several local colleagues warned me before i moved in my new flat, that dont take the flat which has its owner live in...now i understand why

the day when i moved in, he send me a card called ''the rules of the house'' and suggest me to stick it on the back of the front door, onside it reads '' have you shut the stove?'' ''have you shut the pipe?'' ''have you turned off all the lights?''
in the contract I will have to notice him if i want to have a holidays away from home more than 10 days

after one month, i was in Paris airport on the way to holidays, and he sent me an sms that '' I have told you several times you should always shut your windows and now the storm is coming, please shut it immediately!''
I told him I am away and i trust I shut them but just leave one gap, the rain wont come in, in the worst case, i will pay for any damage, then he started to educated me that I should learn how to avoid any damage before it happen, ( I do love my money and dont want to spend it out of blue, doesnt he worry about this??) otherwise he will kick me out, blah blah blah...ok

one day he invited me to play pingpong in the garden, we both stepped in the kitchen for some water, then he came behind me and wrapped me around my waist with his arm...surely I didnt scream and run away immediately, but I made an excuse to leave very soon.

then the real trouble came, i have a very weak nervous new neighbour upstairs, she can hear anything from my apartment, and i can hear the same, like she walks around bear feet, because this house is wooden not concrete celine. I have my private washing machine in my laundry room, she complaint i washed once after 22:00, since then, i stopped doing it. 2 weeks later, she complaint I shut the door too hard...but I got totally lost cuz i do take care on this, then once she complainted my TV is too loud and if i wanted to watch TV, I should wear headset after midnight. all those complaints never came through directly but always forwarded by the house owner.

yday he called me saying he had to write me a complaint letter, I ask him could you please write in English, he said no, i have to write in German, and he speaks much better english than my german.

in the letter he asked me to always shut my bed room door whenever i want to watch TV, and TV volume should be always before 34. (i cant hear anything if someone is talking in the apartment from the TV) and etc etc etc......i feel like i m living in a jail, and i feel heart jumping faster whenever i hear the door bell dingdong...what I shall do??? this nightmare just going to keep on until next june...I probably already kill myself

I'm sorry for you. I guess the only thing to do is move. In the meantime, you can let off steam here.

However, It would get moved to the Complaints area.

Sorry, but did I read your landlord touched you innapropriately and you did nothing? Look, don't get me wrong, but this guy is fu****g you about. He complains about your every move and then he tries to make a move on you? I would have reported him for this, first of all. Do you have witnesses? You can even blackmail him into getting you out of the lease contract if you do. And second, find another place to live, quick.

he told me that the lady upstairs is ''threating'' him they will move out , then he told me, if they moved out, it would be too difficult for him to find another one wants to rent the apartment (cuz he wants a lot of rent) I guess partially she is just trying to find an excuse to step out.
I paid 5000CHF as a deposite for this apartment, I m scared once the lady moved out, he would take my deposite away by telling me it is all my fault.

I agree with gooner. Check very carefully the requirements for how to get of the lease then start planing to move then! Life if too short to deal with this type of situation. Everyone will be happy in the end.
Right, I meant to add about the landlord tyring to "hug" you: that alone would get me looking for a new place ASAP.

Try to gather as much proof as you can about his unreasonable behaviour, if you have a long contract and can't get out of it, then try to sublet it and find yourself somewhere else. Just don't suck up to his tale as he might think that you don't know your rights and what he is doing, in my book, is called bullying.

What Quinallex said.

Plus, join the renters association, find somewhere else, tell him you're leaving, and threaten him with the renters association and/or cops if he steps out of line.

He can't do this. Apply to be a member of the renters association and ask them to tell you how to get out of the lease & get your deposit back. They will help you & make sure your landlord won't hold your deposit inappropriately.

hi quinallex , I know that's very coward, but at that time i just moved in and i didnt want to have any problems with the house owner, but all seems now impossible...there's always problems with him, no matter how carefully i behave.

in addition, that move i didnt have any wittness, and if expose to public, will also be very hard for me, he is local swiss living there for 30 years, I wonder how many people gonna believe what i told them. but I knew he didnt have a good reputation from some other neighbours.

the key point is how to avoid him kick me out and take away my deposite in a bad way. i will definately move out, but my contract limitation is next June, and its not easy to ask someone to take over the contract because I share the flat with another person. feel so helpless

Thank you all so much for the suggestion, do you have any idea how to contact the renters association ?

