Are there actually regulations in regards to heating in rentals? What are the best measures i can take to ensure heating is turned on?
I am renting an apartment in an older building, on the top floor, in Geneva and its very cold at night since the heat has not been turned on by the regie. My room has a balcony with glass doors which lets all the air in at night. The lows at night are between 7-12 degrees. The regie refuses to turn the heating on until the daytime temperature in Geneva is below 15 degrees. This is illogical and ridiculous. I have read other threads where it is mentioned that the temperature inside during the day must be between 20-21 degrees.
Sorry no idea.
I do wonder why if you do not have outside shutters to keep the cold out, heat in, why you do not get some curtains to keep the cold out from the glass doors/windows.
We are on the top floor of older building, heating is not on yet. Sometimes recently the nights have been on the chilly side, but we have a small fan heater we use that takes the chill off. Whilst you find out the facts you might like to get yourself one. The one we have is also a fan, we can use in the summer. They are not expensive & is reasonably small & light so does not take up much space in or out of use.
Anyway no idea of the temperatures in Geneva and hopefully someone else can give you the advice you seek.
I would love to get a heater but the rental contract explicitly forbids it. I don't know what the consequences of breaking that rule would be. Curtains would help but not much because the entire apartment is cold, including other rooms without a balcony. Im really used to cold temperatures being Canadian and if it were 15 degrees at night I wouldnt even mind. But its like there aren't walls its so cold.
I am so sorry for you. How strange to forbid a (fan) heater, learn something new!
Hope at least you have plenty of hot water.
What's Stalag in French?
Most apartment buildings here are heated from 1. October to 31st March. If you are cold, maybe wear a sweater/jumper, and socks?
Every year, it seems, there is a few days of cold weather before the heating comes on. You just have to grin and bear it!!
Put on a few layers of clothing. I have been know to sleep with a wooly hat on!!
So did I, and socks, and a cardy- never been so cold as when living in that horrible flat in London in 1970
Much colder here in my native Jura- but with proper windows, good insulation and blazing woodburning stoves and central heating and DRY cold not soggy damp wet cold.
You are Canadian and you feel cold in Geneva end of September
Today it was 22°C in my Gemeinde/commune and I live at higher elevation than you (2500 ft vs ~1200 ft in Geneva).
Get some Tesa insulating tapes [see, even the cat is happy ] from your local Jumbo, Coop brico loisirs or Migros Do-it and seal your windows.
It's a waste of energy if there are air infiltration leaks from your windows in cold winter, and your apt won't be properly heated!
Good luck and enjoy your time in Switzerland!
To be fair to the newbie, night temperatures in the week up to the 29th were quite cold (below 10C). The past couple of nights have been considerably warmer (about 15C).
Do you really have a big air flow through the balcony doors? Maybe that needs to be seen to as it would make a huge difference to the heating cost in winter.
And I would definitely invest in heavy curtains and/or close the shutters at night - does the apartment warm up fast in the daytime too?
Do you have a multi-room apartment? For cold nights we isolate each room (close all the doors) and the doors all seal with minimal airflow because they all have raised wooden doorsteps (sometime a hazard for guests who are used to flat floors).
Do you have a thermometer in the house? I would perhaps record it over a few nights as evidence of how cold the apartment is getting.
There definitely was a cool change here in Zurich a couple of weeks back - the temperature was quite nice this afternoon but is definitely dropping overnight...