Housing office charging me for key that I accidently locked inside my flat
I rent a student room in Sweden and due to a firealarm I left my room instantly to get out as fast as possible and forgot to take my key with me, so the door had to be opened by a company and I get charged 930SEK from the housing office. Is that allowed? Especially because they do not give me a second key and neither am I allowed to duplicate a key and at least in Germany I have the right of at least two keys when I am living somewhere alone to give one key to a trustworthy person. Is there a possibility to not have to pay?
Rådgivarens svar
Thank you for reaching out to Fråga Juristen with your inquiry.
Responsibility for keys
There is a slim chance that you could get out of this situation without having to pay. In the Swedish Contracts Act (avtalslagen) there is an article (§ 36) stating that a clause in a contract (for example the clause in your contract forcing you to pay) is to be left without regard if it would be unreasonable to apply it. You´re two arguments: 1. having only one key and 2. being locked out because of a fire alarm, combined could be enough.
If you take the matter to court, you will follow the rules for what we in Sweden call "småmål" (minor case). That means that the winning party (no matter if it is you or the housing office) can only claim compensation for an hour of legal advice plus some other, minor expenses. So if you lose, you don't have to pay too much of the housing office's expenses. But still, you have to decide if it is worth the risk.
If you are pondering about anything else, feel free to contact us again with another question.
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