I signed up to try and shed some light on your questions as have first hand experience on this which I hope is useful as there’s often a fair bit of conjecture!
- You do not have to be married and do not need a contract between you. When purchasing the property, there are different structuring options but the easiest is to likely register in the land register as joint owners whereby you each own a 50% share of the land and property title. This is a very simple process at the notary and of zero complication whatsoever.
The only thing to warn you about though is by not being married, it’s complicated if you a) break up and have different views on how to deal with property, b) one of you dies. The estate will not automatically flow to each other. Also smaller things like disagreement on property expenses. This is where a notarised cohabitation agreement could protect both your interests in respect of all these cases (and a notarised will!). This is optional however from a legal standpoint.
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Marriage has no impact on your ability to use pillar 2 and 3 in a withdrawal or pledge for property. If you take the 50% share example, you can each individually use your pension pillars. The banks will be happy to combine your total funds. Any mortgage you enter will be on a joint and several basis in both of your names, ie if one you stops or can’t pay, the other is equally liable in law for the full amount.
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Imputed rent is added to your taxable income, as a non-married couple you would get 50% each. And 50% each of your mortgage interest, maintenance costs, property costs etc are tax deductible in your own tax calc. The easiest way for more info is talk to the tax authority, play with the tax return calculator and/or talk to a tax accountant. In my experience, the imputed rental income adds a pretty negligible impact to your total tax bill (and for reference talking a +2m property here). Current mortgage interest will negate a large portion of any additional income.
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Is more complicated as many personal circumstances come into play as well as country you are moving to. Based on legal opinion I obtained however, if you had the right to buy, you will never be forced to sell (not talking in credit default circumstances). You can own property if you move overseas, you do not need to sell. Not all B permits are created equal but as an EU B you have all the same property rights as a citizen. The crucial thing for property ownership is status at time of purchase, not what happens after. Also as a resident as time of purchase, you are not bound by and of the Lex Koller restrictions if you have been reading about those.
Something to bear in mind however and this is really key due to size of Swiss mortgages, your bank will demand more deposit if wanting to switch from primary residence to rental. And the really big one, they may not allow your mortgage to be overseas. If your bank is one of the big ones, they may be able to work with you to see if tax rules, legal rules in other countries will allow them to continue to facilitate a CHF mortgage or not. They also need to consider your default risk. If you are out of country, do they have the appropriate legal framework and protections to pursue you for default? This is the hardest piece. I have never tried to pursue further but based on conversations in the hypothetical with the bank, you will have mixed success. Also depends how many other assets etc you can offer the bank - your mileage will vary, it’s a business risk decision for them.
Hope that helps!