76 terms

Swedish contract words, in English

This is not a general dictionary. Every word here was taken from the questions our own document forms ask, or from the text of the finished documents, so it is the vocabulary you actually hit when you fill in a Swedish contract, a bank form or something from Skatteverket.

People and identity

Almost every Swedish document starts by identifying the parties. These are the fields you will meet first.

Personnummer — Personal identity number: The Swedish national ID number, written YYMMDD-NNNN or YYYYMMDD-NNNN. If you do not have one, a samordningsnummer (coordination number) or a passport number works for most private agreements.
Samordningsnummer — Coordination number: The identity number issued to people who are in Sweden but not registered as resident. Formatted like a personnummer but with 60 added to the day of birth.
Fullständigt namn — Full name: Your name exactly as it appears in the Swedish population register or on your passport. Nicknames and shortened forms cause problems at banks.
Organisationsnummer — Company registration number: The ten-digit number Bolagsverket assigns to a company, association or estate. The business equivalent of a personnummer.
Folkbokföringsadress — Registered address: The address you are officially registered at with the Swedish Tax Agency, which is not always where you actually live.
Make / maka — Husband / wife: Used in documents between married people. Swedish forms often say make/maka rather than assuming which is which.
Sambo — Cohabiting partner: A partner you live with in a relationship without being married. A legally defined status in Sweden with its own statute — and one that gives no automatic right of inheritance.
Delägare — Co-owner or part-owner: Someone who owns a share of the same thing: a property, a company, or an estate. Also used for the heirs of an estate.
Dödsbodelägare — Beneficiary of an estate: A person entitled to a share of a deceased person's estate. All of them normally have to sign together.
Arvinge — Heir: Someone who inherits under the statutory order. Distinct from a testamentstagare, who inherits under a will.
Bröstarvinge — Direct descendant: Your child, or their child. In Sweden these heirs have a protected minimum share you cannot write out of a will.
Särkullbarn — Child from a previous relationship: A child of one spouse only. Unlike joint children, they can claim their inheritance immediately when their parent dies.
Vittne — Witness: Required for a will. Must be two people, present at the same time, over 15, and with nothing to gain from the document.
Fullmaktsgivare / fullmäktig — Principal / attorney: The person granting authority, and the person receiving it. Fullmäktig is sometimes written ombud.

Dates, places and signing

Swedish contracts distinguish carefully between the day something is agreed, the day it is signed and the day it takes effect.

Ort — Place (town or city): The town where the document is signed. It appears on almost every Swedish agreement, immediately above the signature line, and is written as just the town name.
Datum då avtalet undertecknas — Date of signature: The day the parties actually sign. Written YYYY-MM-DD in Sweden — 2026-08-26, never 08/26/2026.
Datum då avtalet ingås — Date the agreement is entered into: The day you agree the terms, which can be earlier than the day you sign.
Tillträdesdag — Date of possession or handover: The day the buyer or tenant actually takes over. For a home purchase this is when the keys and the money change hands.
Avtalstid — Term: How long the agreement runs. Either a fixed period (bestämd tid) or until further notice (tills vidare).
Uppsägningstid — Notice period: How much warning either side must give before ending the agreement. Often set by law rather than freely chosen — for housing and employment especially.
Tills vidare — Until further notice: An open-ended arrangement with no end date, ended by giving notice. The Swedish default for both permanent employment and ordinary tenancies.
Sista giltighetsdag — Expiry date: The last day the document is valid. Common on powers of attorney.

Money and payment

Swedish payment vocabulary is specific, and picking the wrong word changes what you have agreed.

Köpeskilling — Purchase price: The total price for what is being sold. The formal word used in sale contracts rather than the everyday pris.
Handpenning — Deposit or down payment: A part-payment made when the contract is signed, with the rest paid on handover. Usually 10 % on a home purchase.
Deposition — Security deposit: Money held by a landlord against damage or unpaid rent, returned at the end of the tenancy. Different from handpenning.
Bankgiro / plusgiro — Swedish payment account numbers: Business payment identifiers, distinct from the bank account number itself. A bankgiro number is 7–8 digits.
Swish — Swish: Sweden's instant mobile payment system, tied to a phone number. Widely used for private sales.
Dröjsmålsränta — Default interest: Interest charged on a late payment. Where nothing else is agreed, the statutory rate is the Riksbank reference rate plus eight percentage points.
Amortering — Principal repayment: Repaying the loan itself, as opposed to paying interest on it. Swedish mortgages have statutory amortisation requirements.
Vederlag — Consideration: What one side gives in return. A gift is defined precisely by the absence of it.
Moms — VAT: Swedish value added tax. Standard rate 25 %. Consumer prices in Sweden are always quoted including VAT.
Faktura — Invoice: Standard payment method between Swedish businesses, typically with 30 days to pay unless something else is agreed.

Housing and property

Sweden distinguishes between three quite different kinds of home, and the right document depends on which one you have.

