Hello,
I am posting a message to get some advices regarding a deposit issue.
I sub rented a room in Zürich city for a month a paid a deposit of 700chf. The guy to whom I sub rent is also sub renting to another guy (this is crazy...).
I lived with 3 boys and I am a girl. one of the guy had to cross my room to go downstairs, this was horrible, so I moved the furniture to create a corridor and put a curtain to hide my space (I felt like i lived in a tent for 700chf a month that's a lot!). In moving the furniture i made some scratches on the floor. The floor is old and cheap and already been damaged before me.
When we did the check out he said there were some scratches on the floor and asked to keep the whole deposit. Just for scratches, I think this is very unfair. I refused and said I will fix the scratches and did. He agreed but informed the landlord (who is currently living abroad).
It happens that now the landlord wants me to pay for a new floor!!! So the guy keeps my whole deposit and then when the landlord is back I pay for the new floor (plus the expert he will hire to check this).
I am currently doing an internship and can't afford this. I think this guy just wants a new floor and he thinks he found the perfect victim to pay for it.
I made some researches and apparently ASLOCA can help, but you have to pay for a fee and I would like to avoid this...I only rented the place for a month, this is ridiculous...
That would be really nice if some people could advise me, I am new in Zürich and would like to know how I could get my deposit back asap.
Thanks
So you did not have a room, you had a corridor space?
Did you sign anything?
Even if you did sign anything (and if not, you were never there), did the guy you sublet from have the owner/landlord's written approval to sub-let? Demand to see this, because without it, the flat can't be sublet -- in which case, you were never there.
Your deposit is probably gone, but hopefully you can contain your loss to just that.
I suppose there's no point asking if you have third party liability insurance ...?
And also, is the deposit held in an escrow account where neither of you can touch it without both signatures or is the guy you rented the room from keeping it in his account?
I think for CHF 60, it's worth joining Asloca and get them onside. In the long run, it is most likely the cheaper option by a country mile.
Is it a hardwood floor?
If it is, it has just to be sanded and newley oiled/sealed.
Price is approx : CHF 55 per square meter. ( Example where it is even less .)
Expected life time is 10 years. If last sanding and sealing was more than 10 years ago you have to pay nothing asyou only have to pay for the remaining expected life time.
Lifetime table.
http://ldt.innov8.ch/objekte.php?suchwort=versiegelung&suche=Suche
Actually the room where I was had two doors (a normal one to enter in the room) and a second one that lead to stairs, these stairs lead to the 3rd floor where a guy had his room.
So to go downstairs he had to cross my room...
I signed a 3 months contract but agreed with the landlord to leave before it (and he changed the date on the contract) and someone else replaced me.
www.mieterverband.ch I'm sure they'll pick holes in absolutely everything.
Is a person holding your rent? I believe this is illegal - it must be in a joint holding account.
It is not a hardwood floor, it is laminate and a cheap one that can be scratched easily...
I paid the deposit in cash to the guy to who I sub rented (I should have refused to pay cash, i know but was scared not to get the room as I was looking for a place to stay for a month and was quite desperate...). I have a paper to prove i paid the deposit cash.
Sounds like it will get messy. I definitely recommend getting some back up from Asloca.
Cheap ;aminat (Class 31) is Approx. CHF 80 per square meter (installed). Lifetime is 10 years as well.
http://ldt.innov8.ch/objekte.php?suc...ag&suche=Suche
Unless you want to go an uglier way (like denying you were ever there, and forfeiting your CHF 700)
Write a registred letter:
- Request copy of original bill of floor (so you can see date of installation and class of laminat). Time limit for this 15 days.
(Do not say why you need it. Just request it.)
- Additionally request that your deposit is put in a Mietzinskautionskonto with Zürcher Kantonalbank within next 7 days. As per Schweizer Obligationenrecht.
- If not put in Mietzinskautionskonto it has to be transeferd to your personal account within next 7 days.
- If money is neither in Mietzinskautionskonto nor your personal account within seven days you will persuade a Betreibung.
Send to your subletter.
PS: Only deal with subletter and not with Landlord.
Indeed the final point here is very important. Your contract is with the subletter and not the landlord. The subletter will have all of the issues to deal with in his contractual relationship with the landlord - not you.
Time limits are important. You don't need to add too much to the bullets above, be to the point and send it so they sign for it - and keep a copy to which you will staple the receipt you get at the post office.
Thanks everybody for your precious advices!
This is very good advice, I would add to also request a copy of the authorization to sublet as well as a copy of the original contract with landlord
I suspect both will be unavailable for different reasons.
K
Since there is no requirement for a written contract in the first place, it's also confidential.....so good luck with that. You could ask for a copy of the landlords tax return as well to see if he is paying tax
I went to the mieterverband as I read so many good feedbacks about it. The guy who spoke french (I'm french so it was very convenient) said that i can forget my 700chf and rather be quiet about it if I don't want to be in more troubles...Very helpful...I really thought there they could help me, but the guy was obsessed with a letter I signed telling I made these scratches (I signed it because I am a honest person and really thought I could fix them myself, that's only scratches after all not a hole...). He said you only have 20 mn and it costs 65 chf, I can't do more for you GOODBYE!
I think it is so unfair to have to pay your whole deposit for scratches on a floor, I am an intern and this amount of money is half of my pay!!!That shady subletting business should be illegal...
There's a very good chance it was, as the people above you have tried to point out.
Nonsense, subletting is ALWAYS allowed here, the landlord simply must be informed, he does NOT need to give permission.
Tom