Except in Geneva, where the kitchen counts as a room as well. A 4.5 room will be a 2 bedroom.

.......somebody always has to be different. Can't we all just get along?!?

We are obviously waiting for the rest of Switzerland to see the light and start counting proper...

thanks Shorrick Mk2 for pointing out (and making me realize that my "normally," is not always the standard for eveyone ) i never thought such terms would be different in other areas in switzerland!

so much to learn...

Actually in Geneva exception the Kitchen counts as a room if it has an outside window.

I had appartments that had Kitchens with and without window and it counted as a room only if it had this outside window

The dining space counts as 1/2 room when it is outside the kichen with or without window

I live in a 4.5 room appartement.

It consists in: living room, separate dining area, main bedroom, extra room that - since this afternoon - is equipped as a spare bedroom, kitchen, bathroom with WC, separate small room with a WC.

Only two bedrooms.

Too confusing, I think I'll just buy a tent.

I'm looking for somewhere to live at the moment, when I moved to Switzerland my accomodation was sorted out for me already, but now I need to find somewhere. I'm finding places advertised as "2 1/2 Pieces" and similar..

What exactly does this mean? 2 bedrooms? 1 Bedroom, Livingroom, kitchen? I'm told it's self explanatory, which basically meant that I wasn't given an explanation.. So can someone explain to me what these strange numbers mean please?

Thanks.

Considering my 3.5 piece apartment has 2 bedrooms, I'd say 2.5 would probably have one and maybe a really small second one! So pieces definitely don't translate into bedrooms. They count the kitchen, living room and everything, but I don't think there's a clear definition of the 'pieces'. I'm guessing it has to do with covered area.

In Vaud, 2.5 'pieces' would be something like 1 bedroom plus a living room/dining room and a kitchen. I suppose in Valais it is more or less the same. Geneva is the funniest place, kitchen there is counted as a room, so 2.5 'pieces' is most often just a kitchen and living room only. Unless they could some dark corner as 1/2 'piece'.

There is no clear definition of a 'piece', it is left to interpretation to owners and régies. I have seen flats advertised as 4 'pieces' which had only one bedroom. Sometimes they count a wide corridor as a 'piece'. Surface does not matter, you can have a 4 'piece' flat of 50m2 or 100m2. So you have to check every time to make sure that what is advertised is what you are looking for.

My old apartment in Zurich was a 2.5, it had a living room, bedroom, kitchen with dining area, small hallway and separate bathroom. Where I live at the moment (until Tuesday) is a 3.5 and has the same rooms + a second bedroom.

It works the same in many parts of Europe,
You count the number of rooms excluding the kitchen, so 2 Peicw would be 1 bedroom and one living room,
The half comes from rooms which are part of the kitchen, so if you had 1 bedroom, 1 living room and 1 separate dinning room it would be 3 rooms, but when the dinning room is part of the kitchen then it becomes 2.5

Hope this helps

0.5 can also be a hallway if it's particularly large... i'm in a 5.5 which consists of three bedrooms, a dining room, a lounge (plus kitchen and bathroom) which totals a 5 piece and the 0.5 is actually the unusual shaped hallway that creates enough space to put a table/futon/bookcase.

But at the same time, i remember viewing a tiny 3.5 piece which was simply a 2 bedroom and lounge (plus kitchen and bathroom)... the hallway (if you could call it that) was part of the living room - so i'm not sure how they justified that as 0.5!

best thing to do is to view everything!

Hello everyone

I am sorry if this is a repost but last year, I could swear there was a thread that explained how to read what the 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 rooms in an ad meant? If I recall correcltly, the also meant different by canton. I tried a search but can't seem to find it anymore.

If I am looking for 1 bdroom apartment, should I be looking for 2.5 or 3.5 rooms in Zurich?

thank you for your help

2 room, maybe 2.5 room should fit you

As I'm buying off-plan, I was able to tell the architect hoe many rooms I wantd, and he's made the appropriate adjustments to the plan

As far as I can tell Switzerland and its cantons have no law specifically addressing the issue of property description (think of the Property Descriptions Act 1991 in GB) nor even a standard for measuring surfaces. We own some apartments in Valais and we measured and our measurement differs from the architect's and from the developer's (both use some fraction of outdoor area, implicitly in the case of the upper flat open air beyond the small balcony, plus the stairwell, etc.)

I recall that when we sold a ski flat in France years ago the law had newly required a professional survey, which then can be used by all future owners.

In Britain the Act mentioned above serves a similar purpose, as do the (new) Home Information Packs, otherwise pretty worthless.

There are standards, but you must know them or find someone who does. Most often, people count, or measure, where we assume "living space" includes, but, rooms without windows, no heating, unfinished walls, ceilings, floors, no electricity, head-room reduced and other similar items are not considered "habitable". But, because kitchens and bathrooms are found in every home, they are not counted in the house (except Geneva, for some crazy reason)

Rooms are everything exept toilets, bathroom and kitchen.
kitchen can be a half room if you can put your table and eat in it.

Rooms are :

- Bedroom
- Livingroom
- Diningroom
- Big entrance
- Office room
- Playing room
- ...

I hope that help...

Bathroom, entrance and kitchen are not counted. Eating is ½ room. Everything else is 1 room each.