It can take as long as 6 months or more to get some of your deposit back. Having moved out in Sept 09 I still haven't settled. I will next weel though. I had a whopping 3600 in deductions some of which I agrued about unsuccessfully. I decided life was just too short and in the end the agent probably had the law on his side. This was after taking advice from the Mieterverband.

As for the 'advice' offered by Ittigen, follow that at your peril. He makes it sound like the landlord would face hardship by your non payment of the rent. The reality is that CHF 10,000 is small beer to most landlords who will embrace the opportunity of taking you to court knowing that the deposit money will cover court costs WHEN you lose.