Does anyone deal with a land lord resides outside Switzerland? We find a nice apartment which the land lord bought when she was living here. But now she has moved back to her home country. We are wondering how we should deal with the land lord in a trustworthy way.

- Is there any document we can request from the land lord that proofs the apartment is under her name?

- Will it be a big problem in the future if there is anything broken in the house and repairing needed?

Thanks for giving me some hints.

Let me guess - he / she has a UK mobile number ? Wants funds ahead, by way of Western Union MoneyGram ?

Speaks German or not ? Ask for the Nebenkosten details - scanned documents.

Search the forum for scam!

Is he a missionary worker or a reverend? This sounds like a huge scam!
Walk away!

The so-called landlord said she locates in UK at this moment. I have to pay a deposit to the a/c and then she will send me the key. The approach is very similar to the scam in other threads but I checked the address and it's real. The apartment is nicely furnished. We prefer not to think it is a scam so we are finding ways to prove it...

This is a scam. You don't need to waste your time finding ways to prove it. Keep looking.

Have you seen the apartment INside yet? You should never send any money to anyone before you look at the apartment on the inside. IE, someone in Switzerland should be in possession of the keys.

If it seems too good to be true, chance are it is ... and somewhere, someone will be saying .. there's one born every minute ... caveat emptor and all the best.

One last tip before you send the money ( are you planning on sending GBP / Euro instead of CHF ? ) - visit the Mieterverband nearest to you and seek advice.

Fixed that for you.


Seriously, get a grip, FFS!

Have you ever heard of such a thing in CH as getting a flat sight-unseen (i.e. you unseen) without a viewing, handover, references, income statement, debt-statement, etc etc etc; i.e. just paying a depot, and getting keys to a flat?

Honestly, sometimes one has to despair


BTW, the international dial code for Nigeria is +234

Thanks everyone's care and objective opinions. It's very useful. Sometimes man goes near to a cliff even though he knows it's dangerous. Thanks for you guys for scolding me to stop.

Daphne

Yes--stay well away. I am looking at flats at the moment and the biggest scams seem to come from Craigslist. If you're IT savy you can check by clicking on "View Original" or whatever in your e-mail program, copying the IP address where it says something like "Received: by 10.216.5.62 with HTTP", then pasting it into an IP address locator (search Google). I found that most of the correspondence I had was from people located in Nigeria.

Give-aways include attaching mini photos (that have things like carpet--not used much in CH) or phrases like "hot water/heating included" and "wifi for laptop" etc. One guy who I contacted advertised Zurich but then wrote Geneva in his correspondence. I joked with him about his mistake and he replied with "I like your words. Don't use Western Union Money Transfer ;-)".