Fastighet — Real property: Land, and whatever is built on it. A house you own with the land under it. Not used for apartments.
Fastighetsbeteckning — Property designation: The official identifier for a plot of land, in the form Municipality Parish Block:Unit — for example Nacka Sicklaön 12:34. Find it on your title deed or at Lantmäteriet.
Bostadsrätt — Tenant-owner apartment: The usual form of apartment ownership in Sweden. You own a share in the housing association and the right to use a specific apartment, not the apartment itself.
Bostadsrättsförening — Housing association: The cooperative that owns the building. It must approve every new member, which means it can block a sale.
Hyresrätt — Rental apartment: A tenancy with strong statutory protection, effectively indefinite. Not something you own or can sell.
Lagfart — Title registration: Registration of ownership of real property with Lantmäteriet, which must be applied for within three months of purchase.
Bohag — Household goods: Furniture, appliances and household items intended for joint use. A defined legal category in the Cohabitees Act.
Andrahandsuthyrning — Subletting: Letting your home to someone else while you keep the contract. Almost always requires the landlord's or the association's written consent.
Inneboende — Lodger: Someone renting a room in a home where you also live. Weaker protection than an ordinary tenant.
Besiktning — Survey or inspection: A professional inspection before a purchase. For property the buyer carries a far-reaching duty to investigate, which makes this important.
Servitut — Easement: A permanent right for one property to use part of another — a track, a well, a drain.
Arrende — Land lease: Leasing land rather than a building. Swedish law divides it into distinct types with quite different protection.

Employment

Much of Swedish employment law is mandatory, so these terms describe rights rather than negotiable preferences.

Anställningsform — Form of employment: Permanent (tillsvidareanställning) or fixed-term (visstidsanställning). The default under Swedish law is permanent.
Provanställning — Probationary employment: A trial period of at most six months, which either side may end without giving a reason.
Tjänstgöringsgrad — Working time percentage: How much of full time the job is, written as a percentage. 100 % is full time; 75 % is common.
Månadslön (brutto) — Monthly salary before tax: Swedish salaries are quoted monthly and before tax. Gross, not net.
Semester — Annual leave: Statutory minimum 25 days a year. Many collective agreements give more.
Semesterersättning — Holiday pay compensation: A cash payment instead of leave, normally 12 % of pay. Only lawful in limited situations.
Kollektivavtal — Collective agreement: A sector-wide agreement between unions and employers. Where one applies, it usually overrides what the individual contract says.
Tjänstepension — Occupational pension: Employer-paid pension on top of the state pension. Not automatic unless a collective agreement requires it — worth asking about.
Uppsägning / avsked — Notice of termination / summary dismissal: Two very different things. Uppsägning requires objective grounds and a notice period; avsked is immediate and requires gross misconduct.
Konkurrensklausul — Non-compete clause: A restriction on working for a competitor afterwards. Only enforceable within fairly narrow limits in Sweden, and usually requires compensation.

Companies

Words you meet when starting or co-owning a Swedish limited company.

Aktiebolag (AB) — Limited company: The standard Swedish company form. Minimum share capital 25 000 kr for a private company.
Bolagsverket — Swedish Companies Registration Office: The authority that registers companies, articles of association, board members and annual accounts.
Bolagsordning — Articles of association: The company's registered constitution. Public, and binding on everyone, unlike a shareholders' agreement.
Aktiebok — Share register: The list of who owns the shares. Every Swedish AB must keep one from the day it is formed and make it available for inspection.
Aktieslag — Share class: A and B shares, typically differing in voting rights. Must be set out in the articles.
Bolagsstämma — General meeting: The shareholders' meeting. The annual one is the årsstämma.
Styrelse — Board of directors: Required in every AB. A private company can have a single director plus a deputy (suppleant).
Suppleant — Deputy board member: A stand-in who steps in when a director cannot serve. Required where the board has fewer than three members.
Firmatecknare — Authorised signatory: Who may sign to bind the company. Registered with Bolagsverket and checked by banks constantly.
Hembud — Pre-emption on transfer: A clause requiring shares to be offered to existing shareholders first. Common in the articles of a closely held Swedish company.

Contract and dispute wording

The standard clauses at the end of a Swedish agreement.

Avtalspart — Contracting party: One of the sides to the agreement.
Tingsrätt — District court: The first-instance court. Contracts normally name which one hears any dispute.
Tvist — Dispute: Standard clauses say whether disputes go to a district court or to arbitration (skiljeförfarande), which is private but expensive.
Force majeure — Force majeure: Events outside a party's control that excuse performance. The Latin term is used in Swedish too.
Vite — Liquidated damages: A fixed sum payable on breach, agreed in advance so nobody has to prove the actual loss. Common in NDAs.
Sekretess — Confidentiality: The duty not to disclose. A sekretessavtal is an NDA.
Enskild egendom — Private property: Property kept out of a division on divorce or death. Created by a prenuptial agreement, a will, or a condition in a deed of gift.
Giftorättsgods — Marital property: The default: everything that is not enskild egendom, and therefore split on divorce regardless of who bought it.
Laglott — Reserved portion: Half of what a child would have inherited under the statutory order. Protected — a will cannot remove it, though a child must actively claim it within six months.
Fri förfoganderätt — Right of free disposal: Inheriting property you may use and spend but not give away by will, because it must eventually pass to the first person's heirs. Distinct from full ownership (full äganderätt).
Bouppteckning — Estate inventory: The statutory list of a deceased person's assets and debts, filed with the Swedish Tax Agency within four months. Nothing can be distributed until it is registered.
Bodelning — Division of property: Splitting assets when a marriage or cohabitation ends, or on death.

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