When are you entitled to a rent reduction? Are you allowed to find a new tenant yourself and when does your landlady have to accept them? What's the duty of care all about? Anyone renting should know what their rights and obligations are.
In principle, no, but when the tenancy ends, you must repaint the light blue wall so that it's restored to the original color. Unless you have the landlord's written permission or the new tenant agrees to keep the new color.
No, the landlady cannot specify who can visit you and how long they can stay.
If there's a problem with toilet plumbing or your heating doesn't work, you're entitled to have a specialist sort it out. Pure renovations such as classic repainting are not included in an ongoing tenancy.
Subletting isn't actually prohibited, but the landlord or landlady must be informed about the arrangement and given the subtenant's details.
No, provided your girlfriend sticks to the terms of the tenancy agreement and general house rules.
You don't have to let your landlord or landlady know about when you are or aren't in your apartment. However, if there's any damage as a result of non-usage, such as lack of ventilation, the landlord or landlady can hold you responsible.
If you live in a rented home, Swiss law doesn't entitle you to a parking space equipped with a wall box – unless this is specified in your rental agreement.
If your landlord forbids it, you can't have a wall box installed at your own expense, either on your own or together with other tenants.
Under Article 260a of the Code of Obligations, modifications to a rented property are only permitted with the landlord's written consent.
If you have a charging station installed with your landlady's permission, she must compensate you for any increase in value when the rental agreement ends. We recommend agreeing the amount of compensation in writing before the charging station is installed.
If your landlady is prepared to pay for the wall box to be installed, this could entitle her to increase the rent because it constitutes an investment that increases the value of the property.
If several tenants want to get a shared wall box installed, they can share the cost. If any subsequent tenants want to use the charging station, it's fair for them to pay a share of the installation cost.
If snow clearance is one of your contractually agreed obligations, you must tell your landlord or landlady that you'll be away and find a solution together.
There's no general rule here. If construction defects result in extreme temperatures, you're allowed to ask for a rent reduction. There must also be a case-by-case analysis of what expectations are justified for a certain apartment.
Generally, if there is a defect in a rented property you're entitled to have it repaired. In your case, you can demand a reduction in your rent for the period during which you have notified your landlord of the issue but no repair has been carried out.
There are no hard and fast rules on how such a rent reduction is calculated. It always depends very much on the extent to which the defect curtails or impacts your use of the apartment. If the stove is used to heat the apartment then that would constitute a significant curtailment and you would thus have a relatively strong entitlement to a reduction in your rent. If this is not the case, however, and if the apartment has central heating, for example, the curtailment would be classified as minor and you would therefore not have a strong case for having the rent reduced.
Mold is a defect in a rental property. The landlord or landlady must arrange for a specialist to remove the mold at the property management's expense. If you can't contact the landlord or landlady in writing or by telephone, you must send a complaint to the responsible person by registered mail. If you still don't get a response, you can file a complaint with the relevant arbitration office.
As a tenant, you're obliged to treat the rental property with care and take other occupants of the building into consideration.
The following cases are examples of a breach of duty of care:
Important note: Duty of care relates to your own apartment and common areas such as stairs or laundry cellar.
Yes, mold counts as a defect and therefore entitles you to a rent reduction, in exactly the same way as correction of defects. If the landlord or landlady proves that the tenants are at fault, responsibility lies with the rental party.
You have the chance to contest the rent within the first 30 days of moving into your apartment. You can contest a rent rise with the arbitration office within 30 days of notification. If the reference interest rate falls during the tenancy, you can ask the landlord or landlady for a rent reduction. If the reduction is inadequate or the landlord doesn't give one at all, you can also contact the arbitration office.
If you choose to move out before the due date, you have to pay the rent until the end of the tenancy. If you find a new tenant before the tenancy legally ends, the rent doesn't have to be paid twice. Normally the new tenant pays the rent from the date on which they move in.
Yes you are. However, a certain level of building noise has to be tolerated in urban areas.
The external side of the balcony is not part of the rental apartment which means that you don't have sole right of use there: The landlord or landlady can insist that you remove the flag from the outside of the balcony.
As this also concerns the outside of the balcony, the ban is justified in this instance. However, if the flower boxes are placed on the inside of the balcony area, the landlord or landlady can only stop them being put up for practical reasons, e.g. because they're too heavy.
This is often specified in the general house rules, but this rule is legally disputed.
Yes, the stairwell doesn't belong to your personal rental property and is classified as an escape route under fire regulations. Use of the stairwell is usually specified in the house regulations.
The cost of maintaining and cleaning these facilities can be passed onto tenants, but the cost of any repairs must be met by the landlord or landlady.
No, a landlord can't stop anyone moving in with their partner, even if the tenancy agreement states that the apartment is only to be used by one person. You're not entitled to a new tenancy agreement for your boyfriend after he's moved in and the building manager can't arrange this either.
If the loft area belongs to the rented space under the tenancy agreement, you're entitled to use it.
Yes, landlords can ask for a rental deposit of up to a maximum of three months' rent for residential accommodation.
If you still owe the landlady money at the end of the tenancy, such as unpaid rent or the cost of tenant-related damage, the deposit can be used to settle these debts.
No, the landlord or landlady must give you all available keys. Unless you agree to this.
Essentially the landlord can carry out renovation or building work to the rental property, as long as this is reasonable for the tenant and the tenancy agreement has not been terminated. Whether renovation work is reasonable must be judged on an individual basis using objective criteria. Uninterrupted use of the rental property and simultaneous maintenance of it can lead to conflict. We advise you to seek a solution by talking to your landlord or landlady, such as postponing the renovation work.
Small repairs with material costs below CHF 150 that you can usually carry out yourself are classified as "minor maintenance". Examples of this would be replacing a shower hose, baking trays, light bulbs or bleeding the radiators.
As a tenant, you're entitled to have your apartment heated to at least 20 degrees in the winter. If this is not the case despite the heating being turned up to maximum, there's a fault and you can ask for it to be repaired.
Only if this is specified in the tenancy agreement. Otherwise this is the landlord's or landlady's responsibility and it'll be charged to tenants with the ancillary costs.
You don't have to pay for function checks or appliance servicing, unless this is mentioned in the tenancy agreement. However, this point is disputed. Electrical appliances are checked by an expert and this no longer comes under the above "minor maintenance" description. However, the obligations in the signed tenancy agreement are binding.
Yes, this is regarded as an increase in ancillary costs. Your landlady must notify you of this on a form. Within 30 days of receiving the form, you have the chance to appeal against the increase with the arbitration office.
Normally you don't need permission from your landlord or landlady if you want to have a few small pets such as a rabbit, hamster, guinea pig etc. You must obtain the building manager's permission to keep larger pets. It's irrelevant whether other tenants in the same property already keep pets or not.
Contact the Swiss & Tenants' Association for many more useful tips and answers.
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