I'm moving out of my old apartment and hired a cleaning crew to take care of the place (after living there 2.5 years, it was a new unit). The ceiling needs some touchups and the Hauswart says I need to repaint the entire ceiling. Sounds to me like hogwash but I wouldn't know any better as this was my first swiss apartment.
The unit is maybe 90 square meters altogether and I have a quote from a painter for 900 CHF to get this done. Is this not an exorbitant price to paint a ceiling a basic white color? Can I refuse to paint it and just have them take the touchup costs out of my deposit? Is one legally obliged to do whatever the Hauswart wants regarding preparing the unit for the Uebergabe?
On average, how much deposit should one expect to really get back
(if anything)?

Hi there,

First, are you a smoker (inside your appartment), or have you altered the walls/ceiling in some other way?

A good coat of paint should last several years, since you moved in when it was still brand new it might not be required to have it painted again already. But do check your lease, there might be a provision that it is done whenever somebody moves out...

If there really is no reason to paint it, talk again to the Hauswart... in the worst case take it to the Mietervereinigung (renters association) to find a solution.

I always got 100% of my deposit back....

Good luck

Nope not a smoker and the walls are just fine. Its just the ceiling has some marks leftover from tape, and some strange dark stains created from some IKEA spotlamps. They told me if I tried to paint over these spots, the color might not match perfectly with the rest of the ceiling, thats why the Hauswart demanded I repaint the entire ceiling.

If I were to abide by their request and shell out 900 CHF for the repaint job, (assuming no other requests by them), should I expect my entire 2.5 month deposit back? Is it unheard of to decline their request or must I deal with the Mietervereinigung to dare even do such a thing?

To ask a dumb question, could you do it yourself?

Are the ceilings really high and hard to reach? I personally
find 900CHF pretty expensive. Perhaps you could find
someone in the local paper that is less.

I agree with HollidayG, see if somebody can do it for less - or if you dare, do it yourself....

If you do shell out the money as advised by your Hauswart - you can expect the complete deposit back (if, as you said, there are no other complaints).

It's really only balancing the money you spend for it to be done with the time and effort (and less money) when doing it yourself.

hth
Alain

I am not quite sure what you mean by the "entire ceiling".

It is true that a "touch up" can be seen given the aging of the previous paint. You would normally have to paint up to a real break in the ceiling. By this I mean that if there is a doorway into a bedroom you would not have to do the bedroom since the two ceiling areas are not continuous.

But it the ceiling runs from the living room into the hallway, you would need to do the whole area since one would be able to see what had been painted and what is the original paint.

So is the quote on the entire ceiling of the apt. or just the continuous areas that are related to the damaged ceiling area? If the former and there are doorways, I think you can discuss the issue and reduce the cost.

I wouldn't touch up a ceiling, the chance for matching colour and finish is slim, also the ceiling will have absorbed things that will discolour it over time. So you could end up with a patchwork ceiling that looks really crappy, painting the entire thing will give a good even finish that should keep everyone happy.

If it protects your entire deposit, is impossible to say as they may find other things, but if you've had the inspection then you should be ok. If you don't do it they could I guess deduct and amount from you which may be more than your quote....and do you really want that can of worms. I would do the paint job and keep everyone sweet. I can't comment on cost, but when do you have to have the job done by as I may be able to help out so you can PM me to discuss it if you like.

Are you sure you need to paint the entire celing? You've lived there 2.5 years in a new unit?? There is a rule about normal wear and tear(unless you damage something of course) and I think you do not have to paint entire walls or ceilings unless you have lived in a place for 5 years or more. Ask the Meiteverband the exact rules but your Hauswart will know and is probbaly pulling a fast one. I would tell your Hauswart about the 5 year rule and normal wear &tear and tell him you're getting written confirmation of the rules in the coming days.. bet you he'll back off, you'll not have to paint just get the place cleaned.

While it might seem a lot of money, a professional painter should do a proper job and guarantee it. They will also have good dust sheets, ladders and what ever else is necessary for the job. You need to factor in the price of those if considering doing it yourself. You also might find it hard (impossible?) to buy paint as cheap as they can.

I guess you have household insurance and 3rd party insurance. You "damaged" somebody else's property, insurance will assisit with payment. I think paint & papered surfaces have a life of 10 years. After this the regie pays for everything. Before this it is pro-rata. So in your case, you lived their 2.5 yerars which is 25% of 10 years so your contribution is 75% of the total cost. You will need a bill for this of course so if your mate does on the side you'll pay everything. You may be able to get your insurance company to pay, phone them to inquire. As for "touching up" you'll never do it, it will be a patchwork quilt effect, even more so if the ceiling is white. In Switzerland things get done properly and an attitude of "that'll do" doesn't work here at all. Guess that's why health, public transport etc works so well as opposed to other Island European countries.

You could also see if your house insurance will foot part of the costs. The request does sound unreasonable.

fixed that for you ;-)

PS - sorry, I guess you meant the request from the Verwaltung was unreasonable... sorry

There was a "Handymen" announcing his services over here

http://www.englishforum.ch/jobs/3524...reats-you.html

Be careful, if you don't do it, the Hauswart will report you to the Verwaltung and they will have it painted by a profesional company and take the money from your deposit and it could come being more than 900 CHF then.

When I just arrived I rented an studio, rent was CHF 500.- and the deposit was 1 month or CHF 500.-

it sounds like little money, but for me a newly arrived student without a real job it was a lot.

So, after a year, I got another studio with the University department who provides cheap rent for students and I quit the studio.

I spent a whole day, cleaning the studio.

Then they came and said, It is dirty ! , had a cleaning company clean it again and charged me CHF 300.- to clean a minuscule studio on an ugly rabitt-cage style appartment building, so I just got CHF 200.- back from the deposit.....

This was in Geneva and 12 years ago, so I guess today and in Zürich it would cost much more

Call your insurance company and let them deal with it. As has been mentioned, in any case you shouldn't pay the total cost. Only for the part left untill next renovation was due. If you are lucky and it is more than 10-15 years ago you won't have to pay a penny.