The woman lives with her husband and their two children in a suburb north of Stockholm, where the children also go to school. In the Rent Board, she testifies about a tough living situation for both herself and the children, where her husband subjects her to psychological torture, which Home&Rent was the first to report on.
The salvation for the woman has been a rented apartment, where she could live together with the children during weekends and school holidays to get some breathing room. In a medical certificate obtained by Hem&Hyra, you can read about the woman’s and children’s “need for the apartment for a safe living situation”.
Forced to move back in with the husband
But the landlord has terminated the woman’s contract and believes that she has no need for the apartment because her permanent residence is with her husband. The woman protested against this and the Rent Board took her side and let her stay.
But after the landlord appealed, the Court of Appeal changed the verdict. The woman is now losing her supplementary home and is forced to move back in with her husband full-time. The Court of Appeal writes:
“The Court of Appeal does not dispute that xxx’s life situation is difficult and accepts that she has a strong need for her own accommodation. According to the Court of Appeal’s assessment, the situation is still not such that there are conditions for deviating from the main rule that it is the permanent residence that is covered by the protection of possession.
“Violates the opportunity to free oneself from violence”
Someone who is critical of this decision is Camilla Andersson, chairman of Roks, the national organization for women’s shelters and girls’ shelters.
– It is a further step in violating the opportunity to free oneself from violence. She should be free to choose how she breaks up. And then it becomes very strange that another body steps in and says that she is not allowed to have double housing, says Camilla Andersson to Hem&Hyra.
She believes that it is important for a woman in a vulnerable situation to have access to an extra home.
– It’s a way to get distance. This is how you can get the energy and power you need. But above all, we usually say that it takes maybe five, six times – if not more – to really be able to leave a relationship. An extra home can be a step for her to build herself up, in order to then be able to leave this man, says Camilla Andersson.
Living under psychological abuse can make a person feel isolated, and over time the negative feelings can become more and more normalized for one, according to Camilla Andersson.
– Then it becomes even more important to come out to others who can say that it is not normal. The psychological violence is usually the absolute hardest to break away from and the hardest for society to see. You can see bruises, or a broken arm. You can also fix that, but the effects of the psychological violence take much longer to repair.