Before I start rambling, I want to thank you all for your warm words, support and encouragement on my upcoming move to London – you made my day! :)
Even though I’m generalizing for Switzerland in the title of this post, the housing shortage is really a problem for cantons Geneva, Zurich and Vaud – where I’m currently living.
Apartment searching in Switzerland is a full time job.
When I first got here, I spent 9 months in a 20m2 furnished studio provided by my company. Once it was decided that I was going to stay in Switzerland after my one-year training, I started my apartment search. I had been warned about Switzerland’s high prices, but what nobody had told be is about the scarcity of available apartments (at least for those under 4,000 CHF a month – that is, 3,200 euro)! Available apartments are usually gone after 4-5 days of announcing online.
No wonder! After all, for every 1,000 apartments in Canton Geneva, only 2 are available on the market (seriously, 0.2%! crazy, right?). Canton Vaud (where I live) is the second most demanded one, because it’s next to Geneva and, oh well, because its simply beautiful.
The agency or current tenants will offer you to visit it in a 2 hour time frame (often at not-quite-suitable hours for full-time office workers), together with 70-80 other applicants. If you like it, you’ll leave your brochure with 3 bank extracts that state your monthly salary, a recommendation letter from your employer, the attestation de non-poursuite (a paper verifying that you do not have any outstanding debt in the country) and a copy of your work permit and passport.
The agency then will examine the hundreds of applicants and will usually first choose those who have been recommended internally, are swiss and have a salary that is more than 3 times the price of the apartment. That is – If you’re a foreigner on an entry-level position and no link to the swiss real estate sector, you’re screwed.
It took me 4 months, more than 30 visits and around 20 full applications to get the apartment I’m now living in. Sure, I’m probably paying more than any swiss would do for a studio – but I’m quite picky, too, and had fallen in love with it the moment I stepped in (and now never want to leave!)
A highly regulated market
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to take my apartment with me to London – so, hoping to inform the agency soon enough of my departure, I sent in my letter to request the contract termination for the end of august. To my surprise, I got back an e-mail stating that they can not accept my request, since I should have made it 3 months before the end of the one-year revolving contract – in March! Basically, I would have had to send a contract termination in March 2011 even if I was leaving in February 2012 – which I find ridiculous. Which expat knows where he or she is going to be in one year time?
After doing some research, I found that swiss law dictates that, if a tenant wants to leave his or her apartment in the middle of a contractual year (in my case – September), he has to provide the agency with one suitable candidate to take over his or her place in order to be free to leave. Sounds good, but, how do you define a suitable candidate? what’s suitable for me may not be suitable enough for the agency!
What if I find 1-3 people and they decline them all?
Well, turns out that, as long as the candidate has a salary that is 3 times the price of the apartment and is trustworthy, its an acceptable candidate. That is, if I send them the application of one candidate that meets this criteria, I should be freed from my contract. If you’re in a similar situation, and want to make sure that the agency doesn’t fool around with you, I’d recommend to register at ASLOCA – a renter protection agency that fights against real estate agencies that try to squeeze the last cent out of your pocket.
I’m currently on the search of this special candidate and, so far, things are going quite well – I published the apartment on Homegate less than 24 hours ago and already have 3 people asking for it, of which one already came for a view and fell in love almost the same way I did. Now I only hope that the agency finds him suitable.
There had to be an advantage for the scarce living space in this canton!
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s absolutely INSANE. I did not know about this problem in Switzerland! I hope it all gets worked out. PS. I also have “Pardon my French”. It’s great!
Brenna [fabuleuxdestin] recently posted..a preview to my new favorite city in france
I never imagined Switzerland having a housing shortage neither – I mean, isn’t it all about efficiency and all that? Having so many international companies moving to Switzerland, with thousands of workers, many expats from all over the World… it just can’t be that difficult to find a place to sleep!
Wow I had NO idea it was that tough and expensive! That is crazy. Hopefully London isn’t as bad.
Debbie Beardsley @ European Travelista recently posted..Unique & Traditional Appenzellerland
Unfortunately… I think London will be almost as bad (or maybe worse – in terms of price!). I mean, obviously there are apartments for much less than the 4,000 CHF here – but you’ve got to search day and night and once you found one, fight for it!
Wow, it sounds like a major challenge! Glad you found one that you were happy to live in:)
Yes! It took a while… but I guess its just a matter of not giving up!
How crazy! Only in Switzerland would they demand ALL of your bank account details :) I know that apartment hunting in France is completely different to the U.S.–my parents were thinking about purchasing an apartment in Nice and didn’t because of the insane red tape, etc. Plus, in America, kitchen and bathroom fittings are standard–not so in France! Lots of culture shock.
