If you are reading this, it probably means that you received good news when the admission results were published this March! Congratulations! You are at the start of a beautiful new journey going to university in Sweden! In this post, I share my personal experience and advice on finding accommodation in Lund and Sweden in general. It was one of the most stressful things I have ever done. I was so afraid of scams or that I would not be able to find something before the semester started. However, there are several ways you can search and negotiate your housing situation safely! In this post, I discuss some more general advice, my personal experience and as a bonus talk about the different areas in Lund specifically.
Where to actually find housing
The main ways in which students find housing are Bopoolen, Blocket and Facebook groups. I found my accomodation through Bopoolen. I do not have any experience using Blocket, I only know that the website functions similar to Bopoolen. Both websites are basically housing marketplaces. I did use Facebook to sublet my room but never to find housing myself. However, scams are more likely to happen through Facebook. They also happen through Bopoolen and Blocket, but when someone reports this the sites tend to ban the scammers from the platform (which is not always the case on Facebook).
Next, make sure you sign up for the housing queues by Lund University and AF Bostader. Do be aware that these are very popular and remember that EU students do not have a housing guarantee. Hence, do sign up but keep searching for housing by yourself.
Read more about housing agencies by Lund University here
Be an early bird!
Finding housing in Sweden is going to be a trial-and-error process and I recommend starting
as soon as possible. I started looking for housing in March before the results were even published. It will give you some time to do research on the areas and where you would like to live. You can also reach out to Lund University's Student Ambassadors whom are current students that can answer questions about student life in Lund. I was a student ambassador and often answered questions from prospective students on housing. Also, when you start early it means you have more time, and more time equals less stress which decreases your chances of getting swept up in a scam. I had a few chats with students that unfortunately ended up getting scammed. When I asked how it happened they simply said that they were desperate and agreed too soon lacking the time to do sufficient research.
Bopoolen has an extensive page on how to prevent getting scammed which you can read here.
Be picky, but be realistic
Most students want to live across the street of their faculty and save time, effort and transport costs. Yet in reality, this only happens to a few lucky ones (including me when out of pure luck (and connections) I ended up living in my university building in Maastricht). Anyways, I did not expect this
miracle to repeat itself, so I did the following; I brought my wonderful bike and found a room on the outskirts of Lund in Linero. The bus journey from Linero to the faculty was a pain, but by bike it was tops 20 minutes. Lund has a rather small city center, so the rooms in the central area are gone quickly. Therefore keep an open mind when it comes to finding housing in Lund.
The areas of Lund
In this updated version I wanted to chat a bit more about the neighborhoods of Lund. Initially, I was quite hesitant to discuss this as it is grounded in subjectivity. So keep in mind that this is my personal experience as a woman going around the city both during the day and evening.
When I initially started to look for housing I did everything I could to figure out the safe and unsafe neighborhoods. While the Netherlands (my home country) is safe, there are still places I'd rather not be by myself in the evening. Yet, Lund in my case would prove to be the opposite. I lived in Linero for two whole years, only to find out after one year that it was considered one of the 'less safe' neighborhoods. Yet, Linero is a nice and quiet family neighborhood. I think I was cat-called by some guys in the evening once, but that was about it. I never felt unsafe and I enjoyed living there for two years.
I furthermore heard that Klostergarden and North of Lund have been labelled as 'sketchy' areas. I have been around there in the evening a few times because most of my friends lived there but nothing ever happened. The only thing I did not like about Klostergarden is that the student housing (where some of my friends lived) is surrounded by a park, a little forest, which is quite dark and isolated, but that is about it. I think the strangest story I have heard was from my friend who got followed by a guy in the North of Lund, fortunately nothing happened to her. I think it is important to remember that people live in most areas, so often there will be someone around to help you.
In the end, my home country played a major role in how I experienced Lund's safety. I felt much more comfortable in Lund than in Maastricht, where I would get approached by men or catcalled during my evening walks often. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the neighborhoods, but rather about the housing situation itself.
Bonus Tip: My strategy to prevent getting scammed
Even though I started early, my quest for a roof over my head was a rather rocky one. I had two online meetings with potential landlords. One very nice cat lady who unfortunately rejected my application (she was very nice though and gave me some more tips for finding housing). The second offer I rejected because the landlord told me on Zoom ''Oh by the way, there is no window and the room is in the basement''. I was not very picky but I did not plan to live like Harry Potter.
Anyways, eventually I found my room, which was rather cheap for Lund, 3600kr for 8 square meters and fully furnished (in the end, I lived like Harry Potter after all). The landlord told me that I could sign the contract the same day and it would be mine. However, I had my suspicions since it seemed too good to be true. Hence, I deployed the following strategy; I told him that I wanted the room, but asked him if I could talk to someone who lived in the house. My landlord added me to the housing Facebook group. In this group I messaged some of the people who lived in the house. Nothing too difficult like; ''Hej is the landlord nice'' or ''do you guys have a fridge''. As soon as I received replies I was quite sure that it was not a scam. Something which is also helpful is the fact that privacy in Sweden is a rare commodity. Everyone in Sweden who has a personal number has their adres and birthday published online, where you can see who lives on whatever adres. This website is Hitta.se which I recommend you to bookmark for your housing search. I searched the adres of the room and checked if the people who I talked to actually lived at the adres. Now, this is not always accurate as some people move out without informing the city hall, but often it can be helpful. Indeed, the people I talked to on Facebook were shown as inhabitants of the adres.
In sum
Start on time, be fast but not too fast, do your research, be realistic, bring a bike or think of another mode of transport. Getting rejections can be demotivating but the only trick is to keep applying and pushing forward. I rarely heard of people who had a room at their first try. I wish you the best and I hope you will have a wonderful time at Lund University or anywhere else in Sweden!
You can follow my studying and working abroad journey on Instagram
*I would like to clarify that this post is solely my personal experience and not associated with Lund University directly in any way.
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