Dear anyone who can offer advice...

I have recently signed a contract for an apartment, to begin on April 1, and transferred the deposit of 2 months rent, and the first month's rent to the management company's account as requested in the offer letter. I also signed the contract and returned it to the management company. This was done on Friday, 06.03

Two days ago I was contacted by the person currently renting the apartment (who had shown it to me) and was informed that in fact he had been mislead by the management company to believe another similar apartment in the same building was offered at a lesser price than the one he is renting. When he was given the contract, it was for the same price as his current flat (the one I agreed to). Now he does not want to move, and has not signed the new contract. Nor did he ever provide the proper written termination - only a verbal termination, according to the management company.

Now the management company, and the current renter, are asking me to consider taking the other apartment (the one the current renter would have moved to). I've agreed to meet them tomorrow to view it, but have said that if for any reason I don't wish to take it, I expect to move forward with the first apartment for which I've signed the contract and sent in the money for.

Is the management company legally liable for having offered me an apartment and sent a contract (and accepted money) for an apartment that did not have a termination in place? If I insist on the original apartment, do they have to provide it to me?

Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

I heard of a similar case which was caused by the mangement company realising that if they stopped the original tenant from moving and put the new tenant in the vacant apartment, they would only have half the work to do compared with moving both the original tenant and moving in the new tenant (you).

In that case, they ignored the wishes of the tenant who wished to move apartments.

Not much help but the underlying reasoning might be the same.

Thanks. I don't rule out any reasoning, as I'm convinced that when it comes to apartments in CH, all parties will do the maximum possible to serve their own interests. I expect no one to act out of kindness or consideration...

I simply hope that in this situation I have some legal rights, as it is now mid-March and we must move at the end of the month.

I hope that after this you'll only deal with the management company. It's their responsability and competence to sort this out as it is the contract partner in both cases.

Is the exact location of the apartment identified in your contract?

In my opinion the contract is (in french "nul"). A contrat is correct and legal when the parties are ok 1) for the price 2) the thing.
In you case the appartment provide by the company is not the appartment you signed for.

I think that the company is now in a bad situation.

If you accept the new appartment (the other) it's ok.
But you can cancel the contract.

If the other appartement is not absolutely similar or in a worse situation (to much sunny, to much noisy, not at the second but at the third floor, and so on) ask for a reduction.

Regards

Alexandre

.........

Did you transfer the deposit to the management company's account or a joint bank account ?

Have they (the management company or the owner) signed the contract too? If not you might not have a good position.

Is the other apartment not attractive? That would be an easy solution to the problem. I would try to negotiate a lower rent - as someone else had suggested in the thread already.

In such cases the "Mieterbund" (Renters Association) can probably offer legal help.

Hello All,

Thanks for all of the sound advice. We accepted the other apartment, but negotiated the rental price down about 5%. We also have commitments from the management company install lighting throughout the apartment as exists in the other flat we were originally offered.

Thanks again.

Best,
Mike