Hello Everyone,


I had a guest who originally rented my apartment on Airbnb in Basel. I rent a 2 bedroom flat and I sublet the second room to help cover the rent. The Airbnb guest stayed with me for 1 week and then said that they were getting a work contract and asked if they could sublet the apartment until December 31st. I agreed and both me and the tenant signed a legal contract. The tenant then paid me a portion of the rent and said he would get the remaining amount to me later. In the contract he agreed to give at least 15 days notice. About 2 weeks went by until he had fled the apartment without paying the remainder of the rent for the month and leaving the apartment in a general state of disarray. He still owes me 475 CHF and refuses to honor the contract he signed. I lost a significant amount of income since I blocked out the dates he was planning to stay as well. I have his personal information from Airbnb, I have his home address in Poland, as well as a copy of the signed rental contract we both signed. He is currently living in Poland but mentioned previously that he plans to come back to Bern for work. Is there anyway I can report this debt so that he cannot get his work permit or rent another apartment here? He is a total scumbag.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/...airbnb-website

Thanks but this was not an Airbnb booking. I made a contract to sublet the room to him not on Airbnb but just between the two of us. I imagine if he is living in Poland, it would be hard for me to get my money back if he's not in Switzerland, but I just want to make sure that if he ever tries to come back to Switzerland, he will not have the opportunity to swindle anyone else here.

I doubt you can do much about it, spending more money on trying to file a Betreibung with doubtful effect in the future is not worth it. I think with non-resident foreigners it's better to keep using the airbnb platform even if it costs more.

Yes I realized that Airbnb would have been a better choice but since he had a work permit here and signed the contract, I thought I would have some recourse. Are you saying that if an EU citizen renting in Switzerland gives a landlord the runoff, they have no recourse? I find that a bit hard to believe. Why would anyone rent to foreigners here then if there is no consequence to breaking the lease and they are still free to come back whenever they want?

For 475.00 Chuffs, if it was me, I would go to the pub and forget about it.

Thats what happens when you break your agreement with AirBnB. Tough luck, pay the commission next time.

Sorry this happened, but my advice would be to always take payment in advance and make no deals with people you don't know or trust. When it comes to money, most people by default can't be trusted.