Hi,

I will soon leave my apartment and I'm double-checking the state of the property in view of the final inspection. I realized I have a couple of small damages which were not reported at the time, e.g. the electrical blinds work perfectly but some of the plastic guides are broken.

What is the best way to handle these?

1. I have them repaired privately before handing out the keys
2. I tell the administration (Verwaltung) right now
3. I wait until the final inspection and I'll pay "something" for it

Note that I don't want to hide anything, I'm mostly trying to avoid overcomplicating the final inspection, and possibly having stuff fixed while I can see it.

Thanks for your feedback!

It's likely to be cheaper to get it done by yourself, is an insurance claim involved or very minor?

No insurance involved... I don't think it's going to be very expensive.

If you don't think it's going to be very expensive, you definitely want to do it / get it done yourself.

As always, when someone else is spending your money they're much less likely to be careful than you are. And it also potentially ties up your deposit longer.

But be careful to check normal wear-and-tear rules and remember you only pay a proportion based on the age of the item.

I read somewhere in this forum that the life of the outdoor blinds is around 25 years, in my case they are 10 years old... but given your positive feedback I'll try to avoid these calculations and have it fixed, thanks!

I guess these things fall in the "small fixes" case.

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

And I could not find them in this table of objects/expected life
https://intern.mieterverband.ch/ldt/objekte.php?Gid=4

So it is your duty, if you do not repair them then the agency will write down in the Wohnungsausgabe report "broken small things, will be invoiced to the customer" and then you receive an honest, expensive Swiss invoice or even a very expensive Swiss invoice from a friend of the estate agent ...

On the other hand, in general they offer you to pay any reparation, when done&invoiced, then giving back the full deposit.

Sum-up: do it yourself or find someone doing that.

Sounds to me more like normal wear and tear, which is to be expected.

When I vacated the flat I'd lived in for a couple of years the man from the Regie said to me he was very happy that the flat was in an acceptable condition.

But, he said, there are two radiator knobs missing. To which I said they weren't there when I moved in. He said don't worry about it the Regie will be very happy that the flat is clean and proper.

Soon after in a nearby Migros I saw some radiator knobs in their hardware area. f2.90 each, and identical to the missing ones.

Two months later I got an invoice from the regie for f250 for a plumber to come from the other side of Geneva to replace the two missing knobs.

Moral of the story. Fix everything that is not on the prior inspection. Never trust anything the Regie says, only what is in writing.

I don't think the broken guides are yours to fix. Basically, when fixing stuff requires specialist knowledge, or tools that aren't completely commonplace, it's the owner's problem. What does your insurance for private 3rd party liabilities say?

I don't have an insurance... I will have one in the new flat, though.

Yesterday I contacted a repairing company across the street, they had time and came to fix the broken guides the same day. Let's see what the bill will be, but everything looks perfect now and I hope I avoided a discussion with the management.