So we finally got news today that our application was accepted for the apartment we applied for – yesterday!
We have probably applied to over 30 apartments in our short time of just under 2 months (I know...makes me want to cry!). And we had many learning curves along the way.
In the end we went with a relocation agent who is brilliant (indeed,the first apartment we applied for with her we got - although, we hit it off with the current tenant and he sent a nice recommendation for us to the agency). She responds to all my emails within an hour (often 10 minutes) and I have asked numerous questions about the contract, cleaning, moving, appliances, not even directly related to the apartment…etc and she has answered everything quickly. She can even hook us up with a cleaning lady if we want – which she said would make the move out much easier in the end.
Best of all, for us, is that they accept SwissCaution as it would have severely restricted us this month if we had to give the deposit in cash. We have the funds but it would have been a hassle and would have meant not getting all the furniture we need till next month.
Anyhow, it is just such a relief to have an apartment! We move in in a few days time. Now to get a bed…I am not fond of sleeping on the hard floor!

We are staying at the Vision Lausanne apartments temporarily, and while it has been fine, we are both about fed up with not having any room to breath, and being rejected so many times! (JJ, the Vision manager is brilliant. Very helpful and really went the extra mile for us so I’d recommend them if you are needing a place temporarily.)


If anyone is looking for a relocation agent in Lausanne PM me.
The fee is half a months rent.

Congratulations!

I am currently searching for a 2 bedroom apartment in Lausanne, and it's been very difficult! It sounds like you were successful, though, so if you don't mind, I have a couple of questions:

1) Why did you choose to use a relocation agent? Was it very helpful? What were the associated fees?

2) You mentioned viewing several apartments....I was really, really hoping to secure an apartment in Lausanne before arriving! I'm personally okay with not really "seeing" it first, as long as I can see good-quality photos, but will someone rent to me without meeting in person? Will I get scammed?

Thanks so much!

Vanessa

@ la canadiense: Congratulations! Hope everything works out well for you with the move, and you settle in and feel at home very soon.

@ vekenndy
Welcome to the forum. I can't respond to your first question from personal experience, but am sure others will be able to give you good information on relocation agents. Were I looking to move from abroad to Switzerland, and particularly to Lausanne/Geneva, I would certainly use a relocation agent as chances of finding something are much better.

The short answer to your second question (Will someone rent to me without meeting in person?) is "no". The housing market is very tight, so it's a landlord's market. Many will want to see and interview you in person. Expect to view at least 10-20 places before finding "your" flat (and getting a "yes" from your prospective landlord). Using a relocation agent could help, and of course you could be one of the "right place, right time" cases... so the longer answer is "maybe".

Do have a look around here on the forum, and use the search function - there is a lot of information on looking for flats, avoiding scams etc. Some of the threads are:

READ ME FIRST - Apartments and Housing forum (THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO ADVERTISE!)

http://www.englishforum.ch/adverts-h...lace-live.html

http://www.englishforum.ch/adverts-h...partments.html

Relocation agencies - Lausanne area

Advice for renting from abroad for Lausanne for Dec 1

Apartment Deposit Scam Warning

Your profile mentions that you are here from September - are you going to be studying here? The university can help in finding housing, or your employer might be able to help (or recommend a relocation agent they have used before). Good luck!

Hi Vanessa,
Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone responded to my thread!!

Here’s some information for you, hope it helps.

To answer your first question. Like the.frollein said, the general answer is “no”. But not always. In our case, we never interviewed for the place and it all happened so fast (as in, we applied for it with the relocation agency on Monday, at around 3:30 pm, and Tuesday morning I came into the office to see the email from the relocation agent to say we got the apartment).
I don’t know what the norm is at all. so I am not much help unfortunately.

The owner of our place is a Fund Management company, so this might be the difference. They probably own a whole lot of apartment buildings and can’t be overly bothered to do interviews, so long as all the necessary papers are in order (which ours were), then it is probably on a first come first served basis.

We went with this relocation agent because we were told (not sure if it is true) that any applications submitted by relocation agents basically get put to the top of the list. There were apparently many on the list for our place and we jumped to the top with our application.
I don’t know if this is all true, only what we were told, and indeed, experienced.
This lady apparently takes photos of the apartments and sends them to her clients who decide if they want to proceed with an application or no. So technically, so long as the owner doesn’t request an interview or anything, then yes, it could be possible.

