsta”. Their site is available in English. The button for English is in the top right.

4. Studentstaden. This company is the largest provider of student housing in Uppsala. Their website is www.studentstaden.se You should visit their website today and register yourself and start collecting “queue days”. The more you have the better. Demand for housing is always greatest during the beginning of the semester, so if you have a place to live but would like to move then doing it during October-November or March-June will mean that you will need fewer days to get a given room. They also have a special category of rooms called recentior rooms, available for newcomers, for which you do not need that many queue days, however there is a limited number of those and they are usually available at the beginning of each semester. They have a good English website and one can register in English as well. You can find the link down in the bottom right hand corner where it says "In English" and there is a picture of the cathedral and some trees and the river.

5. Lilla Sunnersta. This is a newly built student housing area run by Uppsala Akademiförvaltning (UAF). Because it is new, and thus not so well known, and also because it is approximately six kilometres from the town centre, demand is often a little lower there than other places. It is not possible to register before you have a Swedish civil registration number (a so called “personnummer”), which you cannot get before you arrive in Sweden. While most of UAF’s webpage is in Swedish they have a brochure in English which can be found here http://www.uaf.uu.se/_images/pdf/lilla_sunnersta_eng.pdf
You will need to register there to be able to apply for housing. Send an email to infofast@uaf.uu.se and tell them that you would like to register to apply for housing. They will help you with this process. You can find the site here http://www.uaf.uu.se/sidor/sida.aspx?SidaID=57 and once you have registered you will need to use the function “logga in” to look for housing.

6. The nations. I am not sure if you have heard of the so called “student nations” in Uppsala. You can find out more about nations at the Student Union’s website http://www.uppsalastudentkar.nu/en/orientation/nations
Each nation has its own housing for its members. It is difficult to say just how much housing is available through nations, and it is difficult to generalise about how difficult it is to get such housing – some nations may have a rule that you must have been a member for a certain amount of time for example. But, the fact remains that many nations have housing, and at least some of it is available for international students such as yourself. Because the nations operate independently, there is no central place where you can apply for housing. You will need to visit the website of each of the nations (there are 13) and find info about their housing. A list of the nations (with links) can be found here http://www.kuratorskonventet.se/index.php?id=4841
It doesn't matter that this page is in Swedish because it looks the same in English!
If the nation your are looking at does not have relevant information in English there are some key words that will help you. “Bostäder” is Swedish for “housing”. Look first for this link – usually nations have a special person who is in charge of housing. If you can’t find “bostäder” look for the word “kontakta” or “kontakt”. “Kontakta” means “to contact”. A good person to contact is the First Curator (Förste Kurator in Swedish), often known as 1Q. The 1Q has the highest responsibility at the nation and will be able to help you out. When contacting people in the nation’s world it is a good idea to try and write somewhat more personable in your email. Nations, and in particular the first curators (1Q) get many many emails, and it is easy for them to ignore a mail that is written in the following manner:

”Dear Sir,
Please get me a room.
Thank you”

Feel free to use the first name of the 1Q or whoever you are writing to if you can find their name – for example if you see “Förste Kurator Markus Jonegård” you may write “Dear Markus”. Small things like this make your letter seem much nicer and will help you to get a good response.

All of the previous methods will result in you signing a contract with a housing company – that is you are leasing directly from the housing provider. However, there is also a large sub-let housing market. To sub-lease housing means that you will be leasing it from a private person instead of a company. For example, I may have a contract with Heimstaden and I might decide to go to Singapore and study for 6 months. Instead of cancelling my contract I can decide to lease my room privately to someone for that 6 month period, and then continue living in the room when I come back. So that is sub-leasing!
The advantages with sub-leasing are that there is no waiting list and that rooms are almost always furnished. This disadvantage is that you have a restricted amount of time that you may live in that apartment/room, and if you haven’t signed a contract it is easy for the person to change the rental period/rent – not that this happens very often but it is a risk that you don’t have when renting directly from a housing provider.

7. The Student Union. The Student Union has arguably the largest sub-let housing database in Uppsala. It is called “bostadsjouren”. You can find a link here http://www.uppsalastudentkar.nu/bostadsjour
While the database is in Swedish there is a guide which will help you understand everything, which can be found at http://www.uppsalastudentkar.nu/en/guide_to_bostadsjouren - When you find a room that you are interested in you need to contact that person yourself using the contact details you can find there. It is recommended to both email and ring/SMS the person, if possible. It may help to buy an international phone card or to use a program such as Skype to ring internationally cheaply.
8. Blocket. This is a popular Swedish site where people buy and sell things, including housing. This site is entirely in Swedish, and there is no guide in English, but if you have some capabilities with a Scandinavian language, or you have a Swedish dictionary then you may find some interesting results here. Clicking on this link should help you to find the right page http://www.blocket.se/li?ca=10_s&cg=3020&st=u&w=1&m=113
If it is not correct then follow these steps: open www.blocket.se click on “Uppsala”. Where it says “alla kategorier” click and scroll down until you find “lägenheter”. Finally, click the button which says “uthyres”. Then click “sök”.

9. Along the same lines you can look for rooms at www.studentlya.nu . Click on the english version, go to the drop down menu and choose Uppsala. The whole page is in english and you can find all sorts of housing announcements.

10. Finally, you can even try the local newspaper. The website is www.unt.se Look in the left menu until you see “bostad”, then you can click on that and use their search function.

