We're leaving Switzerland after ~1 year. A very, very, disappointing experience.

About leaving our apartment... we're handed in our notice and got an agreed leaving date.

What can we expect regarding refund of our
- (excess) nebenkosten contributions
- rental deposit


/GDaddy

Why will you have paid excess nebs ?
Are you disapointed about leaving Switzerland, or leaving Switzerland because you are disappointed ?

i think with your nebenkosten you will not get anything unless you have been paying to much , with mine i tend to recieve an end of year bill too , last year was 180 chf .
you may get all your depo back provideing you leave the apartment as you found it , if not better ....they will search everything to find fault just to charge you extra , either use a cleaning service with guarantee or do yourself , my 4.5 would have cost 2000chf for cleaning , i did it myself but still was charged 700chf for one small wall to be painted and balcony to be washed as i couldnt do it because of pain in the arse people bellow me .

other than that good luck with your move

shane

We'll have paid excess NK because...
(1) they are calculated, pro-rata, only on the NWF (neither hot nor cold meter are metered)
(2) we have a much lower NWF than the others in the apartment (up to 40% less)
(3) we pay the SAME monthly NK
(so, either we're overpaying - or our neighbours are underpaying...)

We're leaving Switzerland because we're disappointed with our experiences here.

Everybody (our Swiss immediate neighbours) have been terribly nice, helpful and understanding. We're even beginning to convert our hochdeutsch to whatever it is they speak here. It is a beautiful place, for sure. But we'll always be outsiders.

We even live on the Guldkueste - I can't imagine what it would have been like living in GL (where even my Swiss friends didn't want to even visit!).

Most disappointing - everyone is on the take. There's nothing a Swiss wouldn't do for money. And a Swiss wouldn't do anything without asking for an arbitrary fee. Prices are high - while quality, service and choice is poor.

/GD

Thanks Shane

We intend to use a guaranteed cleaning service.

But I don't want to get my pants pulled down (going back to my last post).

We have a 4.5rm/80sqm place - how much should it cost?

/GD

I would consider getting some professional advice - I will be in a similar situation in a few months and, having talked to a relo professional and colleagues, it sounds to me like the "rules" are highly intransparent - and that there is significant room to reduce the sting if you "negotiate" in the right way. I am certainly going to be investing a few hundred CHF for some professional support in this conversation with my dear landlord!

Most places you live in you will be an outsider. Most places you live in will do anything to get your money. Applies to all countries. The only thing I would agree is that prices are high for what you get. But as long as you are not in your own country, you remain an outsider.
The only exception is perhaps US.

Coming to the NK, it is tricky.

I got a quote from www.pfs-bs.ch yesterday. my apartment is also 4.5 and 72sqm. the quote is 850 chf and includes the "Abnahmegarantie" (ask for it to be sure they would clean whatever the agency finds not clean enough)..