The only other problem with applying for a place and not being here is that you almost always have to give a copy of your permit, which you might not have until you get here. In our case, we were not issued our permits till we arrived in Lausanne. If you were to have your permit already, and you can get all the necessary document (you really should have the debt paper from the l'Office des poursuites which says you have no outstanding debts, and to get this I understand you need an address here, so that further complicates things), then there is no harm in applying.
This lady charges a base admin fee of 150CHF, then when an apartment is secured, her fee is half of one months rent. In the event that you fill two folders with applications (not sure how many applications fit into one folder) then there would be another 150 charge.
Hope that make sense.

As for getting scammed…I don’t know! I would say no because most of the apartments are let through letting agents, and there are basically only a handful of letting agencies - I think I applied to them all in the course of our first 2 months. So long as it is an agency I’d say the chances of a scam are very low. If, however, it is through an individual owner (and there are apartments that are indeed let by the owners themselves) then the chances are probably higher. As always, follow the advice on here about rent deposit scams, and the like.

Here’s the webpage for the agent. There is a sort of questionnaire that you should fill out, which will ask you what you are looking for specifically (i.e. max rent, size, location, etc), and then someone from the agency should get back to you.
www.accessimmo.com

HTH!

ETA: a tip for all apartment hunters: one thing that might seem stupid and obvious and probably shows my ignorance, but it might help someone. On the agency applications for apartments, you have to fill in the details of the apartment, your details (salary, position, etc), there is a part that says poursuites - oui/non and that is all. you have to select yes or no. My french is non-existant, so I though it was asking if we had the poursuites paper saying we have no debt, but it is actually asking if you have debt! So the whole time we were saying we have debt, and I can only assume that the agents were literally binning our application without even looking through to see our debt paper. they won't rent to you if you have debt. so make sure you select non!

You should also include the following document in your application : attestation de non-poursuite

It's a paper attesting that you are not being chased for unpaid bills. It's delivered by the "office des poursuites", it costs nearly 20 francs per person, and it is valid for something like 6 months.

This paper is very important when applying for a flat. And you have to show the original paper for each application; the agencies do not consider a photocopy of it, if they have not seen the original, with the blue stamp-mark at its bottom.

Do not believe agencies who tell you that they don't need that paper, or that it is not requested for a foreigner who has just moved to Switzerland. The truth is that without that paper, your application goes to the just-in-case-list.

When I got this paper, I found a flat within 2 weeks.... after having searched for 2 months.

/Paul

congrats on the new place and effective and efficient RA!

I am looking for advice as well.
I am moving to Lausanne for only a short period, August - December 2010.
Ideally I would like to live in City Center so I can walk to work.
And also since I will be there for such a short time I hope to find a furnished apartment. I am open to sharing a 2+br apartment to bring down costs and meet new people that may be in a similar situation. Please let me know if you have any ideas or what price range I should be looking to find or if you know of a good apartment complex that does monthly rentals and not year long contracts. Help!

Salut!
Joanna

Congratulations! And thanks for the tips. I've just had my 7th application refused so looks like there is a long road ahead to find a place

LMG

Sometimes I think "why do I live/work in Basel, when there are potentially more beautiful cities like Lausanne, and bigger more fun cities like Zurich?" but then I see threads like this and I relax in the knowledge that finding an apartment in Basel is relatively easy.

Usually you find one, go and see it, and if you like it work out the arrangements.

I'm posting this as I'd read quite a few threads about difficulties finding apartments (usually in Zurich) before I arrived in Jan and it made me a bit anxious. However, for anyone thinking of coming to Basel then fret not. It's easy at the moment.

Having just read through this thread I am now utterly scared of the whole housing process in GVA!

I have only just moved here from the UK but can anyone tell me if I will need a attestation de non-poursuite?

Thanks in advance

Hi All,
Sorry, I incorrectly put the web address , it should be
www.accessimmo.ch and I cannot edit my post any more.

when you click into the page, go to le logement idéal and then click on the button at the bottom of the page which reads “Acess au formulaire de recherché” at which point there will be a pop up box for the questionnaire, and go forward from there.
Hope that makes sense.

Hi,
you do need the attestation de non-poursuite, without a doubt.
it only took us about 10 minutes to get the paper, and that was with waiting in a queue of 5 people, so they move things along relatively fast.
I don't know where the office in Geneva is though.
if you do a search, there are probably some threads here that say where the Geneva office is located, though the area of Geneva you are currently living may negate which office you need to go to.

	Quote:	Toff
	Having just read through this thread I am now utterly scared of the whole housing process in GVA!

Hi la canadiense

Thanks so much for this post!

I have been looking for a solution like this!!! Can you or your agent (or anyone please) recommend a relocation agent that covers Zurich? I am pushed for time at the moment to find somewhere and this seems like a perfect solution for me.

