I feel totally taken advantage of by a Swiss landlady in Verbier. It’s quite long to explain but I’ll provide a little back ground so you can grasp why I made the decision to pay her & agree to an annual rental contract 😣
I spent the last ski season (21/22) in Verbier skiing and decided I’d like to work there.
I’m a Uk qualified Pharmacist, British citizen with only a British passport. (Enough said!)
Applying for a work/residence permit has been somewhat a challenge or I’d say absolute fun and games that were not funny!!
Initially I was told by a Pharmacist and pharmacy owner ( my future employer) that I’d only need to get my Pharmacy degree certificates recognised by the Swiss medical board - of which I did and it took 4/5 months costing 800chf. Upon receiving this I was assured many times by my future employer that this is all I needed and he’d take care of the rest. I’d explained i only had a British PP but he was adamant he’d sort the rest out.
So I decided to look for an apartment in verbier near to the pharmacy. As it’s almost impossible to find anything during ski season. I found an Ad on Verbier community on Facebook for a studio next to the pharmacy. I contacted the landlady and she was very quick to talk contracts and deposits and that so many people are interested in the studio & I needed to give an answer in 3 days.
I had to be quick or I’d lose out. I’d been looking for a while from Mar-May and this came up in June.
Now the pharmacist owner told me he knew her and she was a friend and she also said she knew him. He told her I was working there but that was not the case - I’d helped out for a couple of hours here and there during my ski vacation unpaid to learn the basics as my French isn’t up to scratch.
Anyway I took the plunge to pay her 3 months rent and a months security. (£4K) in total. As I didn’t want to lose the place plus I thought I would be working soon.
I also agreed to a contract online. I didn’t view the place as I was in the Uk waiting on my paperwork as I’d already spent 90 days in verbier.
After receiving my letter from the Swiss medical board I’d asked them if this was all I needed to work in Switzerland and she replied with: I needed ‘permission to work’ from the health minister and then to apply for a permit both stages can take up to 3 months and there’s no guarantee for a permit as it’s on a quota basis.
The lady from the immigration said it’s forbidden to work w/o the permit.
I quickly relayed the information back to the pharmacist and explained I’d paid ‘his friend’ the landlady. I also explained the situation to her but she said you’ve agreed to an annual rental where the price of low summer months is equal to peak winter months and basically I needed to find a replacement or I’ve lost 4 months of rent.
I copied all parties in to an email two pharmacist business partners and landlady to try and look for a solution but nothing. I even suggested that she give me 2 months back and she can keep 2 months as I’ve made the mistake. But no, she declined. She said shes away and nothing she can do.
Anyway I tried fo sublet for at least two months and nothing. Anybody that was interested she wanted a yearly contract and wanted so many additional checks (none of the checks she’s carried out on me!)
Nobody is willing to pay double in the summer, I even tried lowering the rate and nothing - she even said in a message that it’s impossible to rent in summer. Hence why I feel she lied to me in June saying she had so many people interested - when I asked her to contact them, they’d disappeared ??
When she finally came from holiday she said she’d help me by re- advertising and to try and re coop some monies back for me.
By that time I’d told her I wasn’t interested in working for these guys and felt pretty let down and misled and somewhat naive for not carrying out my own due diligence earlier on.
Once she was back she said I’ve found someone else and what’s yours I’ll give you back.
A week later she tells me that she has a 3yr contract in place - starting in November after my three months has ended - with a hotel and is waiting on the deposit. So I asked her for two months back and she said NO WAY I am not sharing your mistake !!
I’ve spoken to the HR lady at this hotel and she has agreed a contract is in place and that a deposit has been paid.
I carried on looking for a possible replacement but nothing !!!
My question now is, is she allowed to bind a foreigner into a yearly contract who doesn’t have the right to live or work in Switzerland? It doesn’t make sense - she made no checks but was very quick to take my money.
Also she hasn’t put the monies into an account in my name or used a swisscaution. It was all very quick and I feel I have been manipulated and taken advantage of.
I’ve tried to contact some lawyers on this to see if shes allowed to take out another contract on the same place whilst my contract is still active ? As neither of us have formally terminated the lease. Is this a requirement or can word of mouth or text messages be taken as word to end the contract?
Its difficult to speak to anybody to get solid legal advice. I’m not a member of ASLOCA as I’ve not really lived in Switzerland. I’ve tried to join but I know I can’t use them straight away. The three months rent will end on 30th September.
I been so distressed and down over this matter as she is so agressive and shows no empathy or compassion. I told her the situation 2 weeks after paying and she’s known that it’s been sat empty all this time. I’ve since found out after that she doesn’t have a good reputation in verbier :-(
If you’ve read this far - thank you, any help would be much appreciated
Best Rosie