I moved to Balgach, St. Gallen 3 months ago for my job and so rented one room in a 4.5 Zimmer Wohnung (it is older than 15 years). The room is sublet to me for CHF 700 and 2 other rooms are used by my subletter and his girlfriend. After 2 months, during a discussion with my work colleagues, I came to know that my rent is very high. So, I asked my subletter about the total rent that he pays to the main landlord. He told me that it is CHF 1610 including heating and water (electricity is to be paid separately). So, according to me the rent should be 1610/3 = CHF 536.66 (including heating and water with separately paid electricity). When I asked about this, he said that the remainder of the rent is a security for him because he is taking a risk by subletting to me. When I asked him, if I would then get my money back once I leave? To which he said no.
The rent agreement doesn't state anything about a security (and before signing the agreement, I wasn't informed about rent for all of the house or about such security money). And as far as I know the subletters or the main landlord are not allowed to use the security for personal use and they have to return the security once the contract is terminated. What should I be doing? I want to leave the house at end of February and I calculated that the extra money that I have been paying can cover the actual rent for February and still leave some money for electricity bill.Is there a Swiss government website (or an official one) that has a list of laws regarding a situation like this?
You can try, but seems like you're talking 5 months so about Chf 500/600.-- total, is it really worth the effort ???
If you agreed and signed a sub tenancy then you have accepted the terms of the contract, you may be able to fight, but lawyers aren't cheap here and he could of course charge you a "finance cost" or "admin" cost for the difference.
Smile, move on and be more careful next time, learn to ask the questions before signing
He is getting another subtenant from January 9 and he is going to pay CHF 700 as well. I mean these people are just greedy as hell. It has to stop somewhere.
Another thing is that my subletter's father owns the house. All of this just seems very very wrong.
And also the terms of contract didnot mention this 'security' amount. As a caution against damage the contract mentions to get a personal liability insurance and nothing else.
I see 2 perspectives, legality and perceived fairness.
From the legal side, usually prices for rooms in shared flats are displayed on internet ads and you like them or not. You agreed to a price while knowing the price. What more do you want?
From the perceived fairness side, it's a bit more complicate. I once shared a flat and people was arriving and leaving like a damned train station haha. The only rule we had was 2 month notice when leaving, no deposit. The 2 month notice gave some time to find a new flatmate. Even though, there were some times no flatmate was found and the rent had to be split among the people in the flat. And you have the benefit of not being bound by a 1 year minimum contract. From your position it looks like paying 100+ every month is a rip off, but if the other guys cannot sublet and have the room free only 1 month, they loose 1610/3 = 536.66 CHF every month. Also, try for 5 min the shoes of other idiots like me that rent apartments. We paid 2-3 months in rental deposit, 1 year min contract, and up to 1 year to get the deposit money back after I leave......maybe your situation is not that bad.
So, the law gives the landlord the right to refuse a very high sublease rent because it goes against the interest of the landlord. But, it's a right, not an obligation.
If the father owns the house, I'd bet 2 beers he's high-fiving the son instead of starting the legal procedure to kick him out of the apartment.
Finally, be careful. You're sharing too much info online while calling them greedy as hell. For discussing the law we don't need to know the canton or the gemeinde. Better erase them.
When subletting a full apartment, there are legal limits regarding what the price of the sublet can be compared to the original rental price. But it's not the case we're talking about.
Here the issue is how to share the rent between flatmates. I don't remember laws going that much into detail, and I subscribe to the posts of Axa: illegal probably not, unfair maybe but not much room to fight.
The "security" isn't a security deposit. What they mean (most probably) is that the extra would cover them for absences inbetween rentals e.g. if you were to move out and it takes them a few weeks to get someone new overall for the year they wouldn't be losing out. Whose furniture is it? It all seems reasonable to me but check the terms and the legal requirements on notice period and move out to somewhere more "fair" if you want to.