The place is slowly disintegrating around us, we've had the electrician called out three times after spending a couple of very dark, quiet evenings, the plumber five times, and the kitchen fitter is coming out next week.
I was therefore rather surprised to get a bill for one of the electrician's visits (CHF 140), to replace a flourescent tube in the bathroom (two tubes actually, as the first replacement blew immediately). Being naiive, and seeing that there was a "You pay for little jobs below CHF 150,", clause in the contract, I coughed up.
Maybe this set off the 'Sucker Detector' in the L!vit offices, as I have just received a bill for CHF 195 for the replacement of the kitchen mixer tap, that failed quite spectacularly a couple of weeks ago, flooding the kitchen. Annoyed the hell out of the wife who had to mop it up, the bubba thought driving his toy cars through a centimetre of water was great fun.
I went ape-sh!t at the Verwaltung representative, quite impressing her with my flowery Schwiezerdeutsch, describing in great detail where she could stick her bill, and after a frank and forthright exchange of views, she told me that I was liable for all jobs that cost less than 1% of the annual rental amount! Nearly CHF 370! WTF!! I'm a landlord myself of a property in the UK, and I wouldn't dream of trying this sort of crap on my tennants.
As a paid up member of the Mietverein, I consulted the help line, and they said that the 1% rule sounded strange, but I should enter the details of the case online, and one of their experts would give his opinion on the matter. The Mietverein lady said that normally bills up to CHF 150 were the tennant's responsibility, but this (as usual in Der Schwiez) was not a hard and fast rule.
Let's see what the expert says, but in any case my take on it is ,"Why the hell should I be paying for the upkeep and maintenance of the property that I rent?" I'll bet the Verwaltung submits the bills I've paid to the taxman to lower their tax liability.
Bar Stewards the lot of them,
Jim