Hi,

I have been having problems with my apartment for a long time (freezing temperatures) and I got to the point that I want to go to the tenant association (ASLOCA) and start the procedure - I don't remember how it is in French, it's when you file an official complaint and you stop paying the rent to the owner, but you pay it to some independent third party organization.
Has anybody had experience with that?

Thanks

How long is "long time"?

In Geneva it is called:

Commission de conciliation en matière de baux et loyers

Hi, I had a similar problem when I lived in Canton Aargau. I was living in an old building and the first winter, I froze because the heating didnt work properly. So I paid the rent to a third party and it took three months for the problem to be sorted out. I would advice joining the mieterverband www.mieterverband.ch they were extremely helpful. Best of luck.
PS. another point, because the heating didnt work, I bought myself a radiator (which costs around chf 100) and had that on all the time. The mieterverband made the housing agency pay for the heating charges (as it was quite expensive around CHF 100 per month)

It all started last winter. They recorded temperature and since last january I have been fighting with regie to release the results and do something. They didn't. During summer it was ok, but now as temperature goes down again I lost my patience.

Yes, that's it.

This organization doesn't exist in Geneva. I think the analogue here is ASLOCA.