11. If you still do not have a room and you will soon be travelling to Uppsala – contact your department and ask them to arrange some sort of short-term accommodation. On arrival you can even go to the Student Union and ask about short-term accommodation – akutbostad in Swedish. I recommend that you check the Student Union’s website for information about akutbostad, because they only have this service for a short period in the beginning of the semester and they only have certain opening hours. www.uppsalastudentkar.nu

12. You can also try looking at the notice boards that exist at the various departments and at the Student Union. The words in Swedish that you are looking for are “rum uthyres” which means room “for rent”

Help with Swedish language:
http://lexin.nada.kth.se/sve-eng.html
There is also a lot of info about housing in the Guide to the bostadsjouren
http://www.uppsalastudentkar.nu/en/guide_to_bostadsjouren

Finding furniture:
You can get a bed and a desk quite cheaply from many different places. If you think about it, the cost of a bed and a desk spread over your two year stay is quite small relatively. Places to find cheap furniture:
Ikea. This is a large warehouse which has beds from 500 crowns and desks from 159 crowns.
Second hand shops such as Myrornas (two shops, one at Kungsängsgatan 20 and one at Sysslomansgatan 16 – 18); Sirius Loppmarknad (Sturegatan 5)

Good luck!

Abels rum
Jordgubbsgatan 14
754 49 Uppsala
018-25 35 00 

Info Approximately 3,5 kilometres from the city centre. Shared toilet/shower, TV and video in common room. Extended stay for 6000 SEK per month. Single room 350 SEK per night, double room 500 SEK per night, and 1500 SEK for a week (student prices). Access to washing machine and kitchen. Call and make an appointment!

Bed & Breakfast Agency Uppsala
Myrgångsv. 16
757 57 Uppsala
018-42 10 30
070-603 96 96
bb.018421030 (a) telia.com
http://www.bedandbreakfastuppsala.se/

Info: An agent for many bed and breakfasts in Uppsala, including rooms, flats, cabins and so forth. Basic breakfast, sheets and towels are included. Single: 250-425 per night, double: 350-550 per night

Gammel-Gränome Vandrarhem STF
Stavby
747 94 Uppsala
0174-131 08
http://www.gamla-grenome.se/
Info: 25 km from Uppsala, road 288. Shared rooms for STF members 150 SEK per night, non-members 200 SEK per night. Single room from 250 SEK per night, double fom 400 SEK per night.

Fyrishovs stugby
Idrottsgatan 2
753 33 Uppsala
018-727 49 60
http://www.fyrishov.se
stugby (a) fyrishov.se

Info: 2 km from Uppsala city centre. Fully equipped self-catering, shower, toilet, cabel tv. 1 cabin with 4 beds 695 SEK (575 SEK non-summer). Basic 4-bed cabin for self-catering without
shower and toilet 450 SEK (350 SEK non-summer). Showers and toilets can be found by the nearby camping area.

Kroksta gård
740 22 Bälinge
018-35 71 48
0709-18 01 15
http://www.husetbroraugust.se
info@husetbroraugust.se
Info: 10 kilometers from Uppsala, road 272. From 325 SEK/bed.

Uppsala Korttidsboende and Lägenhetshotell  (Styrbjörn)
018-357148
http://www.kroksta.com/ukl/
UKL (a) kroksta.com   

Info: Centrally located rooms at Svartbäcken for short-term stays (per week or per month), from 1700 SEK (1000 SEK per person for shared rooms) per week, or 3500 SEK (2750 per person for shared rooms), per month.  Access to fully equipped kitchen and a common room. 

Uppsala lägenhetshotell
Klangs gränd 5
752 33 Uppsala
018-505041
www.ulh.se
Info: Fully furnished and equipped flats leased for days (400kr), weeks (1200kr/week) or months (900kr/week) 

Uppsala vandrarhem city
S:t Persgatan 16
753 20 Uppsala
018-10 00 08
http://www.uppsalavandrarhem.se/
bokning (a) uppsalavandrarhem.se

Info: Centrally located hostel with 80 beds in 18 rooms. Shower/toilet in the corridor. Shared kitchen for self-catering. Beds in a large shared room: 200 SEK per night, single room 350 SEK per night, double room 240 SEK per person per night, four bed rooms 220 SEK per person per night. 

Sunnersta camping
Ekoln
756 53 Uppsala
018-727 60 84
Info: 7 km from city centre. 2-4 bed rooms 275-450 SEK per night. 

Skäggesta gård, Börje
Börje, Skäggesta
755 92 Uppsala
018-36 92 37, 070-397 44 91
sara (a) mbox301.swipnet.se

Info: 6 km from city centre. Farm with 3 rooms, 6 beds, TOILET, shower and shared kitchen. 250 SEK per person not including breakfast. 

Sunnersta herrgård
Sunnerstavägen 24
756 51 Uppsala
018-32 42 20
www.sunnerstaherrgard.se

Info: 6,5 km to city centre. 200 SEK/bed. Private room 150 SEK extra. 

Svista värdshus
Svista
755 93 Uppsala
018-36 76 70, 36 73 01
0703-35 35 79

Info: 8 km from Uppsala, north on the E4. Single room 400 SEK per night including breakfast and shower in corridor. Double room 600 SEK per night including. breakfast and private shower. Toilet in the rooms. Can even be leased per month. 3000 SEK per month for single room, 4000 SEK per month for double room. Basic breakfast and bed sheets included. Access to washing machine, often tv in the room, possibility of a room with a kitchenette and fridge.

Wiks slott
Balingsta
755 91 Uppsala
018-611 66 60
http://www.wiksslott.net

Info: Open. 20 km from Uppsala, near Lårstaviken. Single room from 950 SEK per night including sheets, double room from 750 SEK per night including sheets.