Buying a Home Together in Sweden: Unequal Deposits and the Samboavtal

If you are buying a home together but putting in different sized deposits, the single most important thing to know is this: if the home is bought so the two of you can live in it together, it counts as samboegendom (joint cohabitee property), and if you separate the value is split equally between you, no matter who paid more. The person who put in more money does not automatically get their extra deposit back. This is solvable, but you need to do something active before or at the time of the purchase. Here is how it works and how you protect the uneven deposit.

Equal Splitting Is the Starting Point, Not an Injustice

The Cohabitees Act starts from the idea that two people who live together on a lasting basis as a couple with a shared household are sambor (cohabitees). A home bought for joint use then becomes samboegendom, completely regardless of who paid.

In a division of property, the joint cohabitee property is added up after debts are deducted, and the value is split equally between you. This halving applies even if one of you put in a much larger deposit. That is the logic behind the law: a shared home should be divisible fairly if the relationship ends. The problem only arises when the deposit was uneven and you wrote nothing down about it.

Worth knowing: a request for a division of property must be made within one year of the cohabitation ending. If neither of you requests a division within that year, each of you keeps your property as it stands.

Worked Example: What Happens Without an Agreement

Say you buy a home for 4,000,000 kr. One of you puts in 600,000 kr as a deposit, the other puts in 0 kr. Together you take a 3,400,000 kr mortgage (bolan).

At purchase	Person A	Person B
Deposit	600,000 kr	0 kr
Share of the mortgage	1,700,000 kr	1,700,000 kr

If you separate and the home is still worth 4,000,000 kr, the value after the loan is deducted (600,000 kr of equity) is split equally. Each of you gets 300,000 kr. Person A has, in effect, lost half their deposit, 300,000 kr, to Person B. Not because anyone did anything wrong, but because the law says equal splitting when nothing else has been agreed.

Two Ways to Protect the Uneven Deposit

There are two common ways to handle this, and both rest on the same core idea: you need to avoid the Cohabitees Act equal split for the home itself.

Route 1: own in shares that match the deposit. In the example above, Person A would own a larger share than Person B, so any change in value follows ownership. For a house, ownership is set in the purchase deed and registered through the lagfart (title deed) at Lantmateriet, which must state whether the whole property or only a share (for example 1/2) is being transferred. Lagfart must be applied for within three months of the purchase. If you want to own in shares, you state that already in the purchase deed.

Route 2: own 50/50, but sign a samboavtal plus a skuldebrev. The Cohabitees Act lets cohabitees agree to opt out of the division, or exempt certain property from it. A samboavtal (cohabitation agreement) that exempts the home means it is not split equally if you separate. So that whoever put in more gets their extra deposit back, the agreement is usually paired with a skuldebrev (debt note) for the difference, so that amount is treated as a debt between you.

Route	What ownership looks like	What protects the deposit
Ownership shares	Different shares (e.g. 65/35)	The share follows the deposit, registered through the lagfart
Samboavtal + skuldebrev	Usually 50/50	The agreement exempts the home, the debt note settles the difference

A samboavtal on its own is usually not enough when the deposit is uneven. The agreement stops the equal split, but it does not in itself settle who should get extra money back. That is why it is normally combined with either ownership shares or a skuldebrev.

One more thing to be aware of: even if the home is exempted from the division through a samboavtal, the person who most needs the home may, in some circumstances, have the right to take it over in exchange for compensating the other for the value. That is part of the protection the Cohabitees Act gives, and something to keep in the picture.

The Deposit in 2026

From 1 April 2026 new mortgage rules apply. The mortgage cap (bolanetak) when buying a new home rises from 85 to 90 percent of the home’s market value. In practice that means a deposit (kontantinsats) of at least 10 percent of the price.

Home price	Deposit (at least 10%)	Possible mortgage (max 90%)
3,000,000 kr	300,000 kr	2,700,000 kr
4,000,000 kr	400,000 kr	3,600,000 kr
5,000,000 kr	500,000 kr	4,500,000 kr

If you instead top up an existing loan (tillaggslan), the cap is lowered to 80 percent of the value under the new rules. That is worth knowing if you are planning to borrow more against a home you already own.

What to Sort Out Before You Sign

Decide how you want to own before you put in a bid, not afterwards. If the deposits are uneven, talk through whether you want to own in shares or 50/50 with an agreement. If you are thinking about an agreement between you, it could be a samboavtal, an aktenskapsforord (prenuptial agreement) or a testamente (will) depending on your situation. Heimer is not a legal adviser, so do talk to a lawyer to get the agreements right for the two of you. The point is simple: fifteen minutes with the paperwork in order now can save you a hard conversation later.