Martina P. paid 5,000 francs for a good word from her host

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One’s sorrow is another’s joy: few tenants are shamelessly exploiting severe housing shortages, especially as those looking for flats in big cities are on the verge of despair. Their trick: if you leave late, a new tenant’s advice can be paid to property management – and expensively.

Blick reader Martina P.* (40) lived through an obvious example. He had been looking for a long time for an apartment in the city of Zurich that was not overly expensive and – which was important to him – with a balcony. “I’ve seen a few apartments but none of them fit my criteria.”

preferential treatment for cash

At the beginning of 2023, an apartment on the Homegate real estate platform caught his attention: two rooms with balconies, well-located in the Seefeld district of Zurich, with a relatively low rent of CHF 1,400 per month. He inspected the apartment “with an estimated hundred other interested parties”. It is immediately clear to P.: “This is my dream apartment. I must have it!”

The previous tenant leaves the flat outside of the agreed period and is obliged by law to propose the new tenant to the administration. He wants to profit from it, as P. said: “He asked me for 5,000 francs.” In return, he promised P. that he would recommend him to the property management as the next best tenant. He didn’t want to talk about all the other interested parties.

9000 francs at the top

But that’s not all: he demands 500 francs for his old furniture, which he no longer needs and does not want to move out of the apartment. “Under it is a heavy, worn-out cheap sofa,” says P. But he really wants that flat. P. understands that the previous tenant’s advice is important and there is a lot of competition. So it accepts or even exceeds the terms: “I offered the tenant to clean.” So he won the case.

The previous tenant proposes Martina P. as the sole new tenant. And indeed: Martina P. gets the flat. The advice, the purchase and disposal of the furniture, the cleaning and the deposit of two months’ rent cost them a total of 9,000 francs. Still, “I would do it again,” she says.

Tenants’ association critically view payment

Walter Angst (61), co-chairman of the Zurich tenants’ association, criticizes the payment of 5,000 francs. He says: “The previous tenant is committing immorality. But the next tenant will have little chance of taking legal action against the previous tenant, even if he gets rich without providing a service. »

Pralines, children’s photos and drawings

Other home seekers Blick spoke to have similar stories. Like Martina P., they want to remain anonymous because they fear the disadvantages when looking for an apartment. They report never-ending queues when viewing apartments. “You know it’s unlikely that an additional charge for the apartment is possible,” one says. Many applicants reach for their number bags, bring chocolates with them to the interview appointment, hand over carefully designed files, and attach photos of their children.

Others report sending a self-drawn picture of the house with the application letter to show how serious they are about the application. Or they suggest that landlords pay a higher rent than they want. According to the tenants association, the latter is illegal: unlike the sale of an apartment, landlords cannot place the bid to the highest bidder at the time of rental. Rather, the lease should be based on the mortgage interest rate. This is done using the reference interest rate.

*Last name changed

Source :Blick