My family of three (husband, wife, and a 5-year-old kid) are planning to move to in Switzerland the early upcoming year. How many room apartment do we need to take as per regulations there?

I'm not sure about regulations, however, my suggestion would be 4.5 rooms. This will provide 3 bedrooms: one for the parents, one for the child and one as a guest room or home office.

The general rule is amount of people minus 1 = amount of rooms.
That in your case would be a 2-room apartment. That is very small though, do consider that in Switzerland flats are offered in real amount of rooms, not bedrooms. That means if you rent a two room apartment, that's exactly what you get, which leaves you with a living room and 1 bedroom.

Therefore I would suggest a minum of a 3-room flat, which gives you a living room, a bedroom for the child and a bedroom for the parents.

The only regulation here is how much money and or income you have to pay the rent.

I have never heard of such a general rule. Why give such a complicated answer ? What is expected is that a 5 year child has his/her own bedroom. So a couple with a child would need a minimum 3 to 3.5 room apartment.

There is a federal guideline 843.142.3 which covers the amount of space people are expected to have. This says it is not a question of rooms but square metres, but this is rarely used and most property managers consider number of people as the main consideration in addition to rent to income ratio.

Affordability is of course a different matter. More space is nice to have, particularly if one is working from home, but not always possible.

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I have, but it only applies to non-Swiss.

Tom

A bedroom for the parents and one for the child plus living space.

I’d say to be comfortable you would need minimum 3.5 rooms = 2 bedrooms, and 100m2 space.

As for regulations, I think it’s probably a matter of judgment for the immigration department of your canton as to whether the residence is appropriate. A 1.5
room studio for 3 people would not be sufficient. That suggests something dodgy … say a slum landlord, or a scam to gain a postal address for residency in a low-tax Gemeinde while living elsewhere.

Unless you are Swiss, then it's fine!

Tom

It is not. My post clearly stated: 3 people = 2 rooms (yet uncomfortable in real life imo).

Just because you never heard of it and find it complicated it doesn't make it wrong. It is a rule used by city of Zurich with their flats, housing cooperatives publish on their websites (example) <<The rental guidelines of the ABZ provide for a minimum occupancy of the number of rooms minus one person when occupying an apartment, analogous to the occupancy regulations of the properties of the City of Zurich.>>
And it's what BFM also uses in cases of family reunion. It's not a law, it's one of those famous Swiss rules that become habit and are also used by private landlords.

However, OP was smart enough to realize this will be a subject when moving here and asked, I gave the answer. I don't see why people who live here since for ever now start a discussion about whether they feel it's reasonable or not.

OP: Again, min. 2 rooms. But as you probably come here with a job-contract and a good income I'd personally go for a 3-room-apartment.
All the best.

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It's all a matter or perspective.
So move your butt and look at it from the other side

Lots of private landlords use this rule of thumb too. I've seen my landlord do it. It's all about wear and tear of the flat to them though, not about the well-being of the tenant.

We received once a letter from ZH migration stating this rule.

Goodness, just f*ing look on the internet for an apartment, or hire a relocation service - for such a large family you will need to pay shit loads for an apartment.

No point reporting this post as the mods said anything goes nowadays but your post is totally out of order.

Regulations about number of people being allowed to rent depending on space/number of rooms have been discussed many times in the past here.
The OP was asking a genuine question in a civil manner.

Perhaps they are looking or have found a place already but want to check it is officially okay to rent such a place.

That‘s just silly - the OP is Juist looking for a place for a family. There are many threads on this site that answer that question. We all had to go through finding an apartment, and I do not like the terminology „we require“, so I won‘t help.

I had to unblock you in order to answer to this.

Therefore, the ideal Tennant is single. Has no pets. Never holds parties. Never subleases. Works all day. Always eats out and if necessary, comes home only to sleep.

I think that is being rather harsh. Not everyone is a native English speaker and the correct/incorrect use of a word could be overlooked. Ultimately the OP's question is clear. If you don't want to help, then just don't, but there is no need to be a pr*ck about it (maybe I used the wrong term, it could have been a*se, or something else...not sure)

As you said, it's not a rule, but it is a guideline. And I think you will find that with fairly typical Swiss consistency, it is not applied consistently from one canton to another. Mrs. D. posted the reference to the federal directive concerning the amount of space required per person in an apartment, but this applies directly to the Building Facilitation Program (my translation of Bauförderung), it is also used as a rule of thumb elsewhere.

Art. 24 of the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration just states:
"Foreign nationals may only be admitted in order to work if suitable accommodation for them is available."

And the instruction and explanation "Weisung und Erläuterungen" to this act only says:

Wohnung (Art. 24 AIG)
Im Rahmen des Bewilligungsverfahrens entscheidet die kantonale Behörde, ob die Voraussetzungen von Artikel 24 erfüllt sind.

In other words, the cantonal authorities get to decide what meets the criteria and what doesn't.

In their Merkblatt the Staatsekretariat für Migration states:
"Wer seine Familie nachziehen will, muss über eine angemessene Wohnung verfügen. Angemessen
ist eine Wohnung dann, wenn sie den ortsüblichen Verhältnissen entspricht, die für Schweizer
Bürgerinnen und Bürger gelten"

"If you want to bring your family to live with you, you must have adequate housing. Appropriate
is considered adequate if it corresponds to the usual local conditions that apply to Swiss citizens."

What that means is anyone's guess...

The Canton of Schwyz uses your rule of thumb, however they also go on to say that in Schwyz larger families may be treated a bit more flexibly if there are 5 or more people in the household.

So, ymmv depending on which canton you are in.

So, link to one of these threads. No need to be rude for no reason.

You are clearly also one of „those people“ that believe in Corona conspiracies, and don‘t understand why the rest of society thinks you are ignorant, uninformed and stupid when you put your mask under your chin while drinking your Red Bull on the tram.

Well. You are just stupid.