If the interest rate on your contract is higher than the current rate, don't question it, just sign! Then you can immediately write to request a reduction in your rent due to the reduction in the interest rate from your contractual rate. No guarantee you'll get a reduction, but you should.

The interest rate reduction will take effect after the cancellation period in your agreement. In other words, if you need to give 3 months notice to move out then you'll need to wait 3 months before any reduction takes place. This is because technically the rent reduction request results in a new tenancy agreement.

Good point. The interest rate is written into our contract so we'd probably have to sign a new one. As it would basically be a new lease, can the landlord then require you to sign for another 12 months or whatever term? Right now we're well past our contract period so we only need to give notice (no follow-on tenant required).

No new 12-month lease. Most likely, you won't even receive an updated tenancy agreement.

That sounds good, but I don't want to get started on the wrong foot (since it's a new place and new contract). I am happy with the proposed rent and since it's a new contract I don't want to push it .

My landlady replied that it was a mistake and I changed both copies to the actual interest rate. Since there is no management company in between, I think it was the right thing to do.

I found the following information (http://www.hev-zuerich.ch/dienstleis...-fragen.htm#a8) :
It seems that when signing a new lease, the current reference value has to be taken into account.

I am planning to take over a rental contract. In new contract rent etc are same except reference rate which is current one(2%). Old contract had high reference rate and earlier tenant did not ask for a reduction. Is it correct?

You have been presented a technically valid contract which, most likely, is within the limits, rules, laws of the place.

As you describe, the rental amount was not changed, but the interest rate was adjusted downwards to the current level.

This has the effect of an increase in rent: With the next increase of the mortgage reference interest rate, you will most likely receive a notification that your rent is increasing in line with that. (I do not consider it useful to debate if/when this is going to happen from a finance point of view)

It is up to you to decide whether you want to take up this offer of contract.

To simplify the above: a change of tenants does not normally entitle the landlord to adjust the rent (upwards) substantially. In this case, the landlord is simply maintaining the rent at the same level that the previous tenant was paying -- absolutely correct, legally. The window of opportunity to reduce the rent due to the change in the interest rate has now passed.

So to repeat, and to answer simple person's question: yes, it is correct.

I think it depends on the gerance - am paying 3% to Bernard Nicod and they just refused my request for a rent reduction!

Not sure I have any grounds to battle with BN over their refusal, so would appreciate any opinions. Just as an aside, I massively overpay the charges for the communal electricity, they just had to reimburse me nearly 500 chf for overpayment. This is what they wrote (cheeky beggars):

Concernant le fond de votre demande, il n’est pas utile de vous rappeler qu’on qu’outre la méthode relative consistant à faire varier le loyer en fonction de taux de l’intérêt hypothécaire, de l’IPC et de l’augmentation des charges d’exploitation, le législateur a permis au bailleur d’opposer à une demande de baisse, le méthode absolue.



Apres étude de votre dossier, c’est donc cette dernière qui s’applique.
De ce fait, votre loyer demeure inchangé, soit Fr 1,860 mensuel, somme a l’quelle il y a lieu d’ajouter l’acompte de chauffage, eau chaude et frais accessoires, pour le prochaine échéance, sur la base des paramètres suivants :
Taux d’intérêt hypothécaire : 3.00%
Indice des prix à la consommation : 109.6
Charges d’exploitations : 31.12.2010

The interest went down today. The mietverband website have launched a service today that will check your actual rent and say if it is higher than normal. Here is the link:

https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv-zh/n...ckup-2015.html

Looks like it is only in German.

Resurrecting an old thread - sorry.

I got an email from the Mieterverband that we should request a drop in rent from the landlords due to a fall in the interest rates.

I see from the thread people have done this. We haven't had a rent rise in 5 years of being here and I am reluctant to go poking a wasps nest.

Is it worth doing or am I potentially opening the door for the landlords to making our lives difficult?

Rgds,
Nick

Poke the nest; even low rents benefit from a few hundred CHFs reduction per annum and there's no doubt they'd come to you if it were in their favour. Tone the letter in the right way and you've nothing to lose. It'll compound over the years and in effect your landlord's getting several decent boxes of wine out of you without having the decency to inform you of the 'rip off'.

Scuzzy landords suck.

The rate went down today:

http://www.bwo.admin.ch/themen/mietrecht/00282/

Having done this once myself, a couple of years ago, you end up with a new contract. The new rent takes effect from the day after the termination of your current one - so if you need to give 3 months' clear notice then your rent reduction will apply from 1st October.

If I were paying well under market rent, I'd be hesitant to ask for this without fully checking whether the landlord can take the opportunity to actually raise it.

Thanks, Adrian. Threads now merged to (hopefully) keep the info in one place.

How can I check if the landlord can increase my rent instead of decrease it?
Maybe it is an obvious question, but I would like to be sure. I know some people has had positive and others has had negative experiences.

I have checked the apartments renting in the area and actually there is one in my building. It has the same rent, but my apartment is in ground floor with garden and the other is on second floor.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advanced.

What I would like to know is whether it makes a difference if a landlord got a fixed-rate mortgage just before the de-link with the euro. In which case the "standard variable rate" is irrelevant.

Nope. Doesn't even matter if the landlord is friends with the (ex) head of FIFA and paid cash.

If I overtook somebody's longer contract (nachmieter) - has the landlord the right to change the reference interest rate?