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4 juni 2024

Can my ex-husband demand payment from me even though I don't live in the apartment anymore?

Fråga

Hello! Let me write in English as my Svenska is bad. My ex husband and I lived together before but I left the apartment suddenly as he was abusive and really not good for me. As he was financially challenged and lost his job when I left, I have said that I will help him with the rent through email or text maybe but no written signed agreement. The apartment was under his name. Now after a year, he is demanding me to pay for the rent. I already changed my address for the period he was asking me to pay. Am I really legally obliged to pay?

Svar

Hello!
Thank you for choosing Lawline to be able to help you!

Your question is a bit tricky but it is regulated in Avtalslagen or the agreement law.

What regulations can be applied in your situation?
In your situation it follows clearly from your question that you are not on the rental agreement. Therefore the landlord cannot legally demand payment from you.
The question is whether you've established an agreement with your ex-husband through your text/email or not. From your question it appears that it has been a whole year since you wrote that text/email to your ex-husband. It also appears that you didn't set a deadline for when that offer had to be accepted. Therefore, according to the agreement laws 1 chapter 3§ (1 kapitlet 3§ avtalslagen), your offer to pay for your ex-husband's rent must be accepted within a reasonable time. What is a reasonable time according to the law? Well that depends on a lot of things such as how your text or email was written etc. but one year is not a reasonable time according to me.

What does that mean to you?
Since you are not on the rental agreement and your ex-husband hasn't accepted your offer to pay rent for over a year it appears clear to me that you're not legally obliged to pay any sort of rent to your ex-husband as an agreement hasn't been established.

If you need any more help don't hesitate to contact one of our lawyers! You can contact them at https://lawline.se/boka.

I hope your question got a satisfying answer. If not do not hesitate to ask follow up questions or another new question.

Kind regards,