Angelina, don't worry. I didn't mean to be rude, but this sort of chauvinistic behaviour he had towards you makes my blood boil. Going down the 'accusations route' against the noble local swiss man would be very hard and if you have no witness, it makes things even worse. He is a coward as far as I can see and prey on the vulnerable.
Go through the legal route then, swissbob and miniMia gave you great advise about the renters association, plus what I said previously. Gather information, proof, notes he left you, txt messages, etc. Don't let him get you down.

Have you talked with your flat mate? I wouldn't rule out finding someone else. Just look at this forum, how many people move here and need a temporary place. Maybe you could sublet til the end of June. But you need to explain to your flat mate you don't want to renew the lease. Check your lease too see how many months in advance you need to give notice to quit. Take it one step at a time & you will find your way out of your situation.

Sorry to hear about the difficulties. I don't know if this helps your specific situation but earlier this year my girlfriend and I needed to move but had a minimum of 5 months left on our lease as well as needing to give 3 months notice when moving. After speaking with the estate agent we then posted ads around the local shopping centres and the internet and found new potential tenants on our own. We found someone who needed and wanted the apartment immediately and were able to move out before the end of the month as the new tenant made an arrangement with the estate agent. We spent 3 days cleaning like mad and even managed to get our entire deposit back minus 100 chf which was deducted only because we left early.

According to some info I read the option should always be there to find new potential tenants on one's own if one wishes to leave earlier than originally agreed. Good luck.

I had to go twice over your inital post as I couldn't believe what I read!
I don't want to comment on the sleazy behaviour towards you,it goes without saying this is far from acceptable.

However ,to put it bluntly he has no LEGAL rights to tell you what to do,how and when, after you signed the lease and moved in!

Yes, he can hand you that paper with his funny rules on them,however he can not pressurise you to follow them, he can not demand that you have to inform him if you are going on holidays,unless it was known that at this time some works would be done on your flat they'd need access and even then you can leave the key with a friend and give the landlord the number to call him/her so to ensure it will be someone you trust who will be taking care of your flat and overlook everything.

Other than that, you can do as you please.

But me too, I would advise you get the Mieterverband involved ASAP,and then try to find a new flat as soon as you can get out of the contract.

My gut feelling tells me, that if you go down the normal route of presenting possible tenants who'd take your exisiting lease,he'd deny them ...............

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1. Is it really a lease or just that you have to give the required notice or find the next tenant ?

2. 5000 seems to be too high a deposit but not sure.

3. Does the owner live in the same building ?

Hi Angelina,

I read your post with unease - and disgust where wrote about your landlord 'trying it on with you'.

He perceives himself in a position of power and likewise you see yourself as weak and helpless in this situation. This is not normal for landlords in the same building. Usually this is much better than dealing with an agent or large company.

As Eastenders points out, these self-invented house rules cannot be legally enforced. This is YOUR home and your private life. Instead of sticking his rules on the back of your door, I'd flush them down the toilet.

Next time he puts his arms round you from behind. Scream and throw your head back violently. Your head will hurt when it hits his nose, or better still breaks a few teeth. It will cause him great pain and stop that dirty trick and show him who's boss of your life.

Report him (I wouldn't be surprised to find there have been other complaints about him). Keep out of his way, if he SMSs you on holiday - delete it without reading it. Give your notice in due time and leave him and his warped world behind.

Good luck!

Wow... Very sorry about your situation! At least you've got some really good answers here. Because of this I just want to comment this detail:

3 months rent is the legal maximum. So if you're paying less than 1666 Fr./month, you should move the difference out of the deposit.

Good luck!

Hi Angelina,
I hope you feel a bit better from the answers. The renter's association is http://www.mieterverband.ch/zg_top.0.html

They will have someone who speaks english I'm sure.

All the best
Mick

Hi,


But my understanding was if you present prospective tenants to the landlord who have a similar economic and social standing to yourself, and he then rejects them, then you still have the right to quit the apartment before the end of the notice period.

Also, the SFr5000 deposit mentioned in the OP does sound excessive. A month's rent is what I have encountered.

From what I understand from the OP's story, surely the landlord could be held criminally liable for indecent assault for his actions towards the OP.

Cheers,

Nick

welcome to switzerland. at least now i know someone has worse neghbours than me