Hi,

I'm due to move to Zurich soon, but I am not sure of the best way to go about it.

I'm thinking of renting a furnished / serviced apartment short term, to get established in the city and have a base for looking for somewhere longer term.

I have been told that I can get the contract for such a place sorted by e-mail, but would it be best to come to the city to see / arrange first? I'm not fussy about the exact size of the apartment (so for short term I'm not soo concerned about seeing the apartment first), but I don't want to get scammed with deposit payments etc....

Thanks!

The UK is not really that far. I would suggest you take a day or two and get it sorted in person.

There are a couple of reputable companies who arrange this sort of thing short-term. We went with AAG - our apartment is pretty nice and it was fairly straightforward. http://www.aas-ag.ch/ - warning, they have one of those annoying sites with auto-play msuic - who wants that?

On the other hand, you could also just do a trip here first and take a look at long-term apartments and maybe save yourself the need for a short-term apartment? Lots of ways to do it.

I am currently in temporary furnished accommodation until Oct 1st. Although I did visit Zurich with a view to sorting out my permanent accommodation, I made all the arrangements for my temporary accommodation via e-mail. The company told me what was available and where, I chose what I wanted, they sent me a contract, I printed it, signed, scanned and returned it. A few days before I arrived I paid the first month and they left the keys at the service centre at the airport so I didn't need to come to their offices to collect them.

The place I am in is small, but I wanted to keep my expenses down so went for a 1 room place. The location is ideal and is close to almost everything. The company gave me great directions to the place, and have always responded promptly. The apartment gets cleaned once a week and linen and towels are provided. Personally, I'm happy I did this by e-mail and spent my time here looking for something permanent. As a result, by the time I moved here I had applied for 3 apartments and been offered all 3. I was happy I got my first choice one.

Feel free to PM me if you want more info.

__________________
"Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand." --Woody Allen

I've considered spending a week or so in the city before my move, but my biggest concern is being able to arrange suitable visits and viewings during that short space of time, and my chances of actually succeeding in obtaining a flat during that period should I get any viewings (new to the country, only just starting a job, etc...).

In my mind it seems 'safer' to arrange something like this upfront, to give me a couple of guaranteed months in the city to look for long-term accomodation in the evenings...