Hello

I have a friend who was renting a room in Echallens. now she found one in Lausanne closer to EPFL where we are studying and she wants to move out from Echallens. The woman who rented the room said she is not willing to give her deposit back unless she gets another one in her place. Though there was no contract signed, no way my friend could know this in advance. Is this valid even without a contract? I know this is the way things work here, but usually with a contract. or not?

Thanks for any guidance.

all the best.

There must have been some agreement as to how long your friend would stay, it seems a quite reasonable request.

There was no agreement. They never discussed anything about the time she had to be there. That´s why she was not aware.
What I see in her favor, is that there was no contract signed to establish the rules. However, I do not know if she could defend herself like that. Or to whom she can ask

I doubt it, she paid a deposit for something, there was clearly an agreement to live there & not just staying 1 night.

I keep asking her that and she insists that they never agreed in a certain period of time. The woman only asked for a secure deposit of 1000 CHF and that didn't sound unfamiliar to my friend. So she gave it, but the woman never said she must stay 1 year or anything related to that.

1000 CHF as a deposit sounds like a commitment to me, finding a replacement cant be that difficult. I think your friend has selective amnesia.