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I had heard about the kitchen and bathroom fittings in France! Actually, I’ve seen it in Switzerland too – some announcements say “kitchen” but the only thing they have is a room intended to be the kitchen…
Reading your post I was laughing, nodding my head and shaking it in the same time in disbelief. When we moved to Switzerland we only found an apartment short term on the countryside, 15 km from Bern. Since then we made several attempts to move to Bern, but always failed. If you do not want to spent over 2.500 CHF per month you are facing severe competition and somehow being two Germans and all that did not really help. :)
I can really relate to that! – When I searched for an apartment last year, everything I used to find was outside Lausanne… in small villages, some of which did not even have a supermarket! For living in the center, you really need to double the price (at least!)
How crazy! In the Bay Area, california the rule differs depending on the city. I know San Francisco is also a tough place to find an apartment with hundreds of applicants competing for one place. Glad to hear you find one and good luck trying to leave it :)
jill – Jack and Jill Travel The World recently posted..Beautiful Valle de Cocora – A Photo Collection
That’s terrible… another 100 candidates! When I went to these apartments with 80 other candidates, I felt like in a mass assessment center for my dream job. Glad to know that Switzerland is not the only place with such high competition!
OH my word!!! that rent is soooo expensive!! If I convert my SA rands to Euros I pay 670 euro a month for my rent and I have a ground floor apartment, with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a lounge kitchen and courtyard. And a small garden! OH my word and Ive been complaining about my rent haha
granted the view is very different and switzerland is a great place to live but sheesh you basically live for rent.
Thanks for sharing! the balcony view is awesome though! :)
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Wow… yes, that’s comparatively very cheap! But I guess it’s also adjusted to the salaries in the country…?
This is seriously crazy, I have never heard of anything like this!
There are a lot of things that are all about red tape here in Italy (including visas and stay permits) but it doesn’t seem that difficult to rent an apartment! The issue I have heard is that is is difficult to find a landlord that will allow you to claim residency at that apartment. I assume that has something to do with taxes, etc.
I hope your tenant works out!
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I could think Italy is somewhat like Spain when it comes to rent… first comes, first serves!
It’s exactly the same in France, especially in Paris and other major cities! First, there is a similar shortage. Second, the requirements for tenants are crazy: at least three times the rent, a huge “caution” (deposit), guarantors etc. Basically, you carry a huge binder with all of your information and give that to every landlord, hoping to be the chosen one. Even tiny studios with bathrooms in the hallway can be as much as 500 euro/ month! And an appartment is about 1,000 euro.
Things are much easier in Canada, well outside of Vancouver and Toronto where real estate is expensive.
I had heard crazy stories about apartment search in Paris… quite similar ones to my experiences in Switzerland! Going apartment hunting with a thick binder or “dossier” that basically carries your life in figures. Worst of all, there were so many agencies that just never returned my application! The swiss seem to be very trustworthy on this… but it freaks me out to think how many people already know where I work, what I do and how much I earn.
You know, its incredible- I can be very aware of cultural differences in some areas, but I never even had considered other housing markets before. It was not even on my radar! In the part of the US I live in, its extremely easy to find affordable housing (for a city, anyway. I know that outside the city it is way cheaper). I’ve found places withing 2-3 days of looking the last several times I looked. Good luck!
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That’s always the case when its easy to move I guess. For me, since I moved into my own apartment in Germany during my last year of university, I’ve always had some kind of issue with the landlord, real estate agency, the market, requirements, deposits… I could almost do a country study on this! hehe
I’d heard Geneva was expensive but My Gawd! Unfortunately I think London is just as hard to find something affordable, particularly lately with no one able to get a mortgage. Rents have been going up by 20-25% a year! The thing I do like about London though is that you can find something in a short amount of time and the laws favor the tenants. Try gumtree, but watch out for scammers! You will need to have a bank account but being a foreigner won’t hurt you here (at least in the housing market). Good luck!
lifebeginsat30ty recently posted..
I do live in a small apartment in Rotterdam, but my rent is like 10 times less then what you pay :) 3200 euro’s a month is completely insane, never knew Geneva was that crazy when it came to renting apartments.
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Apartment searching is bad enough without all that madness! I am an expat in Buenos Aires and it´s the same deal for rent prices- ex pats pay in dollars instead of pesos and the rent is WAY higher. I am excited that by the time my lease is up I will have my Argentine Residency and official government ID so I won´t get screwed quite as badly.
In the US I have heard of the whole suitable applicant thing. When I left the states I had to leave my lease a few months early. My options were to pay all the rent or find someone to replace me and lose my deposit. It was annoying, I had to show the apartment myself! I did find someone though, but I lost about $500 in deposit money.
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Wow that is crazy, I think I had to show a pay stub in Canada to show I was working and at the time I thought that was crazy.
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