Questions to ask the estate agent at a viewing: a buyer checklist

You walk into the viewing and feel you ought to ask the right questions, but you are not quite sure which ones. Relax: the agent is obliged to answer honestly and must in particular tell you about anything they know of, or have reason to suspect, about the home’s condition. Your job is to ask concrete questions, write down the answers and ask for the documents. Here is a checklist you can keep in your pocket.

The agent does not work only for the seller

A common worry is that the agent simply runs the seller’s errands and will not say anything awkward. That is not how it works. The agent is an impartial intermediary who must look after both your interests and the seller’s in everything except the price. When it comes to the price, the agent should try to get the highest possible price for whoever gave them the assignment, usually the seller.

The agent also has a duty to inform you, and in good time before the contract is signed they must tell you what they have observed or know about the condition. An agent who knowingly holds back important information can be liable for damages. That means straightforward questions about defects are entirely in place, and you have the right to honest answers.

Your responsibility: the duty to investigate

At the same time, a lot rests on you. As the buyer you are responsible for examining the home very carefully. You cannot later complain about defects you ought to have discovered in an investigation that was reasonable given the state of the house. The agent must inform you in writing about this duty (undersökningsplikt, the buyer’s duty to investigate) and encourage you to carry out, or arrange, an investigation before the purchase.

That is why it often pays to bring a besiktningsman (a building surveyor) to a house, or to read the inspection report carefully. As a rule you cannot complain afterwards about defects you fail to spot. The seller, for their part, is responsible for hidden defects, and your claim due to a defect lapses ten years after you take possession.

Questions about condition and defects

These are the questions that actually affect what you are buying:

• Is there an inspection report, and what does it say about the roof, foundation, electrics, heating and pipes?
• How old is the home, and what has and has not been done to it?
• Is there an energy declaration (energideklaration) to see? The seller must be able to show the full energy declaration to prospective buyers, for example at the viewing, and the energy class should already appear in the listing.
• Has radon been measured? The reference level for radon in indoor air in an existing home is at most 200 Bq/m3 as an annual average, and a measurement should run for at least two months during the heating season (1 October to 30 April).

Questions for a bostadsrätt or a house

Find out what it actually costs to own, not just what it costs to buy.

For a bostadsrätt (a flat owned through a housing co-operative) the association’s finances matter most. Ask for the annual report and ask about:

• The association’s debt, ideally per square metre.
• Planned fee increases.
• Whether a stambyte (replacement of pipes and risers) has been done or is planned, and what the maintenance plan looks like.

There are no official thresholds for these figures, so they are matters of judgement rather than a fixed pass or fail. But the answers say a lot about how secure the home will be over time.

For a house it is more about the running costs. Ask what is included in the driftkostnad (the ongoing operating cost): heating, electricity, water, refuse collection, insurance and any road or shared-facility association. Ask too about the age of the expensive components: the roof, the heating system and the pipes.

Questions about bidding and price

The bidding tends to cause the most stress, so it is reassuring to know how it works.

• A bid is not binding on anyone, not even in writing. The purchase only becomes binding once both seller and buyer have signed the purchase contract.
• The seller decides who may buy, at what price and when. The seller can choose someone other than the highest bidder.
• The agent is obliged to pass on every bid to the seller right up until the contract is signed, and must keep a bidding list with names, amounts, times and conditions. It is given to buyer and seller when the assignment is completed, which normally happens when you take possession.

Ask about recent sale prices for similar homes in the area too, so you have a feel for where the level lies.

Work out what you need before you bid

Two questions decide whether you can bid at all: how big a deposit you need and what purchase costs come on top.

From 1 April 2026 the mortgage cap is at most 90 percent of the home’s value at purchase, which means at least 10 percent as a deposit. For top-up loans taken later the cap is 80 percent. The earlier stricter amortisation requirement (extra repayment when debt exceeds 4.5 times annual income) has been removed.

For a house there is stamp duty and fees on top. The stamp duty for lagfart (registration of title) is 1.5 percent of the price for private individuals, plus an administration fee of 825 kr. For pantbrev (mortgage deeds) the stamp duty is 2 percent of the mortgaged amount, plus 375 kr per deed. A bostadsrätt has no pantbrev; there the share in the association is pledged instead.

Worked example: a house for 5 000 000 kr

Item	Calculation	Amount
Deposit (at least 10 percent)	0.10 x 5 000 000	500 000 kr
Stamp duty, lagfart (1.5 percent)	0.015 x 5 000 000	75 000 kr
Administration fee, lagfart	fixed	825 kr
Stamp duty, pantbrev on 4 500 000 (2 percent)	0.02 x 4 500 000	90 000 kr
Administration fee, pantbrev	fixed	375 kr

The example assumes there are no existing pantbrev to reuse. If there are old mortgage deeds, you only need to take out new ones for the difference, which lowers the cost. Ask the agent how many pantbrev are already taken out.