I saw several threads talking about renovations going inside the house, which would entitle the tenant to a rent reduction as they are unable to use "their" (rented) space. Sadly, I didn't find much about renovations on the building, which may be equally perjudicial.
We moved in May and, surprisingly enough, neither the previous tenant nor the administration of the building found convenient to tell us that renovations were starting on the building's facade in June . As it is a very tall building in Lugano (16 floors), this entails scaffolding, a cover over the whole building (leaving us without the lakeview, which probably had a 30% weight or more in the decision for the apartment), dust, and constant noise from 8h to 14-15h, at least. As my wife works from home, she is not very happy with this .
Do you think it would be possible to ask for a rent reduction also in this case? The usual way should be followed, registered mail to the administration, etc.?
Now, to satisfy my curiosity, who pays for the renovations? In my country when renovations are done, if they aren't for the direct profit of the tenant but of the building itself in a long-term view, these expenses go into a separate "extraordinary expenses" category, which then the landlord pays. But I don't know how things are in Switzerland. I am already fearing, and getting angry in advance, of what value may come in the yearly expense balance ...
yes, check [this document](file:///Users/jb/Downloads/mv-merkbl-maengel-senkungsentscheide.pdf) , page 5, last paragraph says 10% for the renovation of the facade, better, join the Mieterverband and they will help you
the renovation is of course paid by owners, normally by a money they borrow from bank
as one part of the rent are interests on the debt (loan), yes, the higher debt coming from the renovation can be a reason to raise the rent. The same way as changes in interest rate is.
*I am not sure if the link above works, it’s a pdf, you can get it for example from " Mietzinsreduktion wegen Baulärm? "
I report my experience from Zürich. It differs a bit from what nejc wrote above, which I subscribe, however I just offer an example...
The building I was living in was scheduled to receive facade renovations, rebuilding of the balcons and upgrade of the windows. We were informed in written of the planned works, multiple times actually since there were delays and changes of plans. Since the first communication we were told that because the works were only external to the apartments:
- we were allowed to stay in the apartments during the works
- rent reduction was not mentioned, but nor rent increase after the works
- the cancellation notice in case of moving was reduced to the end of each month with no penalty nor obligation to find a replacement tenant
To my knowledge the rent has not been increased to the other tenants after the works. I profited from the reduced notice to move, but I was already looking for other reasons.
New apartments are being built on two sides of our house. 6am the workmen turn up. Heavy machinery start at 7am. Slight lull at 9am for s'nuni, then on until noon. One hour break, then heavy machinery until 4 or 5pm, sometimes later.
Noise, dust... the project is scheduled to be complete December 2023.
I wonder if I can get a reduction on my imputed rent!
After mentioning to the administration "what we read online" (i.e. around 10% rent decrease, even retroactively), and the possibility of going to the Ticino Mieterverband (as a last resort), after a month and a half we got a letter from them saying that "they heard our request" and granted us a 10% (only for the rent - building expenses not included) decrease in rent, valid from the month that the request was done (September).
We didn't get the retroactive period June-August, but honestly I don't want to spend more time on the matter. I am already suffering because of the current situation (we rented the apartment for the view and the balcony, and cannot have neither at the moment ), angry at the past about how we've been screwed by both the previous tenant and the administration when signing the contract, and worried for the future, as apparently they wanted to paint the building in colors that the city didn't agree to, so know they are putting the whole thing on hold ...