Today I visited an apartment that I would very much like to have, and the rent is cheaper than average, so I thought to myself I would be willing to pay a couple hundred more swiss franks for the apartment's monthly rent.

Is it a good idea to mention in my application that I am willing to pay "up to Fr. ----" per month? Perhaps this type of thing frowned upon in Switzerland? From my perspective it would seem to be a good business decision for them to take the highest bidder.

[begin side note: is it not obvious to Swiss landlords that when there are 40 parties interested in a flat, that the price is too low? From a profit-standpoint, shouldn't the price be raised until there are only a few parties interested? This would save people like me from having to look at 40 places before they can sign a lease! Is there some price cap I'm not aware of? ]

From a home-owner's point of view: I wouldn't always say the highest bidder is always the most agreeable tenant. The highest bidder may have the highest expectations. If the property owner is just looking for money, you may have a point; if the property owner is a private person with his own preferences, money might not make a difference.
Do you know who the owner is?

Almost every place you view will have a bunch of people interested - no matter how much the rent is...

It appears to be a larger real estate company ("Verwaltungs- und Immobilien Gesellschaft"). I agree the highest bid is not necessarily the sole criteria, but I am trying to get a sense of if it is a worthwhile thing to offer a higher price than the list price.

I would not offer more money, because the flats have a fixed price for everyone renting in the block flat. The landlord will give the flat based on credit records, and if they like you (this is what happened to us lot`s of people wanted the flat we live in now, and luckily the landlady liked us so gave us the flat).

Goodluck, and i hope you get the flat

Thanks for the responses thus far... I wasn't aware the prices are fixed. What do you mean by "in a block"? Does that mean all the apartments in the building and of the same type are the same price? Who sets this maximum price?

You raise another interesting question: how do I (as a foreigner who has been here less than a year) show a good credit history? I am a paid student at ETH and had them write a letter with my salary, but to my knowledge I have no capacity to obtain a "Betreibungsauskunft" (which is some statement of debts I believe). I can, of course, purchase a credit report from the USA which would be more meaningful?

I'm not positive but I believe landlords are limited on how high they can set the rent for an apartment, if the rent would exceed a predetermined amount then they are obliged to justify why the rent is higher which then would be clearly stated on the rental agreement for the increase.
Example, I once rented an apartment which was newly renovated (I was first renter after the renovations), all new windows, exterior insulation, bathroom and kitchen. On the contract it clearly stated the rent from the previous renter and the (50%) increase I was expected to pay and the reason the rent was now higher.

I had no credit history to provide either. Not even one from home because I never signed a rental contract there. The rental company gave me a form to fill out that they could do their own credit check (for Switzerland, which as far as I can gather would be of no use to them).

Then apart from supplying the usual documentation like permit, bank statements, emplyoment contract - I asked my boss to write a reference for me. (I already had a generic one from HR but didnt think that would wash).

Good luck with your search.

A Betreibungsauskunft isn't like a credit report as you would see in the States, here it only shows loans that you defaulted on. Mine (after 20 years) is still nothing more than a blank piece of paper..

The person who owns the block flats will decide how much you have to pay, and yes it is a fixed price. If you are new here then you should not have a problem with credit history, i just wanted to point that out because i know someone with bad credit here, and they cannot move flats (they have tried), because of there credit, nobody wants to have them in there block flats because of there bad credit

No, even if all the apartments were exactly the same in every aspect the price of the rent will rise with each floor (ground floor the cheapest, top floor the most expensive).

the price will also change each time there is a new tenant but usually only by a small amount, unless as you said earlier that apartments have been redone.

The price of an apartment is fixed for tax purposes and the increase in the rent is calculated on the improvements being made to the apartment and changes in the interest rates on the existing mortgage.

No, offering higher price would most likely not work.

Where we live we all pay the same apart from the top flat because they have the whole top flat to themselves which is alot bigger then the other flats. We live on the groun floor, and pay the same as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floor. I have never heard that you have to pay more for which stock you live in

In my building different floors pay different rents too but the difference is really minimal.

Why? If the flats are the same size i do not understand why you should pay a different price

The view tends to affect price thats why top floor is normally top money.



DC

It must be the view! Mine is definitely better than the one from the floor below, definitely worth the few CHF difference

We live on the ground floor, and have a very good view of the lake, and also have more space than on a balcony.

Thanks everyone for the advise about whether to offer more money for the flat. After reading these responses, it seemed that it would do more harm than good to offer more money for the flat... so I deleted the sentence I had spent much time translating, and hand delivered the application to the office (which I am now convinced was well worth it). Today, I received notification that our application was accepted. Now, to figure out how to move and how much furniture I am going to have to buy .