Hi,
I have searched the forum for this, but there seems to be contradictory information.

One of the very informative threads on what documents to have handy for applying for a place mentions "7. the same documents for anyone you will be living/ sharing with"
None of the other threads mention this, however, so I thought I'd ask

I will be the sole earner in the family, and the one signing the contract (I guess). Do I really need to provide my wife's (and daughters!) permits, passports, debt checks, etc.??

many thanks
J.

If you are married, your wife will also have to sign.

Tom

We just rented a place in Zurich. Hubby (who is in the U.S.) had to sign the lease and fax it back. I did not have to provide any papers, passport, resident permit or no-debt document for him.

We rented from a private landlord who was not terribly fussy. But, even applying for places run by property management companies, I was not asked for any documents regarding dh.

thanks a lot both!

Signing the lease won't be an issue, it's the apartment-hunt period that I was worried about, and the wife not being able to be here all the time and in all apartment visits (assuming I'll be allowed to check out apartments on my own....)

J.

I was never asked for any documents for myself either. We provided everything for my husband as he is the sole breadwinner and I just signed the lease. I visited some of the places but not all of them as we weren't living here at the time. OH did a few preliminary visits on his own and I only visited the interesting places when we came for our house search visit.

We were looking in Neuchatel though nwhere there is less competition for properties.

It depends on the agency. Some ask for an office de poursuites letter for both of us some don't.

It's at their discretion.

If the wife isn't resident here yet can she get a letter from the office de Poursuites?

When I applied for the one I'm currently living in I only provided my details. I then got a phone call from the agency asking why I needed such a big apartment for myself (you've visited my apartment so you can imagine how I was holding back laughter at that point). I told them my wife will be joining me in a few months and they said okay when she comes phone us and we will add her.

For Stephen_NE's flat the agency insisted on two attestations...it was ultimately why we never got the apartment due to that other issue if you remember.

I'm not sure they'd be able to issue a poursuites attestation without a person being resident and having a permit, I think you need to give the permit (and 17CHF ) in order to recieve the attestation.

When I moved to my new appartment both me and my trailling spouse, still living at the time in Germany, had to provide copies of our permits and sign the contract, though they accepted that he could sign later on, when he arrived to Switzerland.

On the "large appartment" laugh, recently after I moved, I wanted to open a can of mushrooms. Since Switzerland has yet to find out the wonders of what a can with a clip is, I had to go to my downstairs neighbours and ask in Portutalian for a can opener. With the can opener came the repreensive "You are living ALL ALONE in such a big apartment?".

I had to hold myself from trying to open the can on her face.

My apartment is total 61m2. My parents house in Scotland had rooms bigger than that

Ok, mine is slightly bigger... It's 72m2! OMG!

A "small" apartment back home is around 100m2...

My 2nd sleeping room, under Portuguese construction norms, would NEVER be accepted as a sleeping room since it's under 9m2.

So hurray for Swiss construction!

I guess that depends where. I don't know anyone in Lisbon who has a 100m2 apartment. Or maybe everyone you know is much richer than everyone I know.



To the OP, it seems to vary by agency. I was also never asked for my papers. Start by giving them just yours and that "your wife & daughter will follow" and see if they persist.

Lisboa is know for being as tough with home finding as Zürich, price and space wise But even in Porto, the 2nd biggest city in the country, a new T0 (a 1,5 apartment) is usually around 60-80m2

I even had a little table in the University for minimum "accepted" areas for regular homes. I only remember the T3 because that's the one I mostly had to use (that's a... huh... 4 room apartment?), which should be at least 120m2. And don't even get me started with the apartment height! hihihihihi

Different worlds One has to get used to it, specially when your work is projecting new homes lol!