This is just a ‘for the record’ post. We recently moved out of a rented house and it was not a great experience. We had a private landlord (Swiss, but doesn’t live in Switzerland) and they proved very very difficult. When we took the lease it was all very relaxed. But the relationship soured and we’ve had to pay a lot of additional costs that you wouldn’t normally get in flat (service all the appliance, pay for a gardner etc) plus deal with an ‘amateur’ owner (at one point they tried to raise the rent by 15% with 3 weeks notice until stopped by the Schlichtungsbehörd)
Maybe we were just unlucky (no doubt a few replies will say how great their experience was) but a flat owned by a large company now seems far more sensible idea that a ‘private’ house.
We are renting a house directly from a Swiss owner living in the same canton and we pay all the “Nebenkosten” directly to the service providers, but we have great communication with owner and are happy about all the major improvements the owners do to the house regularly. Also we are paying exactly for what resources we consumed without any shared costs and can regulate everything ourselves (like, switch water heating from heat pump to gas heating, set schedule on a gas boiler etc). I wouldn’t want to live in an apartment ever.
I think the costs are similar e.g. You have gardening costs in an apartment too, but they are bundled into the Nebenkosten. At least with the house you have the option of doing it yourself.
Yep that’s what I was going for, no Nebenkosten but lots of direct costs. For example the garden was 2k chf per year and need a professional due to its configuration. I guess there was a psychological aspect as well, with Nebenkosten you think it’s just a sunk cost, with a bill from a gardner you are left thinking… ‘why am I paying to keep someone else’s garden in trim ?’. Anyway, the garden was only part of a complicated story.
Meh.. I fell into the trap of venting and then not wanting to share. Lets just say we’re both middle aged (cough) professionals and didn’t appreciate being talked to like children. I’ll leave it there
I also prefer to rent upper floor flat from a big company, it’s all formal and “standard”, where upper floor warrants there’s nothing to worry about (unlike ground floor where you might be put into responsibility for the terrace).
