Hi all,

I was hoping for some advice from you. We left CH in December last year. We were renting a private home from the owners (no agency involved). Prior to departure we cleaned the house and handed across our keys to the owners.


We pointed out that the day before we left the dishwasher door had cracked and required repair. We agreed to be liable for this cost - as it was a new dishwasher and was our fault. They told us they would get it fixed by Fust and take the amount off our deposit, which would be returned once this work was done.


Six months later, we have received no notification from the owners about how much it cost or how much we should expect to have reimbursed. We have been following up via email every 2 weeks, and still have heard nothing.

As we no longer live in Switzerland, the bank is pressuring us to close our account. We are eager to get this wrapped up so that we can send all our money across in one hit and only pay exchange fees once.

Can someone advice what I can do next? My feeling isn't that the owners are pulling a fast one. Rather, I think the owner is distracted. His wife has just had a baby and a father for the first time in his late 50s, he runs his own business. This has just fallen to the bottom of his pile, and I'm pretty understanding -however six months is long enough to wait, and the lack of response is making me batty. I don't want to be taken advantage of.


Thanks so much.

Indy.

A deposit can be held for up to 12 months, and must be returned after that date. Final billing for heating, water etc may not have arrived and the owner may want to ensure all this is finalised before refunding. I guess working on the premiss that if there are any outstanding liabilities they come from the deposit, rather than the owner having to pay and try to reclaim from someone no longer resident.

Frustrating, and unhelpful but your wish to save a few rap's on an exchange fee is likely of little concern to the owner, especially if he has a new addition to think of and and he doe have 12 months.

__________________
How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your garden.... your rubbish is gone, your dog is pregnant.... but at least your cabbages are pest free

what kind of account was the deposit held in?

Send a registered letter. It will cost, but at least you'll have some official communication going as opposed to just emails.

Phone them? That way you might find out what the issue is rather than having to speculate.