Rents will rise next year. If you don’t pay, you can be expelled – within a fairly short period of time.
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the essentials in short
- Rents and bills will rise next year.
- Those unable to pay could be expelled from the apartment in a short time.
Housing is becoming more and more expensive. UBS came to this conclusion in October. The bank’s belief is that the mortgage’s benchmark interest rate will rise. This is due to inflation and rising interest rates.
The benchmark interest rate should be raised as early as March. By the end of 2023, it could increase by up to 6%. This means that if you pay CHF 2,000 of rent today, you could pay CHF 2,120 next year.
Depending on the inflation rate, rents could increase by up to 20% by 2025. 2000 would then become 2,400 francs.
This could get some tenants in trouble. “Tenants often reach their limits when signing a tenancy agreement,” says city councilor and spokesman for the tenant association of Zurich, Walter Angst, of the “Tagesanzeiger”.
Can you afford a rent increase?
“If the rent increases by 300 or 400 francs, many find themselves in financial difficulties.” Mere relocation is out of the question for many due to commuting to work, social networks or children.
Failure to pay could result in eviction
But it’s not just rents that are going up, bills will also weigh heavily on your wallet. Here, rising gas and oil prices are likely to cause headaches for tenants.
“If there is an additional payment of 1,000 francs on the table when heating and ancillary costs are billed, this puts many families in emergency,” says Angst zu Nau.ch. In these cases, the tenants’ association expects the landlords to make payment in installments possible.
We recommend that you react immediately if it is not possible to pay this invoice within the specified period. Otherwise, an unpleasant scenario arises here: if the ancillary costs or the rent are not paid on time, the landlord can threaten to terminate the contract.
If you don’t pay within 30 days, you can be expelled from your apartment after another 30 days. Angst even considers it “possible” that more insolvent tenants will be evicted next year.
The rent increases can be contested
However, fear has another suggestion. He recommends that you consider contesting the rent increase.
After all, the benchmark interest rate has dropped steadily since it was introduced in 2008. However, landlords often haven’t passed it on to their tenants. Those who can prove exactly this have a relatively good chance.
Important: “Anyone who does not intervene in the first 30 days after receiving the first rent increase loses all rights to the reduction,” Angst told the “Tagesanzeiger”.
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