Livit or livid?

Hello to all,

I am starting this thread because I am outraged with my property management. Our problems started at the very beginning of March when our bathroom ceiling started to leak water. With the knowledge that leaking water has the potential to only increase its rate of leaking and further damage the building we call our property management immediately. This is the first sign of problems as it takes us a couple days to get in touch with our property manager. He tells us he will send someone ASAP. By the next week no one had come and the problem was only growing. It had spread to the kitchen at that point, causing brown water to leak down the walls and directly from the ceiling. Eventually after three weeks of intense calling I finally see our property manager show up. He then sends us a letter using the same exact phrases we used three weeks ago. This problem needs to be addressed immediately before it causes serious damage to the building. After another two weeks of off and on repair the leaking was finally stopped. Now we have been waiting a couple weeks just to hear from the painter who is supposed to come in and paint over our moldy ceilings, which are apparently not a health concern in Switzerland.

Now lets put that all aside and really talk about my property manager. I can speak some German but apparently not enough to convey my message that it is unacceptable to let paying tenants homes to get ignored to the point where there is mold growing on the ceilings and the layers of paint are cracking. There is a section in my kitchen where I can literally see the ceiling buckling down. My wife called this man a total of 15 times one week and he refused to call her back. So I lost my cool with the company today and finally got someone to connect me to him. And he pulled the same BS. Someone will be over right away.

Since then I have learned that all problems need to be documented physically then if they are not dealt with there is documentation to take them to court. I wish that i had known this from the get go. Now I am two months into the problem and appears as if they have the upper hand. I would like to recommend that foreigners not deal with this company. When my neighbors downstairs complained about something repair was in our building within a few days. It seems so unswiss to not care about a cleanliness issue in someones home. I really am having a hard time understanding what it is about our situation that seems to not concern them. My anger is growing. I am tired of hearing how Switzerland is so much more organized that America with such high standards of living. At least when I got pissed at my property management in the states for neglecting my cheap crappy basement apartment they would come fix our problem.

Any ideas or comments?

One word: Mietverband .

And Livit are notorious, there's a handful of threads about them here.

To anyone who is wants to communicate regarding any fixing issues with their flat...you must always write it and send it by registered mail, put a date and demand you get answers withing 48 hours or reasonable time. This is the only legal way to cover yourself, especially if the landlord ignores you. Always take pictures of the damage with date stamp. IT is known that all communication must be done in writting with management. Dont sweat it, just cover yourself and make sure you record all missed deadlines. etc.

the renters association is also a good place to have in mind. see the link in the answer above.

Seems letter writing is a little unrealistic when urgent repairs and immediate response are needed. But this is Switzerland so I'm not surprised.

The mail in CH gets there the next day. In cases where you are not getting a response by phone, you really need to start documenting it in writing.

Livit are notoriously bad! But this of course does not help the OP. I'll second the recommendation to get in touch with Mietverband and start putting all communications in writing.