The dilapidated apartment buildings on Skummeråsvägen in Persberg north of Filipstad have long been a concern for the municipality, which has tried to persuade the property owner to remedy the decay.

The houses are abandoned

Now the owner company has gone bankrupt, and the houses are now literally abandoned completely.

- We abandon them. They become unsold and thus stray properties when the bankruptcy is closed, says bankruptcy manager David Lindberg.

Who owns the houses then?

- Nobody owns them then.

House without owner

The situation is problematic for the municipality. The houses lack a formal owner after the bankruptcy, and there is no counterparty to set any requirements for.

- We want the houses demolished. They are both an inconvenience for the nearby residents, and a life-threatening playground for children, says Henric Forsberg, who is a building inspector at the municipality's environmental and urban building offices.

Join us in the abandoned houses in Persberg north of Filipstad: "There is no good place to be - especially not for children". Photo: SVT

The fact that houses are abandoned is no new problem in Filipstad. In total, there are about 30 properties, especially small houses and villas, which are empty since the owners left them when they were unable to sell.

But houses that completely lack owners - they have not been there before.

- I had not heard at all about how to do this. It sounds very strange that you can only go away from what you do not want in a bankruptcy, says Henric Forsberg.

The land is of no value

According to bankruptcy manager David Lindberg, so-called abandonment is not a common procedure in a bankruptcy, but in this case he believes that there was no choice.

Not only the houses, but also the land they stand on are of no value.

- Unfortunately, it has no value in that place.