Hi there ,

I am a NON- EU with B permit and Have bought a house

Could anyone advise as to what happens if you leave the conutry for good and have no permit , Is it Mandatory to sell the house or renting is still an option ???


Regards

No, you don't have to sell the house, you can keep it even if you are no more Swiss resident. In my opinion, your best option would be renting out your property, for which you can contact any real estate service.This will maximize your cash flow, minimize the vacancy period, protect your investment and they will do/handle all the related work for you in your absence.

The bank mortgage as well as the right to own property is linked to a domicile with a job or business inside Switzerland, any lawyer could tell you more on this.
Best wishes

The owner is non EU, he is covered by the Lex Furgler law, limiting right to own porperty in Switzerland, if he intends to leaves country, he should talk to a lawyer, who wosuld give him the road map, this was he will avoid high costs.
Best wishes

With all due respect, you should have thought about this prior to buying the house.....

You probably should have looked into this BEFORE you bought the house. The notar and bank handling the transaction could have advised you on the implications. Buying a house is a commitment not to be taken lightly. Asking questions after the fact is a bit late.

Hi,
Did you find the answer to your question. I would like to have similar information.
Does anyone know the options?

Here is what I feel:
If you have to leave the country , you will become a non resident and hence will be subjected to Lex Koller restrictions.
• to resell a property after its acquisition to

another non-resident. In the most popular

cantons where non Swiss residents purchase
property, resale is possible immediately,
although there are some variations, for
example:

Also the property cannot be let on an annual

basis, however shorter term leases are allowed.

The Office of Justice has published an aide-memoire in various languages that should help you understand the law:

http://snurl.com/lex-e
http://snurl.com/lex-f
http://snurl.com/lex-d

See page 6 of the English version, which may apply to you: "If the buyer changes his place of domicile, he need not sell the dwelling and can dispose of it as he sees fit. He may continue to use it as a secondary or holiday residence or rent it to third parties. He may also purchase another home in his new place of domicile without having to sell the first one...."

Not every notary/lawyer is skilled in this subject. The only authoritative information will come from your canton's Land Registry (see Appendix, p. 15). Asking them has the other distinct advantage of being free and gratis.

I was lead to understand that this only applied to change of domicile within Switzerland while in possession of a valid B permit.

You can say that again .

As I am not licensed to practice law in any canton I am careful how I phrase my answers. Suffice to say, the aide-memoire does not say one needs to change domicile within Switzerland; but I added the operative word "may" out of caution. and told the OP to ask the Land Registry.

I am well aware that both the Justice ministry and the various land registries may go beyond the law: I was myself convoked for a hearing on the basis that a flat that I bought "might" have been financed by my non-Swiss (but EU) national spouse. As it happened the Commission foncière decided the case in my favour on a surprising (and, I think totally irrelevant) basis: that I could have bought it with the proceeds of the succession of my Swiss-citizen mother. Whether or not it was my spouse's funds that actually paid for it (money being fungible, etc.)

The law, and AFAIK Confederation policy, does not, or should not, look beyond my own (Swiss) citizenship.

As a Non-EU home owner with then a B Permit, I was advised during the purchase process by our lawyer that the property could only be our main residence and could not be rented. The notary present when we signed the contract also made sure that we understood this.

Unbelievable. This person asks for some help and advice, since he\she is in tought situation, and what he\she gets instead is a crowd of useless grumblers that instead of helping waste their and his\her time.

...and two years later some kind fellow digs the Thread up to commiserate. The OP logged into EF in December though so perhaps he'll see this in a month or so.

Yepp Longbyt,

just an update per February 2012, the Parliment is in process to abandon the Lex Furgler, superseded from Lex Koller for good. So soon this will not be an issue anymore. The "Bundesrat" gave already green light.

It was intended to prevent speculations from foreigners on real-estates. The capital gain tax of 78% (< 6 years ownership) proofed to be sufficient enough.

Note that for realtors are different laws, so as for commercial properties.

This threat is 2 years old !?

Any yes, she spend a lot of money, possible she spend more time to consider a right buy when she is just buying a chocolate? An investment of this scale should be thoughtful made, with ALL considerations. People to easy forget that when something goes wrong, the bank still wants the mortgage back. I just inspected this week a house where the whole foundation is rotten, the steel beams completely rusted away and someone is buying this without taking notice. This is a repair job of 200,000-300,000. A pity if you petty cash box is empty. You can ignore it of course, but then in one, two years there will be a pile of rubble, own capital of 200,000 gone, mortgage of 500,000 to pay and 50,000plus cost to clean up. Hopefully no life lost, and I hope the "lucky" homeowner kept his/her household insurance updated.

You will have to sell the house before leaving..... With Non-EU B permit, it is not possible to rent the property and leave Switzerland for good... This is the info from Kanton Solothurn...

Laws are different in each Canton/Commune. I know in Vaud it's perfectly fine for foreign owners to keep property under 150m2. It's considered a second residence, and there are some restrictions (can't be leased for more than 11 months a year, owner has to be present on property for 21 days a year, etc) but it is possible.

I would suggest a chat with the Notaire you worked with to purchase the property. Good luck!