Please PM anyone that you can recommend.

I should be in Lausanne (when I move) now and again so I promise to buy you (loads) of beers as a personal commission.

Thanks and regards

Doooo! Sorry! In my haste (and excitement in finding a possible solution) I forgot to look for a thread already on this:

relocation agents, house finding agents any recommendations

I have to agree that the apartment situation in Lausanne is abysmal to say the least. However, the ease with which one can find an apartment in a city would hardly dictate to me if I should live there or not.
Nothing beats the view in the morning of the lake shimmering in the rising sun, the Alps across the way still half covered by the morning fog (ok, not a poet, but you get the idea). I love the city, and that now we have an apartment, that much more. Even while we were looking for a place we enjoyed our weekends (not so much the week nights which were spent running around the city to see apartments) out by the lake where there is a lot of activity and energy with people all around.

SpeedyF – I’ll see what I can find out for you! But it’ll cost you perhaps some vodka in place of the beers
In the meantime, the company VisionGroup has temporary apartment in Zurich (as well as Geneva, Lausanne and other non CH cities). This is where we stayed for the first 2 months. The places are small but have everything you need. Fully fitted kitchen and fully furnished. They work for a temporary place. But they do book up fast, so if you (or someone to Geneva or Lausanne) need somewhere for when you arrive, I’d recommend this company.
It is helpful having a place to live while you are looking around because for the various paperwork you need for your rental applications, you always need an address.
ETA: just saw your other post! hopefully you find something through that!

Hi La Canadiense

Thanks so much! I have less that 3 months to plan this move so I need all the help I can get at the moment as I am up to my eyeballs on loads of other stuff. I will certainly try your suggestions.

As for the Vodka!!! I think I know just the place in Lausanne and they should have a good selection as well.

Regards SpeedyF

Hi La Canadiense,

thanks for the reply, and the post actually, its a REALLY big help!

I've been using a relocation agent supplied by my work, but she is very busy with lots of clients so have been looking really hard myself the last few weeks.

I also contacted the relocation agent mentioned here last Tuesday (Sunday today), sending all my papers (salary slips, permit). Will post again when I hear something, but expected to be contacted by now, at least to say that she had received my dossier.

I think if you can speak some French and are searching in Lausanne you should give it a go yourself. You will probably be quicker at handing in papers than a relocation agent. They don't seem to have any connections with agencies etc - the one provided to me by my work was just looking at homegate, annibis etc the same as me.

LMG

Hi!
I agree it is a bit off putting that Sarah has not contacted you by now. And I don't think you should have to chase this kind of thing. On the other hand, I think these relocation agents are particularly busy and can afford to lose a client, or three!
So, to all apartment hunters in general who have contacted this agent (or another agent): while continuing to search on your own, maybe send the agent an email to the main email address (in this case, info@accessimmo.ch - which is the only one I ever used), and ask if she has received your information, and when you can expect that she (or someone in her office) will be in contact with you for potential apartments. Obviously, I'd recommend being diplomatic, but I don't think there is any harm in stating you've supplied all your passport and salary information and it has been a few days since you submitted your request, and you are anxious to find an apartment so you would appreciate some kind of response.

There is another relocation called FONCIA that charges a similar amount (half a months rent). http://ch.foncia.com/foncia_swizerland_fr/
We didn't go with them because we needed a guarantor since DH was still on the 3 month probation for his contract. They required someone who had a significant salary to guarantee our rent, which we thought was a bit absurd. So we were lucky to find an agent who didn't think this was a problem.
But Foncia also seemed to be a good choice. They don’t charge an admin fee, so you only pay when they have secured an apartment for you. If, in the meantime, you find a place on your own, you don’t have to pay them either (I think this is the same with Accessimmo, but I am not 100% certain).

To my knowledge, the only difference going with an agent and going it alone seems to be, 1) in the case of accessimmo at least, the agent will visit the locations for you (saving you that time) and report back to you (with pics) so you can decide if you would like to proceed with an application, or go see the apartment yourself if interested, and 2) the applications submitted by an agent jump to the top of the queue. So if 10 people apply for the apartment, and you are the only one who is using an agent, your application will be reviewed first. There is no guarantee it will be accepted of course, but being seen first is helpful, and as long as your documents are all in order (we included pdfs of our passports, salary details .i.e payslips, marrage cert, etc etc....) you should find a place faster.

anyhow, I LMG, I hope you find something and/or Sarah gets back to you soon. It is certainly not a good reference if she doesn’t.

Most agencies I deal with ask for an original, that is what they want and they will normally take a copy for their own records and return the original to you promptly.