Hello all,
I have found a room in a WG about two months ago. The rental should have started this month (July), but I was traveling and didn't move in—I was also waiting for a contract. We never signed a contract even though I kept asking for one. The WG flatmates wanted to add me to the main rent and they were waiting on the landlord to write the new contract; one suggested doing a sublease in the mean time. But neither was done. I have not paid a deposit or rent.
In the mean time, I received an offer for a better apartment, which I prefer and would like to rent instead.
My question is: what are my obligations to the landlord or flatmates, if any, in this situation? (e.g. in terms of rental or deposit, bringing a replacement tenant, etc)
TL;DR I want to leave a WG in which I haven't lived nor signed a contract to nor paid rent/deposit. Any legal obligations?
Oral contracts are valid in Switzerland. If you discussed the terms and agreed - you have full legal obligations to stick to them.
How easy it'd be for them to enforce such contract - that is another story. If they do have a legal insurance you might get yourself in a trouble.
What I'd worry the most is your sense of integrity. You accepted the terms and they clearly trusted you. You're just about to show you were not worth that trust.
What to do: talk to the people in the WG. Explain the situation. Ask how could you make it work - maybe paying for July and August and never moving in there would be a good option for them as well. Maybe covering just July would work. Leave on good terms.
One aspect is that the oral contract is binding, but you'll also screw your flatmates as they have to pay a higher rent until they find someone else.
I'd say that as you were waiting for a contract and one didn't arrive, that you should be in the clear. Mind you this is only my thoughts, I don't know the law on oral vs written contracts.
An oral contract is one thing, but for renting a place I wouldn't move in without an actual written contract.
Thanks everyone for the replies.
I don't want to screw them over, I'm asking to know the parameters of the situation now. My suggestion to them would be that I bring a new tenant immediately and pay for the period between 1st of July until the new tenant moves in, and that I don't pay a deposit. I don't want them to delay the new tenant moving in (especially that when I went to interview for the WG, only one room was supposed to be let, but I later discovered that only one of the flatmates is staying and I was practically gonna move in with 3 strangers I haven't met at all). And I don't want to pay a deposit since the new tenant will be anyway doing that in a week or so.
I think that this is fair, and I'm willing to do it even if I'm legally not obliged to.
As you agreed on a written contract you are free and have no obligations until said contract is signed. Even more, you have no obligations to sign the contract.
Same old story as with a regular lease (or any other contract were the parties agreed on the written form).
Art. 16 Code of Obligations
Their bad if they failed to draw up a written contract in good time.
See also Mieterverband on this topic: https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...he-zusage.html
PS: Some scammy landlords try to charge you a fee if you do not sign a contract. This is not legal, the fee is void, has not to be paid. https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...haedigung.html
Thanks aSwissInTheUS, this is incredibly helpful! I made an appointment with the MV but it will only be next week, so great that you pointed out their page on this.
Maybe I should point out that my communication was never with the landlord himself, but with the guy who is currently the main tenant in the WG (along with another who already left). I asked both of them to ask the landlord for the contract repeatedly (in writing) and they said that the landlord was being slow. Then the remaining main tenant suggested that me and him do a sublease until the new contract is ready, to which I agreed and asked to do sooner rather than later, and he suggested that we sign it on the day I move in.
I've heard too many stories of subletters trying to take advantage of the subtennants. Signing after you move in sounds a bit odd as well.
It could all be fine, but as ASITUS says, you can walk away and take the other apartment. It's a bit crap for the existing tenant, but that's their problem and part of the risk of subletting.
If the OP moved in without a written contract and everything went pear-shaped, we'd be telling him he was a moron! Oral contract or not! The funny thing is with oral contracts is that everybody remembers something else. It's very much a question of hearsay, without anything in writing.
If you have a better deal elsewhere, then take it, apologize to the original WGers and just move on. Rental contracts need to be clear, not fuzzy.