Rental Contract in English

Accomodation, House and Garden
1
Hello good day!

We are going to rent our own flat and would like to know if the rental agreemet can be made in English here?

We are living in Bern and in the past we only had in German but now that we plan to rent our flat we would like to know if we can do that in English?

Thanks for your reply.

2
No. Maybe a nonbinding translation but you will have to sign the contract in local language.

Or are you the owner and letting out your flat?

3
If you are the owner, you can choose to write the contract in any language you deem.

The tenant may choose not to sign it... or worse, sign it, and then claim that it's not binding as they couldn't understand what they signed (that would be an interesting case I guess).

4
Yes you can write the contract in any language you want and even dictate the jurisdiction in which it is to be interpreted.

But to ensure that it will be valid you can only do it with a native English speaker or similar. Otherwise you need to have the tenant executed a power of attorney allowing another person with competence in the English language to sign it on their behalf.

Been there, did that, have the t-shirt (not in respect of rental contact)

5
So I concur with Jim, except for the fact that it should be drafted by an English speaker - been there 🤓 however I do include a clause that both parties understand the content - to be on the safe side, jurisdiction must be that of real estate location. At least in ZH, a translation is required in the event of dispute, that is another matter though, the costs will be carried by the losing party, or legal insurance. Hope this helps!

6
Changes to a rental contract, as well as giving notice, by the landlord can only be done lawfully and thus effectively on the official cantonal form.

Federal law gives the cantons the option to mandate the use of an official form for new rental contracts, in the entire canton or just parts of it, in times of WohnungsMangel (housing shortage?), which is defined in most cantons as less than 1-1.5% of empty dwellings on the market. Zürich for instance has such a requirement since 2013 (its first introduction happened much earlier, like in the 90ies). Zürich also demands that the new renter gets informed before signing about how much the previous renter paid, in other cantons the landlord must provide that information upon request or also in advance.

Zürich's not the only canton with that.

Cantonal forms will be available in the official cantonal language(s) only. Not sure if it's a good idea to use a freeform rental contract when you have to use official forms for everything else. Expect ambiguities and discrepancies.