3.1. Zürich Housing Situation
The standard of living in Switzerland is high and so are the infrastructures, however there is an acute shortage of affordable accommodation in Switzerland, especially in certain area of Zürich. Shortage of places to live is common throughout Switzerland. The vacancy rate for apartments and houses has fallen to 0,91% on average for the whole country and 0.9% for Zürich only. According to the Federal Office of Statistics, the two principal reasons are: population growth resulting from the arrival of multinational companies and a stagnation in new-build houses or apartments. Housing accounts for around 25 to 30% of the average family budget. Most families want to live close to their children’s school, while most singles or couples want to live close to their office or in a lively area. The cost will vary considerably depending on the construction year, size, facilities and location of the accommodation. When a vacant property is renovated, the new tenant can expect an increase in rent. Given the lack of available apartments, some tenants take advantage of the situation by subletting their apartment -furnished or not - at a higher price. The previous boundaries of the city of Zürich (before 1893) were more or less synonymous with the location of the old town. Two large expansions of the city limits occurred in 1893 and in 1934 when the city of Zürich merged with many surrounding municipalities, that had been growing increasingly together since the 19th century. Today, the city is divided into twelve districts (known as Kreis in German), numbered 1 to 12 :
• District 1, known as Altstadt, contains the old
town, both to the east and west of the start of the Limmat river.
• District 2 lies along the west side of Lake
Zurich, and contains the neighborhoods of Enge, Wollishofen and Leimbach.
• District 3, known as Wiedikon, is between
the Sihl river and the Uetliberg, and contains the neighborhoods of Alt-Wiedikon, Sihlfeld and Friesenberg.
• District 4, known as Aussersihl lies between the
Sihl and the train tracks leaving Zürich Hauptbahnhof.
• District 5, known as Industriequartier, is between
the Limmat and the train tracks leaving Zürich Hauptbahnhof, it contains the former industrial area of Zürich which has gone under a large scale rezoning to create upscale modern housing, retail and commercial real estate.
• District 6 is on the edge of the Zürichberg, a
hill overlooking the eastern part of the city. District 6 contains the neighborhoods of Oberstrass and Unterstrass.
• District 7 is on the edge of the Adlisberg hill as
well as the Zürichberg, on the eastern side of the city. District 7 contains the neighborhoods of Hottingen and Hirslanden.
• District 8, known as Riesbach, lies on the eastern
side of Lake Zurich.
• District 9 is between the Limmat to the north
and the Uetliberg to the south. It contains the neighborhoods Altstetten and Albisrieden.
• District 10 is to the east of the Limmat and to
the south of the Hönggerberg and Käferberg hills. District 10 contains the neighborhoods of Höngg and Wipkingen.
• District11isintheareanorthoftheHönggerberg
and Käferberg and between the Glatt valley and the Katzensee (Cat’s Lake). It contains the neighborhoods of Affoltern, Oerlikon and Seebach.
• District 12, known as Schwamendingen, is
located in the Glattal (Glatt valley) on the northern side of the Zürichberg.
3.2. Renting an accommodation
In Zürich, the number of rooms counted in an apartment description includes the living room and bedroom so a two-room apartment consists of the living room, bathroom, and one bedroom.
• Rental application - when applying for
accommodation, a series of documents will need to be submitted with the rental application :
- Salary attestation
- Passport or ID card
- Attestation of work/stay authorisation for non-
EU citizen
• Lease contract - issued for various duration
depending on the place, the landlord, etc. However most often leases are issue for an initial duration of 1 year renewable. More and more leases are issued for a fixed term and non- renewable period of one year. This being said, if all goes well during the tenancy the lease is most probably renewed.
• Cancellation notice – to cancel a lease contract,
tenants must give a 3-months advance notice for the quarterly terms, at the exception of December 31st.
• Liberatory clause - this clause entails that as of
the second year of rental, in the case of transfer out of the canton or Switzerland for professional reasons the lease can be cancelled with three months’ notice for the end of a month. Although Welcome Service will request it, it is not automatically granted.
• Deposit - the deposit or bank guarantee is
equivalent to up to three months of rent and must be established prior to the entrance inspection (see below). Cash or checks are not accepted; the money must be blocked on a special bank account in Switzerland during the entire length of the lease. Upon vacating the premises, and providing that the premises have not been deteriorated beyond ‘normal wear and tear’, the guarantee will be released. If the total amount of the guarantee is below CHF 20’000.- this can be taken care of by Swisscaution or Firstcaution, but you will need to receive the approval from the estate agency first. A yearly fee is due depending on the amount of the bank guarantee. More information on www.swisscaution.ch or www.firstcaution.ch
• Rent - Must be paid by the 1st of each month.
