Buy swiss property as EU B Permit

Hi !

I’ve been reading a lot in this forum, and the information i read have been really helpful. Hence, I’d like to ask your opinion regarding our dilemma.

Here is our situation. Non-eu & EU. Married. Both of us have been here in Switzerland for some time and are on B permit. I will aim to get the C and eventually the Swiss citizenship (~2.5 years time).

We have quite some liquidity that is enough to buy an apartment. It has always been our goal to invest in property. And given the stable economy and leveraged capital gains in real estate in Switzerland, we were thinking to buy here. However, given all these, we do have a prospect to leave Switzerland eventually and move to my partner’s home country (Slovakia). And if we do have to leave the country (after becoming Swiss, in about 5 to 10 years maybe), we’d like to rent the property.

Given that we are on a B permit now, are we allowed to buy a property to live while we are here, and then eventually be able to rent it? I am asking because we wouldn’t want to sell the property in that short time span. Note that by the time we leave, if all goes well, I should have the Swiss citizenship already. Will this be sufficient Or does the permit matter at the time of buying?

We have the capacity not to withdraw/pledge the second pillar, so restrictions caused by that should be avoided. However, ideally we’d like to pledge it so we can use the remaining cash as an additional liquidity for other investment streams.

If you change your plan and want to rent the property, it won’t be possible with your B permit.
You’ll be able to keep it as second residence and not forced to sell it.
You’ll need your C permit to rent it.

What if one has C and there other one B, and they both own the place 50-50? Can it be rented out then?

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Thanks for the reply!
does all permit restrictions apply when you buy the property? It does not matter if I become Swiss at the time of renting it?

If you are a EU citizen you can buy to lend with a B permit! I am doing it without any issues

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Do you have any references to this? Somehow I cannot find a reliable source online that this is possible. I am non-EU and SO is EU. Would that affect the right to rent?

Apparently you can buy to live but not to rent. Sorry but my source is I’m french:

https://notaires-geneve.ch/fr/activites-immobilier-je-suis-etranger

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Thank you for the link!

Apologies for bumping an inactive topic, but I haven’t been able to find a clear answer to this…

I’m in the same boat - EU citizen here on a B permit, considering buying an apartment, but in the longer term I might at some point move back to my native country in the EU.

This is all a bit theoretical for now, but let’s assume I buy an apartment with a mortgage, get the C permit, and decide to leave Switzerland. Would I be allowed to rent out the apartment, or would I be forced to sell it? I’ve read quite conflicting views on this online, some say it should be fine if you have a C permit (although I would lose it if I leave?), others say the mortgage provider can tell you that you have to sell.

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Hi there, replying here directly. so we have progressed in this aspect since i last wrote here. We decided not to buy a property here after we discussed with our bank. The main reason is that al though you are not “forced” to sell, the mortgage provider may not agree to extend/refinance your mortgage when the time comes. Also with c permit, indeed you can only leave maximum 4 years.

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Yes, at least it was my case.

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