After an unbelieveable amount of searching, visiting, and applying for apartments, we have made the short list for an ideal home. Now, the owner wants to meet and interview our whole family, to make sure the “right” family will live there. Anyone have any advice to offer?

A few complications to add to the mix: the other family offered more money than the owner was asking, around CHF 400 per month. How should we deal with that? We want the place, but don’t want to engage in a bidding war or pay more than we need to. I thought that this was uncommon, but since this family also made the short list, obviously it was not too insulting.

Finally, the owner wants a five-year contract. If we want to leave early, is it really as simple as providing three months notice and finding someone to complete the lease?

Thanks, all.

There is a thread somewhere on here where ways in which to improve your chances were discussed.

I wouldnt get to emotionally attached to a rental property. Difficult I know.

Sell yourself as reliable, conservative and in for the long haul. You dont smoke, dont like parties, dont play a musical instrument and dont have unruly pets. You have reliable employers and have nice long term permits.

Talk about kids going to university or anything that indicates you will be here for several years.

I would not advise getting into a bidding war. For one thing you dont know if this counteroffer is legit or even exists. For another, if the landlord plays these games now, what does it bode for the future ?

Five years sounds like a long time. Make sure that you can get out with a max three months notice, and can give notice on any day. It goes without saying, read the contract before signing it !

Appearing likeable and easy-going may also help. Which doesnt mean offering more than the asking rent...

dave

wow 5 year contract? thats a long time. suppose your relationship goes sour with the landlord, you would want the freedom to move. 5 years sounds fishy...

as for the bidding war. who told you that the other possible tenants offered 400 CHF more (the landlord)? that seems like such a high amount, if i was a landlord i would take it immediately instead of going through a long interview process. it seems like either the landlord lied about the other offer, or there might be something unpleasant about the other tenants.

For the interview. well act yourself, and dont let the landlord pressure you into giving up your rights as a tenant. it can only lead to later conflicts.

good luck let us know how it goes.

Javo - there will be a notice period within the contract. Dave's advice regarding that is bang-on though - and in Zurich you can usually find suitable follow-on renters and that effectively admonishes you of your requirements.

interesting. so if you have a 5 year contract and want to leave after the 2nd year. you need to find at least 3 people to take over the apartment for the remaining 3 years? i understand its easy for normal contracts of 1 year but a 5 year one might scare a lot of people away... especially given the amount of legal hurdles you need to go through if something goes wrong with the apartment and the landlord turns out to be an ass...

Thanks for the input, everyone. The landlord has just moved out of the place herself, after living there (and raising children) for more than 10 years. Thus, she has an emotional attachment to the house herself, which is likely why she wants to know who is living there. The counteroffer from another family came out *after* they were invited to come for the interview, and we found out about it from the property management, not from the owner, so that does not bring about any red flags with the landlord. She actually mentioned it, very subtly, and basically said it was a non-issue.

Still wants a long term contract, but since we are here for the long haul, and we can get out if things do turn sour, I think we might be able to manage that (especially as long as the contract reads as you suggest, Dave).

We presented ourselves as just what we are--a young family looking to stay here for at least the next five years, wanting a good home for our children. Don't know whether the four-year-old running in circles in the living room and then later the back yard, along with the 10 month old trying to crawl into the fireplace and throwing a set of keys repeatedly onto new hardwood floors will help us much. At least it was a realistic picture....

This is bad.. emotional attachment. Is it really over ?
This sounds great to me as a prospective landlord. Real family life.
Good luck.
dave

Hi,
we took our kids and their friends with us when we went to view the house which we eventually got. Thought it might have put the owner off but he said he would put us at the top of his list and if we were really interested in it he would take the advert out the paper and not see anymore potential renters.The owner even gave us a contact for my hubby to find a job! What a nice man!

I was very apprehensive about going to see the house as had read about how difficult others had found flat hunting, maybe it was easier due to the location being in smaller village as opposed to city.I had warned my hubby to wear best suit ( which he didn`t- looked more like a lumberjack actually) and kids to be on best behaviour ( they were angelic!)

Anyway good luck
Jo

Hi all. Well, we got the apartment, but in the end decided to turn it down. The owner would not budge on the five-year requirement, and then in the contract added another couple of red flags, such as a six-month notice requirement, indexing on the rent (which in itself was not a problem, but there was no mention of it before,) and insisting that we start paying rent on the day that we received the contract, even though we had 48 hours to respond. They would not budge on any issue. We just thought it was a bit too far to go, before we even had the keys in hand.

We were fortunate enough also to be offered a good apartment in the city with a much more tenant friendly management. Not sure we could have turned down the contract in hand if we did not have an alternative also in the bag!

Good to hear it all worked out for you guys in the end. It was their loss. Some people cut off their nose to spite their face.

dave