Renting out your cabin in Sweden: how much you keep and what to sort out first

Up to 50,000 kronor a year, often tax-free

The tax rules for renting out a private residence in Sweden are unusually generous. Each year you may take a schablonavdrag — a standard deduction of 40,000 kronor — from your rental income. If you rent out a house (holiday homes count), you may additionally deduct 20 per cent of the rental income. Together that means you can take in 50,000 kronor in rent over a year without paying a single krona in tax.

Only when the rent exceeds the deductions is the surplus taxed, as capital income at 30 per cent. A worked example: rent out four summer weeks at 9,000 kronor each and the income is 36,000 kronor. That is below the standard deduction, so it is tax-free and does not even need to be declared. If you instead take in 80,000 kronor, you deduct 20 per cent (16,000) plus the standard deduction (40,000) and pay 30 per cent tax on the remaining 24,000, which comes to 7,200 kronor in tax. Left over: 72,800.

Two things to keep in mind: the deduction applies per property, not per owner, so co-owners share it. And the amounts can change; always check the current figures with Skatteverket, the Swedish Tax Agency, before you count your holiday money. This is a guide, not tax advice.

Set the right weekly rate: look at the neighbours

The most common beginner’s mistake is guessing the price. The rent for a cabin is driven almost entirely by three things: the location (lakefront plots and mountain proximity pay the most), the standard (a sauna, a dishwasher and proper beds show up directly in the price) and the week (Midsummer to mid-August, plus the winter sports school break and New Year in the mountains, are high season — often double the low-season price).

Do it like this: look up your own area and compare cabins of similar size and standard. On stuga.se you see listings from several Swedish rental sites side by side, with the price range for the whole region. It is, in effect, a free market analysis. Position yourself in the middle of the range for your first season; raise the price once you have reviews and returning guests.

So what lifts the price? Location, size and week, in that order. Putting a figure on a single feature is another matter: in our data, cabins with a sauna are advertised only a few per cent above those without, while cabins near fishing or a ski slope sit lower. That says more about where in the country they are than about what the sauna is worth. Compare with similar cabins in your own area, and treat the range above as the starting point.

Call your insurer before the first guest

A standard Swedish holiday-home policy is written on the assumption that you live in the house. What applies when a tenant stays there differs between insurers: most still cover fire, water and burglary damage during a rental, but damage caused by the guest themselves, or things a paying guest takes with them, is often not covered at all. A phone call to your insurer before the first rental costs nothing and can save you tens of thousands of kronor; some companies want the rental noted on the policy, others offer add-on cover specifically for rental damage.

This is also why a deposit is reasonable even between private individuals: a few thousand kronor, refunded after check-out, covers the gap the insurance leaves.

The contract: five lines that prevent every dispute

Between two private individuals there is no consumer protection that steps in if you fall out. The contract you write is what counts. It does not need to be complicated, but it should be in writing (email is enough) and answer five questions: who is renting (name and phone number), when (check-in and check-out dates), what it costs (rent, deposit, when and how it is paid), what is included (cleaning, bed linen, firewood, boat) and what happens on cancellation (how late, how much back). Villaägarna, the Swedish homeowners’ association, and Konsumentverket, the Swedish Consumer Agency, offer free contract templates if you would rather start from a ready-made one.

Checklist before handing over the key

1. 1Lock away the irreplaceable. Photo albums, heirlooms and expensive electronics belong in a locked storage room during the rental weeks. What is not in the house cannot get broken.
2. 2Write an inventory list. Photograph the rooms and list everything of value. In a dispute over damage, pictures from check-in day are your best evidence.
3. 3Check the fire safety. Working smoke alarms in every sleeping area, a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket in the kitchen. You are responsible for your guests staying safely.
4. 4Make a cabin binder. Water shut-off, fuse box, wifi password, rubbish collection, the rules for the sauna and the boat, plus phone numbers for you and for a neighbour who can step in.
5. 5Decide the cleaning standard. Vagueness around cleaning is the most common conflict. State in the contract whether the guest cleans themselves or pays for final cleaning, and what "cleaned" means.
6. 6Arrange the key handover. A key box with a code is easiest if you do not live nearby. Change the code between guests.

Where should you advertise? How the sites differ

There are more places to advertise than most owners realise, and they charge in completely different ways: a yearly fee for the listing, a commission only when the cabin is booked, or a cut for running the whole rental for you. Here are the main options, with what each site states on its own pages on 15 September 2026. Terms change, so check the current figures before you sign anything.

1. 1Stugknuten: commission only when you rent out. Listing is free. You pay 12 per cent commission when the cabin is actually booked, which covers payments, support and cabin insurance via Omocom. The rent lands in your account after checkout, and guests must message you first, so you approve every booking yourself. Sweden’s largest listing site for privately rented cabins.
2. 2Stugnet: free listing, you handle the rest. You advertise for free, with no commitment, and can remove the listing whenever you like. No commission is stated. In return you handle contact, contract and payment directly with the guest: the most control and the most work.
3. 3Stugsidan: low yearly fee. Six months free as a new advertiser, then 150 kronor a year. You can list up to four properties with eight photos each. Extra visibility costs 100 kronor a week on the front page and 120 kronor a week at the top of the county list.
4. 4Fritiden: yearly fee, no commission. A listing costs 380 kronor for a year and Fritiden takes no commission from you or the guest. Guests contact and book with you directly, so you handle contact, contract and payment yourself.
5. 5Svensk Stugförmedling: agency with fixed routines. They mediate the rental for you. A 150-kronor booking fee is added to the rent and paid by the guest, the minimum stay is seven nights, and the rent is paid in advance: 25 per cent deposit and the rest no later than six weeks before arrival. Guests do the final cleaning themselves.
6. 6Novasol and DanCenter: they do everything. The big agencies handle marketing, bookings, payment, support and damage insurance, and you are paid before the guest arrives. The least administration of all the options. What they take in commission is not stated on their site, so ask for that figure in writing first.
7. 7Landfolk: handpicked and design-led. Landfolk selects the homes, looking for personal interiors, a good location and hosts who reply quickly. You pay a 5 per cent host fee if you handle guest contact yourself, or 10 per cent if Landfolk does. Guests pay a fee on top, and insurance is included via If. Suits a house that photographs well.
8. 8Airbnb and Booking.com: widest reach, higher fee. Airbnb is moving all hosts to the host-only fee, usually 15.5 per cent, instead of the older split where the host paid 3 per cent and the guest the rest. Booking.com is free to join and handles payment, but does not print its commission when you register. The reach is the biggest here, and so is the fee.

The simplest way to choose: for control and the lowest cost, list directly with Stugknuten or Stugnet; to avoid the work entirely, use an agency; to reach foreign guests, add one of the big platforms. Many owners list the same cabin in several places and keep one calendar up to date.

The listing can then appear on stuga.se. We gather listings from Stugknuten, Stugnet, Stugsidan, Fritiden, Novasol, Landfolk, STF, Schwedenliebe and Svensk Stugförmedling into one and the same search and send the tenant straight to your listing — no fees, and without getting involved in the booking. Airbnb and Booking.com are not part of our search.