Most guides flatten this into one line: "hemförsäkring needs a personnummer." That's not the whole picture, and the gap matters if you're the one trying to sign a lease this week. At least one major Swedish insurer states outright, on its own FAQ, that it cannot issue a policy to anyone who isn't folkbokförd and doesn't hold a personnummer. Others take a samordningsnummer instead. The rule isn't set by law — it's set insurer by insurer, and no single source lists all of them in one place.
This guide names what a samordningsnummer actually is per Skatteverket, which insurers are documented as accepting one, which one refuses, and what covers the gap while you wait. Everything here is sourced to Skatteverket, Konsumenternas, Hyresgästföreningen, and each insurer's own page.
This guide sits alongside the site's broader look at insurance in Sweden generally and covers the narrower gap before your own number exists.
Why Hemförsäkring Gets Tied to a Personnummer at All
Insurers use the personnummer, or a substitute number, to identify the policyholder and run their standard checks. What they'll accept from someone who doesn't have one yet is set by each company, not by law.
Konsumenternas.se's own newcomer guidance states this plainly: rules differ company to company, and the recommended move is to contact the insurer directly and ask whether a policy is possible without a personnummer, disclosing everyone who lives at the address and their identification status (live page, checked 2026-09-01). There's no government register of which insurers say yes.
Picture the situation most readers land here in: a landlord has offered a lease starting next week and wants proof of hemförsäkring before signing, and Skatteverket hasn't processed a personnummer or samordningsnummer yet. The first productive move isn't shopping for the cheapest policy — it's finding out which insurers will even open a file without a number in hand.
If the insurer accepts a samordningsnummer, the application usually proceeds close to normal, sometimes by phone rather than online. If it requires full folkbokföring, you're looking at a temporary gap-cover arrangement instead — covered further down.
What a Samordningsnummer Is, and What It Does Not Replace
A samordningsnummer is issued by Skatteverket to someone who is not, and has not previously been, folkbokförd in Sweden. Once folkbokföring does happen, Skatteverket replaces it with a personnummer (Skatteverket, "Samordningsnummer," live page, checked 2026-09-01).
It identifies you to authorities and companies, but it doesn't carry the rights that come bundled with folkbokföring. No automatic subsidized healthcare, no school place, no Skatteverket-issued ID card rides along with a samordningsnummer on its own. It's a number, not a registration status.
That distinction matters here because it explains why insurer policy splits the way it does in the next section. Some insurers treat the samordningsnummer as good enough to identify and check an applicant. Others have built their systems around folkbokföring status itself, not just a number, and a samordningsnummer doesn't unlock those systems.
Which Insurers Are Documented as Accepting a Samordningsnummer
Per Stockholm University's own relocation guidance for staff without a personnummer, Folksam and Trygg-Hansa both accept a samordningsnummer in place of a personnummer. Trygg-Hansa handles this by phone rather than through its online application (page updated 2026-06-18, checked 2026-09-01).
The same guidance lists Länsförsäkringar and Dina Försäkringar as contactable options, without confirming the exact mechanism either uses. Treat those two as "ask directly," not as a confirmed yes.
Hedvig sits at the other end. Its own FAQ states, in its own words, that it cannot issue a policy to someone who isn't folkbokförd in Sweden and doesn't hold a Swedish personnummer, because its systems depend on one (checked 2026-09-01). Hedvig does allow adding that person as a co-insured on someone else's existing policy instead — the workaround covered in the next section but one.
[Unverified] Whether If or ICA Försäkring accept samordningsnummer-only applicants couldn't be confirmed on either insurer's own site during this research; only a secondary university-relocation page names If as reachable by phone. Verify directly with the insurer before assuming a position either way.
These insurers are named here only for their stated eligibility rule — this isn't a ranking or a recommendation, and no price is quoted for any of them.
Why a Landlord May Still Require Proof of Hemförsäkring
Sweden has no law requiring a tenant to carry hemförsäkring, per Hyresgästföreningen's own guidance (checked 2026-09-01). But nothing stops a landlord from making it a condition of the lease, and that's usually the actual trigger for this search: a lease to sign, and a landlord requesting proof of cover before a personnummer exists.
That's the practical reason the personnummer gap matters at all. If nobody ever requested proof, the insurer-eligibility question would stay theoretical. Once a lease is on the table, it's the one document standing between you and moving in — which is why it's worth knowing, before you're mid-negotiation, which insurers will even talk to you yet. For the surrounding steps, see signing a lease in Sweden.
Covering the Gap Before You Have Your Own Policy
Being added as a co-insured on an existing hemförsäkring — a host family's or a partner's — is one documented route to cover before your own personnummer exists. Confirm directly with that policyholder's insurer, since not every insurer allows it.
Once you're folkbokförd, a personal, separate policy generally becomes necessary. That's typically the point where a shared or co-insured arrangement ends, and where it's worth applying again with your new personnummer rather than assuming the old arrangement continues indefinitely. The number itself, and what changes once you have one, is covered in personnummer, ID and BankID.
If a co-insurance arrangement isn't available to you — no host family, no partner with an existing policy — your remaining options are the insurers already named above as accepting a samordningsnummer, or a direct call to any insurer to check their specific policy for your situation. And if an application is refused and you think the refusal itself was handled unfairly, see disputing a rejected application.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you get hemförsäkring in Sweden without a personnummer? It depends on the insurer. Konsumenternas recommends contacting each one directly rather than assuming a single rule applies.
Does a samordningsnummer work instead of a personnummer for home insurance? For some insurers, yes. Folksam and Trygg-Hansa are documented as accepting one, per Stockholm University's relocation guidance. Hedvig states it cannot issue a policy without a full personnummer and folkbokföring.
Do Swedish landlords require proof of hemförsäkring before signing a lease? Not by law, per Hyresgästföreningen — but a landlord can still make it a condition of the lease.
What happens to a shared or co-insured policy once you get a personnummer? A personal, separate policy is generally needed once you're folkbokförd.
Insurer Policy on a Personnummer Varies — Confirm Before You Assume a Refusal
The personnummer requirement is set by each insurer, not by Swedish law. A samordningsnummer unlocks cover with some companies, Folksam and Trygg-Hansa among them, and not with others, Hedvig among them. A landlord's lease condition is the practical trigger most readers researching this are actually solving for. Co-insurance on someone else's policy is a documented gap-cover route, one that generally ends once folkbokföring gives you a personnummer of your own.
Before assuming which rule applies to you, check the identity-document chain against your own situation, and the lease context against the housing guide.
