Is it possible to buy a house here on B permit ??

Yes & yes & yes (minimum message size 10 characters)

In short YES (precisely 10)

A bit more than 10 characters.

It is possible to buy a house with a B permit but only for primary residence.
You cannot buy a house as an investment, nor as a secondary residence.
I recently bought an apartment. I had a B permit then and the above was confirmed to me by the notary.

Not confirmed, but I have heard that you cannot just buy land. You need to buy an apartment or a house.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Nilesh

Hi

I heard that each canton has its own property law when it's relating to foreigners' buying, also it's subject to the permit one holds, so as a B permit holder (EU citizen) in the city of Zurich:
1/ Can I buy a flat to rent it out straight away (i.e. as an investment, not as an owner-occupied flat)?
2/ If the answer to the first question is yes, then in case of permanent departure from Switzerland, do I have to sell the flat within x years or can I continue to rent it out?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Sophie

Go ask a notary in the canton where you wish to buy

We nearly bought an apartment in Canton Bern because we are leaving and we want to have it as a base when we go back to Europe once a year. Our Gemeinde, Bank and Notary confirmed that it is allowed in our Canton. The Bank manager told us not to tell the owners or agency we will not live here permanently at least ofr the next 5 years. They don't like this here , a comment which was actually made here on this Forum!

For such important questions as these, EF is sure to provide good and timely advice. Let's summarize:

- yes
- yes
- sometimes
- I have a similar but more complex question and I know this post is on another topic and way out of date, but I'll ask anyway
- ask a notary
- Swiss hate foreigners

Thank God I have many Swiss friends here who prove that comment wrong and they don't hate foreigners if you have the money and can bring more than the 20% required!

About kanton Aargau: does anyone have informations about rules for buying an apartment and later(years) leaving Switzerland. Is it possible to keep the flat and rent it or it is mandatory to sell it?

if im not mistaken you must sell it. BUT you could get the C permit by then. In any case it depends from canton to canton. They got quotas for foreigners etc.
and if you no longer work in CH then you can keep it as an investment. tons of rules, and many loopholes. You can also hand over the management to an agency. That way no one will ever find out you own it....there is ways around everything as long as you know someone or have a good lawyer

Strangely, when we bought our apartment I was on B permit and nobody at any stage checked or asked about my permit status, neither the bank nor the notary or the commune.

Since I was using funds from my second pillar, the the Pension Foundation made it known that it had to be our primary residence. That was all.

Sorry guys, but you're confused here.

There is a federal law, called LEX FURGLER (Bundesrat Kurt Furgler)
It was meant to keep seculants away. And protect Switzerland from too many foreigners (ehm - you! ) In short, Yes you can real estate, but only for yourself - and when you have residency, but you can't if you live abroad..

Then the law it was strengthened, and where called from now on LEX Koller (Bundesrat Koller), but currently they are losing it bit by bit and eventually will be canceled. This said, the Parliament was against it in 2008 and sent it back to the BR for changes made.

The whole process need authorization, there are done cantonal and not federal, but must be reported federal. Good chance you not even will notice this authorization as it could run in the background.

Here more informations, in German:
http://www.ejpd.admin.ch/ejpd/de/hom...ex_koller.html

http://www.ejpd.admin.ch/content/ejp...eckerwerb.html

Me too.

Which 'whole process'? The buying/selling process? Checking on the Permit of the buyer?

All I know is that when we bought a flat, the 'change of owner' had to be registered at the 'Town Hall'.

We just bought a house primarily for the location location location, very close to the lake in Kanton Luzern with panoramic views .

My husband and I both have B visas. I'm Canadian, he is German.
We were going to buy it in my name but when the Notary learned of my citizenship and visa status he added the Lex Koller to the contract. This would have restricted my rights on how to use the property. I would have had to have moved in within 6 months, use it only as my primary residence with family only and could not rent it out even though it has a granny flat/holiday apartment on the basement level.

We decided to change the contract to my husbands name since he is an EU national. We will have no restrictions on how we can use the property. This was very important to us because we plan to rebuild and this could take us up to 2 years before we could actually begin, we may even decide to rent it while we are in the planning phase, obviously for a reasonable rent due to the nature of a shorter term lease. Since he is an EU national he has the same full rights as a Swiss person regarding the acquisition of real estate. If I was on title as a joint owner then Lex Koller would have still applied and we would be stuck.

So ultimately if you are non EU you can buy property here but as others have said you would be restricted on how you use the property until you obtain the C permit which then gives you the right to settle. Our real estate agent with one of the largest more prominent agencies here in Switzerland was clearly not fully educated on this and it was all discovered rather late making for very stressful closing as all banking financing docs needed to be changed with just 2 days notice. Thankfully the contract was notarized today and we have the keys to our new holiday home:-)

Thanks for sharing your experience. We have talked to the notar and he said that the most important thing is that you live in CH when you buy the apartment/house and you are going to use for your own residence. In case that later you have to leave Switzerland it is possible to keep and rent the apartment/house.

Hi there,

From my experience...

I bought an apartment in Stadt Zurich on a 5 year B-permit.

I have looked into renting it out, and have been told it is not an issue, however, my mortgage payments and Eigenmietwert would go up of course.

Hope that helps.