What to do when changing apartments

30.03.2020

When changing apartments, questions about giving notice and the apartment handover naturally arise. Find answers to these questions here.

by Gergina Hristova

Depending on the region of Switzerland, the regulations for apartments vary concerning termination periods and dates. The legally proscribed termination notice is a minimum of three months. A common fallacy is that one can give notice on an apartment at the end of any month. However, in every case, the termination date and period stated in the contract is the valid date.

In some regions, for example, Zurich, there are only two official termination dates per year: 1 April and 1 October. An early removal can be expensive, because the tenant must fulfill the contract and pay the rent until the official termination date.

Provide replacement tenant

However, an exception is provided for in the law: A tenant can be released from his contract outside the proper termination dates if he provides a reasonable, in other words, solvent, replacement tenant. As a rule, it is sufficient to find one solvent interested person who wants to take over the apartment on the desired date and under the current contractual conditions.

Reasonableness of the replacement tenant

In order to be sure of finding a reasonable tenant, one should give the names of several potential tenants. This is because opinions vary on whether a replacement tenant is reasonable or not. Basically, reasonableness is based on whether the replacement tenant can actually pay the rent. In general, the rent price should not be more than a third of the income. A statement from the Debt Collection Office can be helpful as proof of reliability.

Another important criteria is the readiness of the new tenant to take over the contract at the present conditions. This holds not only for the rent, but for other agreements as well.

Changing apartments