The housing lawyer: "The delays mean that the buyers should cancel the purchases"

SVT's consumer editorial Plus has been in contact with several different people who tell how they felt in advance contracts for newly built apartments in Solna that have been delayed for several months.

The housing justice lawyer Ingrid Uggla claims that the delays result in the right to cancel the agreement.

- Yes of course. The "reasonable time" in the legal text cannot be several months. The housing developers cannot unilaterally have the lease as a kind of regulator.

- Anyone who may have sold their home must have somewhere to live, says Ingrid Uggla.

The editorial staff also took note of written correspondence in which Peab and Vip-logen (one of the tenant-owner associations started by the company in Solna) refused buyers to terminate the advance agreements. In addition, the buyers are threatened with damages. This is despite the fact that, according to the Housing Act, there may be grounds for canceling contracts due to delays.

Ingrid Uggla is very upset about how Peab and other housing developers treat their customers.

- No one is thinking about the poor consumer here, she says.

Right now, at least a dozen disputes are ongoing with the tenant-owner association Vip-logen, where consumers cannot or do not want to fulfill the agreements as a result of the project being delayed. Eight of them are represented by Ingrid Uggla. She was also involved in the drafting of the new tenancy law that regulates the advance agreements.

- When prices fell by 2008/2009, no construction companies sued their customers. Then they handled it nicely instead and went down in price, says Ingrid Uggla to the Plus editorial.

- Now my advice to consumers is that they should not sign either advance agreement or lease agreement at all. And unfortunately, I think the advance agreements should be banned.

According to Peab, which started the tenant-owner association and appointed its board, the agreements are binding, but the company regrets that the customers experienced discomfort.

See more about delayed housing construction and hear unhappy buyers in Plus on Tuesday, October 1st.