This is what management experiences when applying for flats: “An interested party wanted to bribe me for two to three months’ rent.”

class = “sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

The severe housing shortage in the centers is causing some people to get really creative when looking for a new home. In some cases, those looking to rent an apartment go far beyond the mark. Blick called property management companies.

“For us, around 10 percent of applicants put a lot of effort into creating a nice application dossier,” says Markus Nussbaum (49), managing director of Seitzmeir Immobilien. The company manages a number of properties in and around the city of Zurich. For particularly cheap and therefore sought-after objects, interested parties sometimes try a sweet bribe: “In very rare cases, someone puts a box of chocolates or a bar of chocolate inside the application form,” says Nussbaum.

But your stomach plays no role when choosing a future tenant. “Our internal policy clearly states that you are not allowed to accept gifts,” he says.

Photos and family visits

Searching for an apartment in Basel is much less frustrating for those affected. But as Fabian Halmer (40) explains, interest in particularly attractive – that is, cheap – properties is also quite high. Holinger is a member of Moll Immobilien’s management team and has also experienced how applicants want to influence management. “When the apartments are in great demand, people sometimes stop by the office with the whole family and enclose photos with the accompanying letter. “You’re trying to score points on an emotional level,” he says.

However, he has never been subjected to bribery attempts. “I find this extremely sensitive, and employees should not accept it,” Halmer says.

Steve Hess currently has over 400 apartment applications. “About 3 out of 100 files contain creative and motivational letters and photographs,” says the managing director of Anker Immobilien in Zurich. It might be worth it. “This increases the chances tenfold. It’s like applying for a job. “You want to present yourself as well as possible,” he says.

Applicants offer money for the apartment

But Hess sometimes encounters situations where he can only shake his head. “For example, some people offer me money in cold blood. One interested party, a student’s father, actually wanted to bribe me for two to three months’ rent. “As if we could afford to take bribes,” he says.

There are also more innocuous situations where someone brings a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates. “I always politely decline,” says Hess. But recently a young woman refused to accept that answer. “When I came to the office the next day, he gave me the same box of chocolates.”

The other candidates would impose their own sad fate on him. “In our last big follow-up, probably ten people told me they would be on the streets without a home within a week,” Hess says. However, this condition often occurs on one’s own. People have known for two or three years that they would have to leave their homes.

Source :Blick