Well, I've finally made it over here! 2 days of driving and a weekend of complete bewilderment, and now trying to find my feet in a strange new world..

Job one - find a flat! Which is where I have some questions...(no surprises there then)

Firstly, I'm currently living in a hotel in Cham until I find a flat. My boss has paid for the hotel (which is fine) but they don't do breakfasts (which is not) and the restaurant is closed weekends (which is worse) and for a meal and a couple of beers last night, it cost me 45CHF (which was unexpected!). I'm not allowed to cook in the room which means that for the next month (?) I need to find somewhere nearby-ish where I can get some brekky (of any kind, I'm not fussy!), and also somewhere that I can get an evening meal (beer by no means necessary) for about 20-25CHF - does anyone know anywhere that fits the bill...?

Secondly, my boss has told me that because rentals in Switzerland tend to work in 3 month "cycles", chances are I won't get anywhere until the 1st July. Is this total rubbish, or am I going to be living out of a suitcase with nowhere to cook or wash my clothes for the next 6 weeks...

Thirdly, there were originally 2 of us moving out to work for the same company - the other has dropped out, which means I now have more budget available for a flat, I've been told I have 1500CHF per month allocated to get somewhere to live. There is a VERY SLIM chance, that one of my friends from the UK might want to move out here to teach for a year (she hates her job, already speaks fluent German / Spanish and wants to be a language teacher so it makes sense) - if she does, there's then another VERY SLIM chance that she'd end up living with me. I'm sure I read somewhere that if 2 people live in the same place, then legally it needs to be a 2 room flat (?), is this the case? And if so, can I get a decent 2 room place in the Zug area for 1500CHF? Again, my tastes aren't fussy but I'd like it to be reasonably modern, internet connection etc etc.

Any help anyone can give would be really appreciated, only been here 4 days and my original enthusiasm has pretty rapidly been eroded into hollow disillusionment...please someone bring it back!!

2 room in the Swiss-German market means one bedroom - be careful.

www.homegate.ch might help? Anything on there you like?

This, for example, even has a pool:
http://www.homegate.ch/homegate/deta...CURRENT_PAGE=1

Cheers

Yeah one bedroom wouldn't be a problem for me, I dunno if she'd be so keen though it's "one of those" friendships (by which I mean we split up 4 years ago hahaha)

I'll have a browse around the link now, thanks very much

Just as an update to the above, a Swiss friend of my boss' spent some time with me this morning looking over the Immozug --- Dienstleistungspalette rund um Immobilien website (seems to be affiliated to the Amtsblatt and is apparently updated every Friday at 9am) - there seem to be so many negative tales of flat hunting I thought I'd share this one as a counter balance

We called up 6 or 7 places that we found, and made appointments to go and visit 3 of them - one this morning, one this evening, and one on Monday (although someone else has already put their name forwards for this one)

The flat I looked at this morning is in Baar (so not too far away), has a brand new kitchen and bathroom, 3 large rooms and a hallway, internet and cable TV, a communal laundry room that can be used at any time (1CHF for the dryer, 2 washers, 1 is free, the other is 1CHF), a small balcony, and a separate communal sun terrace for barbecues etc. All this and then also plenty of storage space downstairs in the cellar.

The price was 1500CHF + 225 for the NK (I forget the term but that was the abbreviation?), with an extra 55CHF for a parking space about 50m from the flat!

So, I said I was interested and the guy made a few calls - he rang the owner, who is the brother of the owner of the restaurant beneath the flat, who spoke to my Swiss friend and they agreed that it all seemed OK. They aren't concerned that I'm from the UK, as the guy showing us round and letting the flat is Portuguese! Because I've been here less than a week, I don't yet have any of the paperwork or residence permits (they're on the way - Im Lauf!) and so they agreed that a copy of my passport was fine.

So that was the story at 12 o clock. I then completed the form with the help of my Swiss friend, and went along to the rental agency office on Dammstrasse to get this sorted out - the lady there was very helpful, checked the form and I explained about the paperwork, no previous swiss address etc, and she said that this was all fine, and rang me back a few minutes ago to confirm that they can make the contract with no problems.

Playing my cards a little close to the chest, I said could I call her Monday as I am still paid up in my hotel for the next week, and she said this was totally fine - this was just in case one of the other properties is better, but I suspect that I'll struggle to find anything as well set up all-round as this one!

The final piece of the puzzle? On the advert and the form, it indicated that the property was available from the 1st July. When we got there, the previous tenant has already left and so it's available immediately

All of this, by the way, seems a long way removed from the "computer says no" mentality prevalent in the UK had I not had all the relevant forms. Fantastisch!

great news mate. We'll add that site to the househunting-in-Zug list

OK, update to this - I signed for the flat on the 15th, and I now have been asked if I've registered yet with the local authorities - apparently I have/had 10 days from signing to do this in, and so I need to get it sorted today :S

Is it just a case of, go along to the local authority office (whatever/wherever this may be?) with my passport and the documents for the apartment, and then complete a form (I hope?) or will it involve some technical Swiss knowledge beyond my simple English means...?

Any help welcome on this, I'm flying back for my Mum's 60th tomorrow so as I read it I've got about an hour and a half to get this sorted out

edit - if anyone knows what the name of the "local office" would be then I can look for signs in Baar that would point me to the right place to be, as it stands I know nothing about this situation

The answer to your question is yes (though this is a thread about looking for an apartment, not registering with authorities). Just take all your papers. The time counts from when you officially move in, not when you sign the rental contract.

OK, thanks - I thought I'd keep it in the same thread to save cluttering the place up on the same issue, consider my wrist slapped

I also asked the secretary of the serviced office where I work, she has advised me that because my B permit is "im lauf", and I have not yet technically moved in, then it is no problem and they will call the rental agency and the authorities and make sure that it's all cleared up properly.

*phew* :

Technically your requirement to register has nothing to do with your permit, so I don't quite agree there. I registered before I had a permit. What counts is when you move in, regardless of your permit status. But the bottom line is this: nobody is going to make a big deal out of it. Enough people will make phone calls and the authorities will be confused (since they probably don't know the letter of the law anyway), and it's nice weather so they'll just sort it out when you get back. The misinformation from the secretary will likely be enough to bluff them, that is even if they even cared about getting tough on you (which they won't).

Thanks again That's definitely put my mind at rest, I'l sort it out properly when I get back after the weekend