Shock letters to households as authorities lash out: managements threaten tenants with dismissal

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Heavy mail for tenants: Households regularly receive reminders and threats of dismissal for allegedly paying too little rent. Managements demand rent increases, which they convey to their tenants during the summer months. Governments demand a higher reference interest rate, a fixed rate for inflation and, in many cases, cost increases.

However, many households complained against the rent increase. The large number of cases is putting authorities on the offensive in some regions, such as Zurich. That’s why many negotiations won’t happen until next year. During this period, administrations are not allowed to pass on planned rent increases to residents as they are not yet legally binding. “Some arrogant administrations are still demanding higher rents, sending reminders to tenants and even threatening to terminate the lease,” says Nicole Schweizer (36), co-head of legal advice at the Zurich Tenants Association.

The next increase is already pending

Many of the affected tenants sought help from the association following the shock letter. As Blick knows, one administration stands out in particular: Livit. Headquartered in Zurich, the Swiss Life subsidiary has nine branches across Switzerland and manages approximately 200,000 rental properties.

Livit was informed of the error several times. But management has sent out other reminders and firing threats in recent weeks. Why is this still happening? “If the tenant files an arbitration case, the landlord will be notified by the authorities. This may take a certain amount of time, especially if arbitration requests have not yet been processed due to the sheer volume of requests, the administration wrote on the request. “Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that we may have cases where tenants have received notice despite ongoing arbitration proceedings. We apologize if employees do not respond to such information.”

Meanwhile, for many households, the next rent increase is just around the corner. The Federal Housing Office raised the benchmark interest rate from 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent on December 1.

Source :Blick