Wow just read this tip from the @_MP’s blog.
Anyone tried it, or about to move and try it soon? 
This is one of the reasons why I’m concerned about renting out my apartment. Everyone runs to Mieterverband at the slightest issue.
There is however also a way for the landlord to protect themselves (as in justify the rent increase) by painting walls or re-doing floors between tenants because they can then argue that they increased the value of the property.
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Painting walls won’t help. re-doing floors only help if the new floor is more expensive than the old one but then the allowed increase is limited by the higher cost of the new floor compared to a same quality replacement.
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speaking about painting. I wonder if someone has a table of the renovation that the landlord must do after X year and the renovation that the tenants must NOT do after Y year if he’s leaving. I’m interested. I wonder if I have to clean some stuff that it’s clearly not my fault (aging paint etc…)
Unfortunately not available in English but maybe Google Translate does a decent job:
https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/mietrecht-beratung/ratgeber-mietrecht/unterlagen-tools/lebensdauertabelle.html
I only know this one that is the one that applies to me, but it’s in French: https://asloca-romande.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Tabelle_avertissement.pdf
Sure about this? Any first hard experience? I’m asking genuinely, as we will be moving soon and were planning on doing this. According to our calculations we could save 100.-/month, so I’m very inclined to trying.
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Quite strong allegation of widespread illegal activity. What do you base that on?
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Basically painting after 8 years should be done by the landlord if I got it right.
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Yes. This means that after 8 years they cannot ask you to pay for the paint. Mind you that the counter starts the last time they painted, not when you entered the apartment. However this does not mean that after 8 years they must paint it. Also, pro rata applies here so if only 4 years have gone by, for exemple, they can only make you pay (well, your insurance) half the cost.
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The MV told me that this is part of the cost of maintaining and renting the apartment for the landlord. As long as you’ve used the place “normally” and “reasonably”, they can’t ask you to pay for the paint for the next tenant. Same with holes in the walls, you’re allowed to make them to hang pictures and furniture, you just have to repair them to a decent enough standard when you leave which basically means filling them in with plaster but not repainting. As long as the walls are not drilled excessively and have become Swiss cheese.
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With raising interest rates, existing rents (usually connected to the referenzzinsatz per your contract) can/will be raised by your landlord/Verwaltung.
Currently the referenzzinssatz is 1.25% (since March 2020).
If this is the rate your rent is currently based on, then going forward every 0.25% increase allows the Verwaltung to raise the rent by 3%.
Expected change from 1.25 to 1.5% = summer 2023
possibly reaching 2.5% by 2025.
possible rent increase to be expected by 2025 = +15%.
Coming together with strongly increased Nebenkosten (heating etc) = Ouch!
"UBS geht auf der Basis ihrer eigenen Hypothekarzinsprognosen von einer «Normalisierung» des Referenzzinses in den nächsten Jahren auf einem Niveau von 2,5 Prozent aus. Analog rechnet auch die ZKB bis 2027 mit fünf Erhöhungsschritten in der Höhe von je 0,25 Prozent und einem Referenzzins bis 2025 von 2,5 Prozent. Für Mieter würde das bedeuten, dass die Nettomieten fünf Mal um rund 3 Prozent ansteigen. Dabei handelt es sich allerdings um ein Szenario."
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Die UBS, Raiffeisen und die Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) prognostizieren den erstmaligen Anstieg des Referenzzinssatzes bereits für März 2023
I guess not. 
Was rather close though. We’re at 1.33% average interest rate now, so the Referenzsinssatz will likely go up on June 1st.
If that’s the case - if I understand correctly - the letter with the rent increase would arrive in June, with a 3 month deadline (so you are able quit the apartment before the increase). This would mean at the earliest an increase for the October rent.
"Wednesday, March 1st, 2023 6:30am
Rents are likely to increase this year – and there’s no sign the price increases will stop.
Rising interest rates and inflation will prove to be a double blow to tenants.
Today the Federal Housing Office will publish a figure called the ‘reference interest rate’ which allows property owners to set rents.
Since it was introduced in 2008, the rate has only fallen. It started at 3.5% - and now is 1.25%.
Experts agree that the rate will rise this year – and it gives owners the right to raise rents.
In addition, owners can raise rents to counter the higher cost of living.
The bank UBS is predicting a rent rise of 20% by 2025 – and that’s not including inflationary increases. "
Sounds crazy. Can‘t imagine it yet.
In December they predicted a rise of about 15%.
Die UBS geht auf der Basis ihrer eigenen Hypothekarzinsprognosen von einer «Normalisierung» des Referenzzinses in den nächsten Jahren auf einem Niveau von 2,5 Prozent aus.
I guess, if you keep throwing out numbers, one of them is ending up to be accurate.
What will happen, a lot of people will contest the rent if the landlord increases it and if the renter goes to court he will win.
Most of the rents haven’t decreased with the decrease in interest rates.
It’s time to subscribe to legal insurance
They probably would have if the renters exercised their rights and requested it (in time).
Here in moneyland is a clear article in English explaining how the rent increase is calculated:
UBS forecast is 2.5% mortgage reference rate by 2025. That would result in +15% rent increase and not 20%. The article I pasted above may not have fully accurate reporting. I assume the 20% figure assumes inflationary rises in addition:
Lastly here is the link to federal site showing evolution of the mortgage reference rate (data goes back to 2008)
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A majority of people signed the rental agreement after 2019, when the Referenzzinssatz was already at 1.25%, so in those cases a rent increase would be allowed:
For all other renters, it was an them to ask for a reduction in rent, when the Referenzzinssatz decreased. So I’m not sure if an appeal would be successful.
I know how it is calculated, I just find it rather funny, that three big banks were wrong about when the first increase would take place. While it’s pretty clear what consequences the increases will have, it’s uncertain when the reference rate is going to move.
Goes to show that actually no one has a clue how fast the rents will really go up, it’s all speculation really.
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If rent is maybe somewhere between 15-25% of average household expenditure. Would this have quite the effect on inflation? But in a way that would likely not lead to a price spiral, because rent is not determined (much) by salaries?