Buying a Swedish house near water? Flood excess can be SEK 30,000

July 12, 2026

Paper diorama of a house beside a rising stream, a rain cloud, sunshine and a giant magnifying glass, with "SKYFALL" in front. — Illustration: Bolån Radar

Folksam's flood excess is 10% of the damage, at least SEK 10,000. Water that seeps in through the foundation is usually not covered at all.

After a cloudburst ("skyfall"), the stream by your dream house in Sweden can end up in the basement, and the excess on SEK 300,000 of damage can be SEK 30,000. Check the flood risk before you bid. As the buyer you have a duty to inspect ("undersökningsplikt"), and your insurance does not cover every kind of water.

Where to find the maps

The flood portal. The Swedish Civil Defence Agency, called MSB until the turn of the year, publishes flood risk maps along Swedish lakes, rivers and coasts. They show several scenarios:

a flow expected once in 50 years in today's climate
flows expected once in 100 and 200 years in a future climate around 2100
the highest calculated flow, about a 10,000-year event

The portal also shows which municipalities have mapped cloudburst risk.

The municipality. Many municipalities have their own cloudburst maps that show where water collects in heavy rain. The agency advises you to ask the municipality about the risk where you plan to live.

The county administrative board. The boards produce flood hazard and risk maps. New maps for Stockholm County came out on 22 June 2026. They cover high water in Lake Mälaren and the Baltic, cloudbursts and three rivers: Bällstaån, Oxundaån and Tyresån.

Lantmäteriet. Its Min karta service has aerial photos and a tool that draws a height profile between two points. If the house sits lower than the road and the stream, that is where the water goes.

What house insurance covers

Konsumenternas, the consumer insurance bureau, describes where the line usually falls. House insurance ("villaförsäkring") pays when water flows in from the ground surface through a vent, door or window. It also pays when water rises indoors from the sewer. The cause has to be a cloudburst, snowmelt or a rising lake or stream.

Konsumenternas defines a cloudburst as at least 1 mm of rain a minute or 50 mm in a day.

These are usually not covered:

water that seeps in through the foundation or the drainage
damage to the garden and plot, if you only have the basic cover

The excess is often much higher than usual. In Folksam's terms from January 2026 it is 10% of the damage, at least SEK 10,000. On SEK 300,000 of damage, you pay SEK 30,000 yourself.

For pure backflow through a floor drain the excess is SEK 10,000, or SEK 5,000 if the house has a backflow valve ("backventil").

The duty to inspect is yours

Under the Land Code ("jordabalken"), you cannot claim for a defect you should have found in a reasonable inspection. What counts as reasonable depends on the house's condition, what similar houses are like and the circumstances of the sale. A stream ten metres from the house is hard to miss. So are damp stains in the basement.

The Swedish Consumer Agency points out that most pre-sale surveys do not cover the whole duty to inspect. If you see signs of damp, you may need a damp specialist.

Questions to ask the seller

Has there been water in the basement or on the plot?
Have you ever made an insurance claim for water damage?
Is there a backflow valve on the sewer pipe?
When was the drainage last replaced?
Does water stay on the plot after heavy rain?

Ask for the answers in writing. Then compare them with the maps and with what the surveyor finds. The viewing chapter of our real estate crash course lists more things to check when you look at a house.

Sources

This content is general information, not financial or legal advice. Bolån Radar collects data from banks and authorities and cannot guarantee that it is complete or free of errors. Talk to your bank or an adviser before you decide.

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