Verdict: Must move out immediately • Landlord: “Repeated late payments”
The case was taken up in Luleå district court during the summer, after the landlord SBF pursued the case. The man, who is 35 years old, owed the landlord 15,764 kroner at most. By the time the verdict came, however, he had repaid most of the debt, leaving only SEK 240.
Despite that, the district court rules that the man must move out immediately, and pay back the remainder of the debt. He will also be responsible for court costs of SEK 14,600, reports say Home & Rent.
The judgment states that the man’s delay in payment “cannot be considered to be of minor importance”, even though the debt is “relatively small”, writes the newspaper.
Landlord: “Repeated late payments”
Bo Wernersson, property manager at SBF, tells the newspaper that they started pursuing the case against the man when the debt was greater. He emphasizes that they look at several underlying reasons, and that they do not evict someone just for a rental debt of SEK 240.
– The reason why we pursued the case was repeated late payments and a rent debt that was therefore greater before the time of the judgment, he says.
The fact that the man paid back the largest part was therefore not enough for them to back down from the demand to get him to move out.
Reconsidered the case
Wernersson mentions another example, where a tenant had paid off his debt shortly before it was tried in court.
– Then it was SEK 0 in the district court judgment because they took out an SMS loan just before and paid off a rental debt of SEK 25,000. Then it will just continue, he says.
The first time the case was brought up in the district court was in June. Then the man did not appear and had not filed a response. The court then announced a so-called default judgment, which is a judgment that the defendant can request to have reconsidered.
The tenant did so, and before the matter was taken up again, he paid back the debt, minus the 240 kroner.