Thursday, December 02, 2010

Save money on your rent

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren

There's something your landlord probably isn't going to tell you.

The interest rates have fallen in Switzerland and therefore many renters are entitled to a rent decrease. The catch? Unlike rent increases (which have happened to us once already over the last four years) rent decreases don't typically happen automatically (unless you have a really nice landlord).

Please do not let language issues get in the way of your rightful savings like I have been guilty of doing in the past. Here are the basics about what you need to do:

1) Check your lease to see what the national reference rate that your current rent is based from (Hypothekarzinssatz). Our lease, from 2006, shows a rate of 3%, which was later raised in 2008 to 3.5%, which increased our rent a lovely SFr 150/month. The rate has just been lowered to 2.75%, so we should (fingers crossed) be entitled to a nice rent decrease.

2) To qualify for your decrease, you must send a letter by registered mail to the people you rent from. But don't worry, the letter is already written for you. You just need to download it and fill in the blanks. To download your letter, click here. As I understand it, you must send this letter within 30 days and every person listed on your lease must sign it. You can visit the renter's association website for more information by clicking here, where you'll also find the letter available in a Word document.

Here's to trying to save money in Switzerland! Good luck. And if anyone has information on where to find these letters in French, please let me know so I can add the links to help our friends on the other side of the roesti ditch.

Has anyone had success with rent reduction in Switzerland? Please share.

16 comments:

Caitie said...

Now that's what I call a tip!

Chantal said...

Glad I could help.

M'dame Jo said...

For the French part, people should refer to http://asloca.ch/

Chantal said...

Thanks, M'dame Jo.

Anonymous said...

My landlord lowered our rent immediately when interest rates went down. That was years ago.

Chantal said...

That's lucky. I got a letter from my landlord today, thinking maybe they were going to do just that, but no, it was just an 1900 SFr heating bill. Talk about a let down.

Jelica said...

Is that some kind of Swiss peculiarity to tie the rents with the interest rates? I have never heard of that in Central/Southern Europe, or even U.K.

Chantal said...

I'm no expert on the rest of Europe, but yes, from what I know, rents in Switzerland are tied to interest rates. They state the interest rate in your lease.

Anonymous said...

guess what ?! i've got my letter ready to go to the post office ! are your fingers still crossed - or did it work ? ;) time to cross mine now...

this post is incredibly helpful. many, many thanks from me and olivier. hope you are well chantal, and enjoying the holiday season ! hope to see you soon - in 2011 !!

Chantal said...

Hi Kerrin,
Hope it works out for you and hope to see you next year. We got a letter saying they received our letter but are still waiting on the actual reply. Cross your fingers! And good luck to you too!

Chantal said...

Success! Our rent was lowered CHF 151 a month starting in April. I hope you also get a decrease!

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I am glad to find your impressive way of writing the post. Now it become easy for me to understand and implement the concept.Your art is inspiring. You're truly original

Foresque Residences said...

Wow thanks for sharing this post Chantal. I wonder if this is also also applicable with other countries like for example in Singapore? Anyway, this post is extremely helpful and I appreciate it! Hope to read more from you :)

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