Why is so hard to find an house cooperative for flat renting?
My experience in searching for one in Zürich is almost null. I guess from these last 2 years I remember to find only a couple of ads for replacing someone's position in an house cooperative.


Am I searching in the wrong places (Comparis, Homegate, Immoscout...)?
If so, which ones are the right places?


Cheers.

You could try the university white board? There are always students looking for accommodation.

See if you can add your offer here:

http://www.marktplatz.uzh.ch/wohnungen/

Sorry if I wasn't clear on this but it's me who's looking for a cooperative house. I guess the correct name in german is Baugenossenschaft.

Sorry, I thought you meant a "Wohngemeinschaft".

Well what else would you expect with their rents being half of free market rents? It's just capitalism at work. Large demand - no supply.

Also people living in cooperatives are not stupid and won't give up their apartments easily to pay twice as much to live elsewhere. Large cooperatives from what I hear run internal lists of members looking for house swap, which seem to work well enough for them.

Some Baugenossenschaften still value the original (historical) idea of community, so that they tend to rent out their flats to people they feel are very likely to become active, caring participants in neighbourliness. Because of this, some Genossenschaften expect people first to become forma members, and only then to they gain access to rental info, if at all. Others like to rent out to people they've already seen at the Genossenschaft events.

Looks like almost a secret society that only members can invite new members to join in and you need to fullfill many requirements

Nope. My first flat was with a Genossenschaft. I was new to Switzerland, didn´t know anyone, was just simply lucky to find it at the right time. And yes, for the Genossenschaft it was very important that the people fit in but I was not aware of any further requirements. Met the guy from the Genossenschaft, looked at the flat, had a nice chat and got a call a week later that I could rent the flat.

http://www.greencity-genossenschaften.ch/wohnen

It might not be soon enough but there are 84 new apartments due for completion in June. There may be some other ones in nearby blocks.

Rob

Is the type of property you're looking for is similar to this?

https://www.englishforum.ch/property...-oerlikon.html

The thread is closed since the room was rented, but perhaps the OP would be willing to share info on how they were able to join the community? If that's not the right kind of thing, sorry I can't help.

They'll be all gone in the blink of an eye after the viewings on 12-13 November.

I misread. I think it's more like 230 apartments. 84 in the first building. The other nearby blocks didn't fill up straightaway so I wouldn't discount there being flats available to rent through till the end of 2017.

Rob

All of the apartments, except for one building, are currently listed as free on http://www.greencity-genossenschaften.ch/vermietung

I suspect this is not due to a lack of demand, but due to the following:

There are lots of housing Genossenschaften in Zürich, just google Genossenschaft Zürich, or try this list that I am giving you the link too: pdf of Stadt Zürich Genossenschaften

The question was why none of them have any free apartments.

Gotta register with or write to them directly, the list I gave is from Kanton Zürich. They are sought after as they are cheaper and have a greater rent security for the renter. Apartments are hard to find in Zürich in general, but if you apply through Homegate or Immoscout, there are likely to be 200 other applicants. I have found the best way to find flats is through friends, and thats how we have found our last three apartments.

I got a genossenschaft through homegate. It can be done, but requires a lot of luck.
1. I was a match to the old tenant (single mother with similar aged kid),
2. I was in the process of getting a C-permit (they prefer long term tenants so prefer C or Swiss),
3. the personal reference I gave was really nice and 'sold' me,
4. I had the money for the entire buy-in, not in three parts
5. I had never complained, or been complained about, to my previous agency,
6. I wrote a personal letter, enclosing a photo of me and my daughter,
7. I squealed when they phoned me up to say I was short-listed, so they knew I really really wanted it,
8. Even though they offered to interview me in English, I insisted that I wanted to improve my German (part of the reason to move, better integration).
9. I was just really really really lucky.