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Gunilla and Gunnar Skoglund offer creamed coffee in the kitchen of the million-program house in East Södermalm, which is warm thanks to an additional heating element. The couple have four additional heat sources to ensure the three-bedroom apartment stays in just over 20 degrees year-round, all day long.
– We have several elements to endure. It goes on the electricity bill, so we are the ones who have to pay, because the housing company is tight, says Gunilla Skoglund.
Both she and her husband She has been involved in society throughout her life, she as a sociologist and he as a Social Democratic councilor. But in recent years, it has been mostly about the heat. It began in 2009 with a trunk change in the Fikonet neighborhood when the elements stopped providing continuous heat and instead turned on and off at intervals. Most of it, according to the couple.
– We have been complaining about the heat for ten years. I can’t freeze another winter. We have a pandemic and people work from home. Why should we freeze? We should warm up as needed, says Gunilla Skoglund.
Read more: Housing disputes increase during pandemic: “You have nowhere to go”
In 2014, the couple reported Skoglund Svenska bostäder to the police for causing a health hazard.
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
DN is not the first publisher to drink coffee in the couple’s kitchen. Gunilla Skoglund, who has turned 85, continually writes presentations and has folders full of documents and complaints to the housing company Svenska bostäder, the tenant association, the environmental administration, politicians and the Public Health Agency.
– The mantra of the Swedish house is to ask “what temperature are you? Even though they find us living in rag socks, double-legged clothing, and a down vest on the stairs. We no longer say what temperature we are, it does not matter, we are freezing, says Gunilla Skoglund.
She calls the company acting for measurement exercises and has also contacted the Public Health Agency to question the instructions for temperature measurement.
– You measure in the middle of the room and one meter from the floor. But if the floors are cold, it cools down quickly. Freezing the feet freezes the whole body, says Gunilla Skoglund.
As recently as yesterday, she and her husband reported that the heat was gone. The long and infected dispute means the housing company is now pulling out only if three neighbors complain.
– It took three angry calls. Now it says in the note that if you are on duty and they leave and it is not too cold, you have to pay a fine of 1,200 SEK. They have no right to that. They also claim that only we are the ones complaining, even though the housing survey shows that 60 percent of the length of our home is dissatisfied with the heat, says Gunnar Skoglund.
Already in 2014 he reported to the police the Swedish housing couple for causing health risks. According to the investigation of the environmental administration at that time, there was a risk of discomfort, not because of the temperature, but because of the draft from the windows.
Back in 2015, the company promised window replacements on the worn-out million program, but the drafty windows remain.
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
The housing company promised a window replacement in 2015, but it never materialized. The Skoglund couple shows their taped windows with cracked frames. They have had to change bedrooms due to cold drafts from the balcony that dampen the bedding. The balcony wall is a masonite slab that they themselves cover with a felt cloth.
The goal of Swedish homes is to maintain between 20 and 21 degrees of temperature in their homes. The lower limit is set to comply with the recommendation of the Swedish Public Health Agency, the upper one for environmental reasons.
– They allege environmental reasons to keep the temperature low. But district heating in Stockholm is completely fossil-free. It’s the pure and clear interest in earnings that makes them skimp in the heat, says Gunilla Skoglund.
According to Svenska bostäder The apartment maintains the stipulated heat.
– We have not delivered less heat than we should. We have measured and measured it in many rounds. So you can experience it in different ways, like features, says Stefan Mattsson, district manager in the city center.
According to the housing survey, are 60 percent unhappy with the heat?
– Yes, that’s why we will do an in-depth analysis of the whole house, but we cannot turn up the heating in one apartment. It is different in a category of senior housing, then you can turn up the heat throughout the house. But it is a challenge now with an aging population.
Did you also promise a window replacement?
– We change when they are bad, but we have checked and there is nothing wrong with the windows. It is a great investment but also an environmental problem.
Why don’t you add more elements, or pay for the electricity it costs with extra heat?
– This is another question that I cannot answer with open arms. But we cannot insert elements everywhere, today you put sources of heat in bathrooms but it was not done in the sixties. It costs a lot to get a new one out if it doesn’t exist, says Stefan Mattsson.
Drafts and cold drafts from windows and balconies cause the couple to have switched bedrooms to avoid freezing at night.
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
The Stockholm Tenants Association It has driven the heating problems of the Fikonets neighborhood over the years. Assesses that it is difficult to go ahead with the case in the rental court, which strictly follows the 20 degree minimum rental law. Then the couple must stand up to measure the temperature for several weeks and turn off all the additional items, which they do not say they can do for health reasons.
– If we are going to prosecute him legally in rental court, we must have good evidence. You can also run it through the environmental office, but it’s difficult when you don’t want to take measurements. If they can get more neighbors to file complaints in the form of a protest list, it would be easier for us, says Zeljko Kranjec, director of the legal unit.
The tenant association still believes that it is the duty of the housing company to try to solve the problem.
– I think that Svenska bostäder should listen to its tenants, especially those who are older and belong to a more sensitive group and try to raise the temperature. They should be more sensitive to the experience of tenants, they do not run their business for ten years to argue, says Zeljko Kranjec.
