I need some advice in regard to rent reduction during apartment renovation.
We are living in Zurich in a 2 room apartment and the Owner/Property Management company have decided to renovate the Bathroom and the Kitchen. The estimated time-frame is 32 days. During this time both bathroom and kitchen are unusable. Hallway is fully dusty and covered with a plastic protection sheet.
Because of this we decided to move out for the period it takes to renovate. The management company has offered a 30% rent deduction, but this doesn't really seem fair to me. We'd still have to pay a lot even if we are unable to live there.
Does this percentage seem fair? Is there any way to get a better 'deal'?
PS: to be fair I have to mention that a mobile toilet (no shower) has been installed in front of the building. But in this winter weather it wouldn't be ideal. We weren't offered a key to it anyway..
So I know this is in German, but it is from Zurich and an overview of what kind of reductions have been given by courts so far. I am afraid I don't haft the time to do the translation, maybe somebody can help out?
I have no idea that the answer is to your question, however I would strongly recommend that you join the Mieterverband. It cost 90chf per year and some of the links given by International are from there. We had various issues which they were able to give advice and point us in the right direction. Well worth the 90chf - saved us a lot of money.
32 days to renovate a kitchen and bathroom is a very long time. With proper planning and organization, it should be done in a lot less time.
30% rent reduction when you cannot bathe or cook for a month is, in my opinion, not enough. The mobi toi was installed for workers I suspect.
There are a lot of other questions which come to mind. How long have you lived there? Have other units been renovated? Are the units individually owned or one owner for all units? What was the state of the kitchen and bath when you moved in? Was there a discussion about renovation?
I would not have agreed to this type of renovation without a 100% rent reduction for the month. I would have told the owner he can move into an apartment with no kitchen and bathroom and you will stay at his flat.
EDIT: I hope the landlord also provided for a cleaning company to come in when the renovation is finished.
Good luck...it's stressful having renovations done and I've been through it twice in my flat. I'd rather not get into the details here but I'm happy to share more info about our experience with the Mieterverband and landlord if you want to message me.
I agree with the poster about a cleaner at the end of it all. I wish we'd insisted on one. We never got a cleaner during or after and we spent a lot of time getting rid of dirt. It was atrocious. We lived through the renovations with a baby and had to clean every day after workers who left a huge dusty and smelly mess.
At this stage all I will say is keep any discussions by registered letter. Document all communications.
I have just been through the exact same scenario regarding renovation, but with a 100% reduction of rent for 6 weeks. In the basement of the apartment a temporary bathroom with 2 showers and toilets had been installed, water tap in the hallway on every floor and a septic toilet for the night and electric cooking plates were provided. I stayed in my apptmt during the renovation. It still was unpleasant, but I did not have additional costs and a 100% refund to make it fair. A cleaning company cleaned everything at the end.
If I understand correctly you were more or less forced to move out for the period of renovation, while you had no shower/toilet left in the building. I think it is totally unfair for you to pay for the extra costs of staying elsewhere and 30% is extremely low. Unfortunately, I think that you should have disagreed before the renovation started.
As suggested already contact the Mieterverband, I saw they also have a hotline to call if you are not a member.
In my case the discussion afterwards is if they will refund the Netto or Brutto rent. I really assumed they would refund the Brutto -the complete rent including Nebenkosten-, but they come up with the Netto rent. I disagreed with this, but am also not sure if there is a rule for this.