Hi, this may be a silly question but are you allowed to keep mountain bikes inside rented flats in Zurich (i.e. do the landlords tend to let you?). We (2 of us) are soon moving to Zurich for work and (assuming we can actually find somewhere to live) want to bring a commuter bike, a road bike and a mountain bike each. A garage would be ideal but it seems we may not have much choice as demand for flats seems so crazy. With so many rules etc, what is the deal with keeping bikes inside flats - there are lots of bikes in Zurich so people must keep them somewhere! We would obviously only bring clean bikes into the flat.
Thanks!

Welcome to the forum. Some properties have a common area to store the bikes under lock and key, others do not.

Tough one - must say if I had a flat to rent, my answer would be a big NO, sorry. Handle bars and pedals are bound to mark the walls, etc. 6 bikes in the hallway of a flat is just not on, is it?

I don't see why not. You're renting the flat; it's therefore yours to do what you want with it, within the law and any specific regulations on your contract.

So what if you damage the walls? Whether you did it, a pram did it, a child did it, or a drunk friend did it ... you'll need to pay (or claim off insurance) to sort it out.

Thanks for the replies, and thank you for the welcome! Having kept bikes in flats before we are VERY careful not to mark the walls, but yes scuff marks can happen, as they can with prams, exited kids with pens, moving furniture, etc. as you said Adrian! I assumed that the tenant has to repaint or pay for repainting anyway when leaving. So, anybody with mountain bikes out there - where do you keep them? Good to know some places have common areas to store locked bikes though, perfect for commuter bikes. I would be nervous about keeping expensive road bikes and mountain bikes in a communal area though, even in switzerland! Maybe we should look even further out of town to see if the properties are bigger (currently looking Horgen/Thalwil way).
Thanks guys!

Anecdotal experience tells me that communal bike storage areas are safe and secure ONLY IF you lock your bike with a good lock. Usually you can't lock it to anything, but that seems to be OK.

Of course, if you have many bikes, locking them to each other is a neat solution.

The problem you'll have is a lack of space in many communal areas; plus if it's a really really nice bike you might be annoyed if someone scratches it getting their bike out.

Actually, so you should be. Bike theft is one thing I'm sorry to say is "somewhat" more common in CH than other thefts especially if it is something nice....

Cellar is the place where you can put your bike (I would put a lock on it anyway)
And if you don't live at the ground floor, you can keep your bike on the balcony.

Thanks! Yeah a cellar or balcony would be great. I thought maybe there might be a general 'rule' (like not flushing the toilet after 8pm - is this really true??) about keeping bike in flats but it seems that if we have a balcony or spare room etc. we can do this, with care. I wouldn't want to get reported by neighbours for taking a bike into a flat! Thanks guys, now the big problem, finding a flat....

Communal bike storage areas are fine for city bikes, don't even think about storing a good bike there.

There is usually no problem storing bikes in your appartment. I and most of the people I know do it without any problem at all.

You will most likely also get a lockable cellar area. I also woudn't leave the bike in this area. It's too easy to get broken into.

Experience with my landlady tells me that she'd freak to see a dirty bike inside our apartment (some of the things she complains about ... )- but then again, we live on the top floor and no lift, so getting the bike up here would involve a twisty climb up 5 flights of stairs, lots of chances for dings in communal areas on the way up, so I'm sure that would be a resounding no for me.

However, included in available access areas is one garage set aside with bicycle mounts for all of us to use together. She's a smart and thoughtful cookie who made sure to give us someplace to put bikes without having them in the apartment. I'm pretty sure that it's not large enough for SIX bikes coming from one apartment together with the bikes from the other five apartments though.

I also remember in my m-i-l old flat, the basement had a bicycle storage area for the tenants. There were quite a few slots, some standing, some hanging against the wall - but even that pretty large space was full with bicycles already, without trying to put in six more all from one couple.

If I were you, I'd look into renting a garage if possible, that many bikes take up a lot of space.

If I were you, I'd look into renting a garage if possible, that many bikes take up a lot of space.[/QUOTE]

This would obviously be our first choice! But what one wants is not what one gets in terms of accommodation in Zurich, so I gather... It would not be 6 bikes in the flat anyway, *just* 4 as the commuter bikes would be stored locked in a communal area. And they would not be dirty in the flat (we don't want dirty bikes in the flat ourselves). Good to hear that some people store their bikes in the flat, seems it depends on the flat/landlord - much as everywhere else I've lived. My main question really was is there a general Zurich rule, which is seems there is not.
Thanks for the advice/comments!

It is not a problem to keep your bike in the apartment.

But what I have done in several of our previous and current rental, is to leave the mountain bikes either in the cellar or in the attic. You are most likely will get one of these when you rent. (I live in Bern, so I don't really know what it is like in Zurich regarding cellars/attics).

The other possibility is to put your bikes on the balcony, that should also be a non issue.

For my first 3 years here, I kept my road bike and mountain bike in my 10 m2 apartment. It wasn't comfortable, but both are 'shiny' enough to be theft bait. In my new place, we have a bike room, but I don't trust it either, so I lock the bike in the storage locker thing. Also not ideal, but at least out of sight.

Is there such a thing that small ? I thought I lived in the smallest one ever measuring at 16sqm ( 4m x 4m )

Actually it was a bit smaller than that. But all I used it for was sleeping, and storing bikes and skis.