Hi everyone, I am new here and I will be relocated to Basel as an expat - letter of assignment and guaranteed position when I return to my country.
I am Swedish, but I work for a US company who just opened office in Switzerland, and it's going to post me there for the next couple of years.
While I read quite a lot on the topic of renting in Switzerland, some things are not clear to me. The company will be covering the rental costs directly, and would like to sign the lease under company contract, naming me as beneficiary. I could not find anything online if it's possible to rent as a company, and what would be the rules for it. In Sweden for example there are landlords who would only rent to companies, and the actual tenants are mentioned as beneficiaries. I've written emails to 3 rental agencies so far, and none of them replied back.
So the questions are:
1/ Is it possible to sign a company contract for rental? And what would be the conditions?
2/ How "normal" is this and how willing are landlords to rent to companies?
3/Should I better apply as a private individual? Would I have better chances of being selected?
4/ Is it true that agencies would rather be contacted over the phone and they won't answer email requests?
Also, do you have any recent insights on the Basel rental market? How big is the competition and how hard is to find a house or an apartment to rent? My family is going to join me, therefore we are looking for a 4+ house or large apartment, somewhere in the range of 4000 CHF rent.
I would really appreciate your help. Thank you!
Welcome to the Forum.
It may vary by canton (everything seems to anyway). Here in Bern, the flat next door to ours was rented by a company for 5 years and they dealt directly with the landlord. The company notified the landlord when a new, different person was moving in.
I don't know how they dealt with handovers from one tenant to the next, or if they bothered. In the end the company was the tenant and I imagine they just paid whatever bill got sent for damages.Or sent it to their insurance.
Thanks a lot for the confirmation. I was hoping it's possible, otherwise it would be odd, business wise. Now I need to figure out how to make it happen and get someone to answer from the agencies.
Are they really not responding to email, or is it something that I'm missing? What chances do I have to talk to them in English, if I make the call?
The rents in basel are much lower then here in zurich, but the taxes are really high aswell the health insurance.
I recommend looking in basel Land as well, especially riehen , so you will be out in the green.
Basel is not big, the public transport not quiet as good as it was .
What's gotten worse? Iirc they've only expanded it in the last 10-20 years.
When I first came to the Basel area, my employer put me and my family in an apartment in Muttenz. So it's definitely possible.
Beautiful Riehen is in the Kanton Basel-Stadt (taxes, health insurance high).
If things go bad you may be forced to return at a short notice. The rental contract comes with at least 3 months notice period by law, and it may include a minimum duration. Let the company trouble themselves with this.
I'd also try to include that the company is responsible for handing it back and the move-out cleaning (tenants are to hand it back squeaky clean so it's common to have a cleaning company do the cleaning).
This indeed!
I've known so many people on secondment here who ended up out of pocket when their company changed directions, requiring them to upsticks at no notice. Moving outside of contract can be very expensive here - make that your company's problem, not yours.
All the best with your move.
Thank you everyone for the help. I managed to talk yesterday with an Agency and they weren't too happy to hear about a company contract. Beside the fact it seemed they were a "little" irritated that I called from abroad and I'm not there yet.
Therefore I agreed with my company to have the rent included in the salary and we're gonna go for a private rent.
I'm not worried about the employer, as I have all the contractual guarantees (with penalties). What I'm worried is that I don't know how hard it is to find and get a nice/ premium place to call home. I mean ideally we would like to find THE house from the beginning, as I don't want to move my son back and forth, specially that it's a big change for him now (he's 11). And home is the most important thing when you move and change your life.
If you don't speak the language it can be quite hard to view properties let alone successfully apply to secure a lease in a competitive situation.
It's also very time-consuming dealing with the outbound calls, searching, viewing, applying, etc, all while starting a new job in a new country.
I had good success working with a relocation agent who charged by the hour and offered services including making appointments, accompanying us to viewings, and completing application forms etc. I would highly recommend you consider such support to make the transition less stressful.
They might also be able to offer support with negotiating a company lease. For a landlord this might actually be a safer option assuming the company is well known/financially secure etc. I wouldn't exclude this based on one unsuccessful call to an agent.
We worked with http://relome.ch/en/ and I can't recommend him highly enough.
A company can rent an apartment so long as the landlord is willing to accept them. This would then be a commercial contract which are subject to different rules for both yourself and the landlord.
The main ones are, if the company fire you, then you will have to leave the flat, but the company is still liable for the rent to the landlord.
A commercial contract is subject to 6 months notice by the landlord (at least in TI) however the contract can be of a fixed duration, in which case no notice is needed and then the company must vacate the premises by the last day.