Hi all,
I am starting to apply for various apartments/studios/flat sharing stuff that I found on the net. I found landlords/agencies very responsive and fast.

For now I did get few replies, some of them sent me application to apply for the flat, some of them said that I need to send someone (co-worker, friend, ..) to visit the apartment so they can handle the application form to me, others just responded 'not possible sorry', ...
I did apply for some of the apartments, but it's hard to arrange visits - I would like to visit more than one flat when/if I visit Switzerland of course. It's hard to just 'blindly' accept a rent.

I see two problems:
- I want to rent it with 2nd half of December (ideally last week of it), latest 1st of January (the 'official renting date' is as I've read 1st of March)
- I am searching In Wollerau, Pfaffikon, Lachen, Siebnen... SZ kanton, which is very though market because of taxes

Do any of you have any experience with renting the flat in such a way? How did you proceed with the rental (firstly application, then visit to CH, wait for their approval, visit again, sign the contract, ...??)?

I was thinking maybe it would be wise firstly to find some cheaper small studio or flat sharing (does anyone here has any room he'd like to rent? ) because my GF will join me only after few months and I don't need much space. In the meantime I could easier find an apartment to move in on 'official date - 1st of March'.

If anyone can share 1st hand experience I promise to buy her/him a beer when we meet in Switzerland

Regards,
Jure

Be careful that your posts don't turn into hidden advertisements. The exact details of the object you are searching for is not relevant to the proceedure for searching.

Check out the sticky at the top of this forum. There are tips in there.

Thanks for your remark Longbyt.

Sadly I'm very fresh at the forum and could not edit my own posts so I gladly ask everybody to ignore the numbers/names in the above posts - they were just used to point out two problematic facts.


Regards, Jure

Hey Jure,

I am pretty much in your situation... just a little more advanced in the process.
I am renting a flat for 6 months and I am not going there before the move in date. Here's my experience.

I answer to this announcement. We exchange a few emails, they show us pics.
One day we talk on Skype, we get to see each other and we also get to see a bit the place via their webcam. Later I ask a friend of mine to go and see the place (probably I would have rented the place even if there was no friend to go and take a look).
They asked for a letter of recommendation from previous landlord and my future job contract. They did not care much about the former but they had to show the letter to the landlord (it is actually a temporal sublease). However, they do wanted to see the contract.

Finally, they send us the contract for the sublease and one more contract to open a Mietekonto. We sign and send back everything. We also wire transfer the first and last month of rent. They acknowledge the receipt of the money. Now we are waiting to move in...

It was all pretty smooth and I guess we all had a good impression about each other. Anyway, I cannot guarantee 100% that they will not run away with my money...

So, if you ask if it is possible to rent a flat for a few months without being on-site, I would say "yes". Of course, you take some risk.
On a side note, I have rent two times a room in a shared flat in Zurich (without going to Zurich before the move-in date) and it was great both times!