• Entrance inspection – Before moving into
your home, an entrance inspection is always completed in presence of the real estate agency. Welcome Service will be present during this formality and we highly recommend your presence as well. Entrance inspection is the base of the exit inspection.
• Civil liability insurance – see Chapter 5
• Home content insurance – see Chapter 5
• Garbage – Switzerland recycles a relatively high
proportion of household waste, so Swiss people sort their rubbish for recycling. The manner and timing of waste collection depends on where you live. Most buildings have a bin room located in the basement for taxed bags that you will purchase in the supermarket. Recycle station are available with special containers for compost, aluminium, batteries, standard garbage, glass, plastic, etc.
3.3. Some of your
responsibilities as a tenant
• Excessive wear & tear – You will be expected to
replace,repair or clean damaged,lost or soiled items.
• Holes in the wall – You are allowed to hang
up pictures on the walls but when leaving the apartment, the holes must be filled in. For this job, we recommend you to contact a painter.
• Damages caused by pets – You will be
responsible to repair any damages done by your pets.
• Maintenance of household appliances/
equipment.
• Repair of damage caused by leaking pipes (gas
or water), frost.
• Fireplace – The chimney must be swept once
a year. Usually the chimney sweeper will get in contact with you directly. Please keep in a safe place invoices as they will be requested at the exit inspection.
• Heating system – If the heating is an individual
system, a control must be done once a year. You may also be requested to subscribe to a yearly maintenance contract.
• Boiler – The boiler must be de-scaled once every
two years. It is usually done shortly before the exit inspection.
• Oil tank – You should check your oil level twice a
year and add fuel if necessary.
• Gutters, ditches and rain collectors – Due to
the fall of the leaves in autumn, you should clean the latter as they might be obstructed. You can do this yourself or contract the services of a gardener or handyman. This will have to be done before leaving the house.
• Pipes – Due to the low temperatures, the
external pipes may freeze in winter. You should therefore close the water supply and empty the pipes to prevent them from freezing. The tenant will be held responsible of any damage caused by freeze. Please note that some gardeners are willing to do that for you, so do not hesitate to ask them.
• Pipe works – The tenant must regularly clean
and bear the cost of cleaning the internal and external drains. Some landlords/agencies will request this to be performed for the exit inspection.
• Parasites, rodents, wasps, etc. – Inform your
lessor immediately of any problems. Your lessor will provide you with details of a specialist to deal with these problems, and will most probably supervise the interventions, to make sure that you are not responsible for these pests.
• Maintenance of the garden – Unless otherwise
stated in the lease contract, tenants are responsible for the maintenance of the garden. The landlord/agency will expect tenants to return it in the condition they received it. Responsibilities include: trimming of the hedges and small trees once a year, regular lawn mowing, fertilizing and scarifying if necessary, maintenance of the flower beds, regular watering of the lawn, flower beds and small trees, removal of all waste material from the property, cleaning of the terrace with a water blaster at least once a year. The lessor has the right to request that a professional takes care of the above mentioned, at the tenant’s charge, if the tenant has not done anything, despite warnings in writing.
• Swimming-pool – We recommend you to hire
a professional company to take care of the wintering and the reopening of the pool.
3.5. Price of electricity
• Electricity is usually at each tenant’s expense and
is billed based on the consumed kilowatt-hour (kWh)
• The price of the kilowatt-hour varies depending
on your home address and the amount of electricity used (appliances, cooking, heating, etc.). Price of electricity
3.4. Construction Standards
• Kitchen : usually fully equipped. In anything
from a studio to a three-room apartment, the kitchen is usually equipped or semi-equipped; fridge, cooker, or extractor fan. In new buildings, appliances are of very good quality but freezers may nevertheless still be very small. Kitchen are usually not equipped with microwave. Curtain rails are mostly present.
• Laundry facilities in apartment: sometimes
equipped with connection in order to install your personal appliance – installation must be done by a professional. In most buildings there is a common laundry-room with washer and dryer shared with rotas for tenant use.
• Laundry facilities in house : sometimes equipped
or not but there are always the connections.
• Lighting : apartments are handed over with bare
electrical wires which mean there is no obligation from the landlord to provide sockets or hooks.
• No curtain rails or curtains are provided but
shutters or blinds are installed.
• Parquet or tile floors for living areas.
• There are no fly or mosquito screens on windows.
• There is no air-conditioning installed.
• New apartments tend to have smaller bedrooms;
we recommend you to check before bringing your king-size bed.
• For new or renovated accommodations,
the possible establishment of a telephone connection is at the charge of the entering tenant.
