We will be leaving swiss in October. We informed the agency about vacating house in July. They requested to send it in writing which we did in August. In September they sent a letter stating according some clause in the contract our contract is now till march 2016 and as we are leaving before that, we should pay 200 Chf and we should find out replacement tenant. When we called them, they said, its not required to find tenet by you. If you find, good. My husbands office colleague who is swiss national said, its illegal to charge you 200chf if you find a replacement who meets the requirements. We called agency to chk whether we must pay even if we find the replacement. The agency is firm on charging 200chf. Is it common that agency charges for leaving?(this is different than cleaning. They said contract breaking charges)
Thanks

There are only certain times of the year that you can move out of your accommodation (generally) in Switzerland and you normally have to give three months notice.

If you want to move out before then, then you either have to keep paying the rent for this period, or find a replacement tenant who will take over your contract. It is your responsibility to find someone, best to find several for the landlord to choose from in case one pulls out for some reason.

The 200chf, is probably an admin fee for the agency, as they will have work to do vetting any possible new tenants that you find.

Thanks Island Monkey for reply.
So we have to pay this 200 chf.

Shraddha