Good afternoon everyone.

So the situation its the following ,im leaving my current house and already send the kindigung with 3 months in advance. Im leaving on 31 january.

When ive moved to this house ive payed 2900chf mietkaution equivalent to 2 months but in hand and cash.
The tenant have writen that on contract and have issued in a paper a receipt

My question is if its valid and ill see my money back?what are my options here?

Thanks in advance.

Why wouldnt it be valid? You say yourself it is written on/in the contract plus you have a reciept.
Make sure to leave the propery clean and the way you got it.

Some landlords are quicker than others to return the deposit, but if there are no deductions for repairs etc they should transfer it to your account within a reasonable time.

That reasonable time as stated in law is 1 year.

I may be wrong, but I believe that the landlord is legally obliged to deposit the money into a joint bank account for this purpose...

By which we assume you mean the people/person from whom you rented the place and to whom you paid rent, commonly called the landlord. You're the tenant.


What makes you think that it wouldn't be valid? It might take a while to get the money back depending on how they calculate certain costs. It's not unusual for a landlord to deduct costs for certain damages etc and these can often be unreasonable so take lots of pictures. You're not allowed to be charged what's called "normal wear and tear" in Switzerland.

And don't forget that "normal" is actually defined on the lifespan list:

https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...ertabelle.html

Certainly preferable. It's not really a joint bank account but a locked account in the renter's name where the owner is indicated to have some authority.


However in practice sometimes the bank takes too long to create the locked account and it's just easier to deal with cash initially. I've had this problem. Not sure how legal the solution is.

There's a difference between how the money is transferred from the tenant to the landlord and where the landlord then saves it.

Cash or bank transfer is normal for the initial transfer.

The landlord / agent then transfers it to the deposit account, and should provide the tenant with the official confirmation. This is a legal requirement I believe.

First of all, next time if you have a question of the validity of such a receipt, then I'd advise you to ask before taking the flat, not when you are leaving it.


There is no reason it shouldn't be valid. Regarding if you will see your money back or not, yes you will...assuming there is no valid reasons for the landlord to deduct from the rental deposit (you left the flat in good state, no damage beyond acceptable wear and tear...etc).



The landlord could hold the rental deposit up to one year, however I've never seen or heard of a landlord that kept it for that long. Usually if things are smooth and flat is in good state, it is released in few months.


Your options? I am not sure if you are anticipating problems ahead but in all cases, but you may want to join these folks https://www.mieterverband.ch/ (German)

This


I would need to do some digging, but I seem to recall reading a while ago that if the landlord fails to open the deposit account (which pays you interest of course), then there was some implication (to the benefit of the tenant).


I really cannot recall as it's been a while since I've been renting...

You are absolutely right, the according article in the law is OR Art. 257e. It is absolutely required that the deposit is saved in a rental deposit account, on the name of the tenant.


I personaly don't even transfer it to the landlord anymore, only directly to the deposit account as soon as it is opened.