Websites for Housing Associations (BRF)
By CodexierPublished 6 min read
A bostadsrättsförening's website is not marketing. It is the place where a member finds the fault-report number at eleven at night, where a buyer reads the annual report before bidding, and where a broker collects the documents they would otherwise email the board for. Designed around those three jobs, the site saves the board hours every month. Designed as a brochure, it becomes one more thing nobody updates.
What members need to find
Start with what generates calls and emails to the board today. In most associations it is the same handful of things: who to call for a fault, how to book the laundry room, the rules for renovations and subletting, and where the latest information about a planned project is. Each belongs on the front page or one tap from it. A member using the site once a year should not have to learn a menu.
What brokers and buyers ask for
Brokers send the same document request to every association, and a buyer's lawyer or bank asks the same questions. Publishing the answers openly reduces board email and helps the value of every apartment, because uncertainty about a BRF's finances is what makes buyers cautious.
| Item | Why it is asked for | Publish openly? |
|---|---|---|
| Annual report, last two years | Debt per square metre, fee trend, maintenance | Yes, as PDF |
| Bylaws (stadgar) | Subletting, renovation and transfer rules | Yes |
| Fee and what it includes | Heating, water, broadband, cable TV | Yes, one clear paragraph |
| Maintenance plan and planned projects | Coming fee increases or disruption | Summary yes, full plan on request |
| Ownership of land (tomträtt or owned) | A large cost factor in some cities | Yes |
Keep the documents on a single page named for what it is, for example For buyers and brokers. Brokers will bookmark it.
Documents, minutes and privacy
The most common mistake on BRF sites is publishing too much. Board minutes are not public, not even to members, because they routinely contain matters about named individuals: arrears, disturbances, subletting applications. AGM minutes are a member document and belong behind a login. Anything with a member's name, apartment number or contact details is personal data under GDPR, and the association is the data controller.
- Public: annual reports, bylaws, fee information, house rules, contact routes, project information without names.
- Members only: AGM minutes, member directory if you keep one, booking systems, detailed project documents, quotes.
- Never on the site: board minutes, anything about an individual member, door codes, alarm details.
- Write a short privacy notice naming the association as controller, what member data the site stores and how long. Our website GDPR checklist covers the rest.
Fault reports and contact routes
A fault report at night should reach the right party immediately, not the chair's inbox. Most associations have a property manager with a fault-report line, an on-call number for emergencies, and a lift or boiler contractor with its own number. Put them on one page with a clear rule: what is an emergency, what waits until morning, and what the member pays for themselves. A short form for non-urgent faults, sent straight to the manager's system, removes the board as a middleman.
Emergency
Water leak, no heating in winter, lift stuck with a person inside, break-in. Phone number for the on-call service, shown first and large.
Non-urgent fault
Broken hallway lamp, laundry machine fault, door closer. A form with location, description and optional photo, delivered to the manager.
Board matters
Renovation permission, subletting, questions about the fee. An email address with a stated response time, for example within a week.
Low-effort updating for the board
Boards change every year. The site must survive a handover: a new secretary should be able to post a notice, replace the annual report and change a phone number in ten minutes without training. That means a simple editor, no page builder with forty options, and a one-page written routine stored with the board's other documents.
- One person owns the site per board year, named in the board's constituting minutes.
- A yearly checklist after the AGM: new board contacts, new annual report, new fee if changed, new AGM minutes behind login.
- Notices have a date and an author. Undated notices are what make a site look abandoned.
- Domain and hosting renew automatically on the association's card, not a board member's personal one.
This is the kind of site our business website package is built for: a fixed price, an editor the board can use, and the member area set up correctly from day one. Prices are on the pricing page.
When you do not need a new site
If your property manager already provides a member portal with fault reporting, bookings and document storage, a separate site may only need to be a public page pointing to it. If the association has under twenty apartments and the board talks to everyone in the stairwell, a one-page site with contacts and documents is enough. And if the real problem is that nobody on the board wants to update anything, a new site will not fix that; agree on the routine first. A short call is enough for us to say which of these you are.
Frequently asked questions
Can we publish board minutes on the website?
No. Board minutes are confidential and often contain information about individual members. AGM minutes are a member document: publish them behind a login, and keep them within reach of members within the period your bylaws and the housing cooperatives act require.
Does the accessibility law apply to a BRF website?
The Swedish law on accessibility to digital public service applies to public bodies, not to a private association. Building the site accessibly anyway is cheap and helps older members, so we do it as standard: readable contrast, keyboard navigation and text alternatives for images.
Do we need a login area at all?
Only if you publish member-only documents or run bookings on the site. Many small associations do well with a public site plus documents sent by email on request. Add the login when the board is tired of sending the same PDFs.
Want a BRF site the next board can run?
Bring your current site or your list of board emails to a short call. We tell you what the public part needs, what belongs behind a login, and what a fixed-price build would cost.
Book a free 15-minute call