Paying the deposit before signature of the landlord?

Accomodation, House and Garden
1
Dear all,

I would like to have your opinion on a matter. My husband and I found an apartment. The agent told us that we have to pay 2/3 of the deposit, bevor the landlord will sign the contract. When we told him that we will only transfer the money after the landlord has put his signatures down he said that according to Swiss law we have to pay first. I am still trying to find out about Swiss law and whether he is trying to scam us.

Thank you

Mared

2
I am sure there is no such rule. We got our rental guarantee and paid the rent after the rental contract was signed. In fact our bank insisted on a copy of the lease to open the rental guarantee account.

3
This. You need the interact to go to the bank and open a bank guarantee account. Say your bank told you this and see what happens.

Don't think it's a "scam" - probably an overscrupulous landlord/agent who wants to ensure you have the money but it's not the way to do it and refusal to do things in a certain way may be a pattern.

4
Dear Mared

In Switzerland you open a 'Mietzinsdepot', also called 'Mietkaution' = rental deposit account. The account is on your name and therefore you need to fill in the bank forms to open it.

To open such an account, you need the signed rent contract.

Here some informations, but in German:

https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...sicherung.html

Maybe there is a missunderstanding. Normally the procedure is the following:

1. Contract signed by tenant

2. Contract signed by landloard

3. open a rental deposit account on tenant's name (form is normally also signed by landlord, therefore you should have received a form or you can open an account with your house bank)

4. paying the deposit

5. receiving the keys

6. paying rent before the 1. of the month

You find some posts in the English forum about opening a rental deposit. I normally do it with ZKB, but also have had one with Credit Suisse.

5
On contrary, without a contract (does not have to be writen, can be verbal, or even silent) there is no obligations.

6
The official procedure is that the landlord or agent asks a bank to open a deposit account, which is a special type of account dedicated to landlord-mieter relations. You will get the forms by the bank and you pay the bank.

See as an example:

https://www.credit-suisse.com/media/...effnung-de.pdf

7
Usually you have a time window to pay the deposit, usually the rule is that before moving in to the appartment the deposit has to be paid (or provide deposit certificate from swisscaution for example).

8
First the contract is signed which binds you and the landlord to the terms agreed.

Then an account is opened where the deposit is lodged.

Never pay anything without first signing a contract, and never pay to the agent but only on to the "Mietkaution" account.

It really upsets me when landlords or their agents try this sort of thing, especially with non-swiss who may not know all the rules.

I can only think the agent is wanting to get his commission, and if for any reason the landlord does not sign, then you have the legal hassle of getting your money back.

9
It does not have to be the Landlord or agent that requests this. The renter can do it themselves. I always did it myself.

10
Never pay the deposit into anybody's personal account. Never. That's begging for trouble. The deposit account is (needs to be) in the renter's name, it's why there needs to be a contract beforehand, and it's what makes it safe for the renter.

IME (limited experience and domestic only) the contract has already been signed by the agent or owner when it arrives. I see no reason why that should be any different with a renter arriving from abroad.

As long as the contract is signed by one party only it's a time-limited offer binding that one side only. The offer may be accepted or not, so the first signatory is kind of in limbo for a short while. If the renter were to sign first, they couldn't be looking elsewhere for a good while even if problems arose.

Ask the agent which law or regulation determines the sequence. You won't get a satisfactory answer, why would an honest agent lie to you?

11
Evening everyone,

thank you very much for your input. It is much appreciated and I learnt a lot. I also contacted the university and they confirmed that this is illegal. I already thought that he is trying to take advantage of the fact that we are no locals.

When confronted he said that it is all about trust in Switzerland. I almost burst out in laughter. Apparently the owner of the apartment is afraid that we are not going to pay the deposit if he signs the contract. He was also trying to use a personal bank account. Too many Red flags.

12
Run! There are other places.

13
And join the Mietverband asap- the rentors' association- really helpful and cheap.

14
My exact thoughts as well. In any rental contract it usually states the deposit must be paid by a certain date. We give 10 days as either us or the tenant needs some time to open the account, or to arrange a suitable guarantee which we find is becoming more common these days.

The first month's rent is then due by the 1st of the month in which you take possession, or the date you move in (or any other date you both agree to).

Sometimes contracts are signed 2 - 3 months in advance so the deposit gives us the guarantee but we don't expect the rent till the moving day (or the day before the move usually). If the flat is empty and provided the rent has been paid, we'll also let the tenant move in his belongings a few days before he takes physical occupation. No landlord is obliged to do this but we do and we do not ask money for those 2-3 days, but we do take the electric meter reading then.

That's another important point. When you take over a flat, take the meter reading with the agent / landlord and both sign it. It's not been unknown for owners to cheat a bit here, which I think is rather pathetic for what amounts most likely to a few Francs.. Same with heating and water if you have to pay that.

15
In addition to this, consider carefully whether you want to accept any defects from the prior tenant. You might think that scratch on the floor or color of paint is no big deal. But the general rule is that if you take over what the previous tenant did, you are taking on that person's liability for damage and agree to return the flat in the condition it was in...when that person rented!

A friend of mine didn't object to a big scratch on the floor in her new flat. When she moved out, the landlord said she was responsible for bringing it back to the condition it was in when it was previously rented, and charged a few thousand for the floor. Even with mieterverband involved, she had to pay I think a thousand. And there's no guarantee the landlord will even fix it if the next tenant after her it's no problem. Same goes with holes in the wall and ceiling.