I am currently subletting a room in my apartment (as well as shared facilities, such as the kitchen, bathroom, etc.) and living together with the subletter in it. My regie recently noticed the subletter's name on my postbox and has requested to be informed about the status of this person. I was not aware that I need to inform my regie about subletting, but after searching the internet it seems I should have contacted them about this. My contract with the regie does not state such an obligation, but does list a price of 150 CHF for evaluating a sublet. Was I required to announce my subletter and can I do so retroactively without risking losing my apartment?
I'm sure you'll appreciate that many questions are asked repeatedly, so there are already many threads about this on the forum. If you go to the top right-hand corner, you can enter "sublet" in the search function.
In short, you may not sublet without gaining the permission of the landlord, beforehand.
Doing so is grounds for being given immediate notice by the landlord.
None of this needs to be particularly specified in the contract, because it is law.
Your landlord now has the right to give you notice, but may not choose to do so, especially if you have been doing things right (paying your rent punctually, and not causing any trouble with the neighbours, etc.) up till now, and are polite in your next steps.
If your tenant is in Switzerland legally, then make a formal contract with him/her, and supply the landlord with a copy of this contract (the rent you charge must be fair in relation to the main contract between you and the landlord) and a copy of your tenant's ID/Passport and permit. Apologise that you did not do this sooner, and ask for permission to continue with the sublet. This will cost you the Fr. 150, if that's what it says in your contract.
Alternatively, if there is likely to be any trouble, end the sublet as soon as you can, and make sure that the person really leaves, and then apologise and say that he/she is gone.
You should also join the Tenants' Association. See the info about that in the other sublet threads. Good luck!
“De manière générale, la sous-location est tout à fait légale et ne peut être exclue du contrat de location. Néanmoins, le locataire a le devoir d’en informer le bailleur et de lui indiquer les conditions de location. Le bailleur, quant à lui, ne peut refuser que son locataire sous-loue le logement uniquement si cela lui occasionne des inconvénients majeurs ou si le locataire souhaite tirer bénéfice d’un loyer plus élevé.”
“In general, the sublease is perfectly legal and can not be excluded from the lease. However, the tenant has the duty to inform the lessor and to indicate the conditions of rental. The landlord , in turn , can deny that his tenant sublets housing only if it causes him major drawbacks or if the tenant wishes to benefit from a higher rent.” Subletting via airbnb - legal issues? (post 27)
thanks for the replies! I am letting the place for a very reasonable amount and have a contract with my subletter, so I don't think there would have been any reason to deny the request if I had known and made the request at the time. I read the swiss code of obligations and also pages like CAGI (I'm in Geneva), but it doesn't explicitly state that the Regie can now give me notice. Basically I'm hoping that if all I did wrong was not announcing the subletter I would be reasonably safe. (I have heard unpleasant stories about my Regie in various fora, but never had a problem with them myself.)
Simplest way to terminate the contract: Normal cancelation accoring the conditions in your rental contract. No reason needed. You may prolong the moving date a bit. Art. 266a https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classifi...dex.html#a266a
Many times in Switzerland I was been "let go" by simply telling the truth. I agree with previous comments. If you have a good relationship with the landlords, just tell them you did not know. In the end it's supposed to be a hassle for them to let you go for only this reason and look for another tenant.
So, I received a reply from the Regie last week stating that the rent I was asking for (50% of my rent + half of what I spend on the internet connection and insurance for the apartment, amounting to a bit less than 60% of the rent in total) was "abusive" and they would only accept what would correspond to about 35% of the rent (+ additional costs like internet access etc.). They also indicated that they are in general unhappy about subtenants and if the current one moves out and I get another one I should include him as a tenant..