is there any indication of what the Referenzzinssatz is likely to be on 2 June?
eyeballing the graph, Iâd say no, the slope going down doesnât look as steep as the slop going up. Maybe by december tho.
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As expected, no changes (actual is 1.44%). Might drop in 3 months tho.
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Update: They waited for June (no change) announcement, and proactively sent the rent reduction follow-up letter, starting Oct 1st.
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Iâve decided against it. Itâs a gamble that rates will raise again and break even is reached within a few years. Basically the gains from a reduced rent are roughly half of a future rent increase. This is due to the factors inflation and maintenance costs. At least in my case. I suggest to calculate it for yourself.
Mine didnât, and they also ignored the first letter I dropped directly in their mailbox at the start of the month when it became official there would be no changes, so I just shelled the ~7 required to get a registered letter delivered to the same building as the post office.
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Got my rent reduction today, and even had a reduction based on (negative) inflation (-0.2) over the past year (since the previous increase).
But they sneakily added 14 CHF/month in extra costs! I will request a detailed description of those costs, that seems really high.
What date did they use for calculating the inflation when they increased your rent? Not October 2023? The rent was increased for April 2024, but the notification for the rent increase was delivered in 2023.
If you use October 2023 as start date and May 2025 as end date then the inflation change is +1.1%.
31.05.2024 to 31.05.2025. I have a yearly contract, from October 1st. Very common in Lausanne.
Weâre at 1.25% starting tomorrow.
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Starting effectively in April, next year. At least for us unfortunates with only two termination dates per year.
Question is for how long the rate will remain at or under 1.25%. Basically for every two years with a lower rent, it takes roughly only one year with a higher rent to break even. Increasing maintenance and inflation costs does that. Then youâre better off to have not asked for a lower rent in the first place.
Looks like now is the time to ask for rent reduction for me 
I was wondering if my rent was set in July 2020 and was increased 5.25% only in April 2024, am I actually entitled for rent reduction?
I did the check and it seems just inflation (7.2% since 5 years) & costs (0.5% per annum) would entitle my landlord to increase rent by 5.5% and hence my rent is actually at par versus what it should be (assuming reference rate is now flat)
What should I base my decision on?
NZZ has an article on this and references an online calculator by the Mieterverband:
Note that you wonât get displayed a result at the end of clicking through the online calculator, but youâll have to enter contact details where theyâll send you the results.
I assume thatâs just their spiel to encourage you to sign up as a member, but I didnât really follow through.[MV]
MV We're a member, but we have a gentleman's agreement with our landlord that neither party will ask for adjustments regardless of where the *Referenzzinssatz* goes.
Of course the story went as follows:
We won't ask for the rent to be lowered now, but I'm pretty sure I'll remind our landlord that we're sticking to the initial agreement.
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Thanks I tried this.
The calculator allowed me to see the results if I uncheck the last box
The tool says 5.6% rent increase is justified due to inflation / costs
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Ah, nice, thanks for pointing this out!
The calculator tells me that our landlord could increase our rent by 3.75%.
Maybe Iâll stay quiet about lecturing him that weâre sticking to the gentlemanâs agreement ⊠
(although in fairness we did agree per handshake that the rent would stay the same unless the Referenzzinssatz would change significantly. There was no talk about inflation or anything else. Of course, inflation was an imaginary unicorn back in 2018, already extinct for years âŠ)
Edit: Also perhaps interesting to see how the other side â HauseigentĂŒmerverband â argues: Der hypothekarische Referenzzins fĂŒr die Mieten sinkt erneut - HEV Schweiz
In our case we as renters pay all the Nebenkosten (aside from building insurance) and there were no investments from the owner that would increase the property value per se or energetically, so maybe Iâll still lecture the owner about adhering to the gentlemanâs agreement âŠ
Yeah I think it all depends on landlord. I am wondering if I should atleast ask the question. Maybe landlord will say that rent cannot be changed because of XYZ .
Just want to avoid getting an increase instead of decrease
To double confirm, as it always confuses me, if I started living in the new building on Aug 1st this year where the contract says 1.75% and itâs 1 year minimum contact, regardless this is now 1.25%, I can only ask for something at least 11 months from now? (if of course the index is still lower then 1.75%)?
Always starting at the next possible cancelation date, so for most itâs 31.03.2026. For you it should be 31.07.2026.
If your rent was increased last year, the calculation resets from that date, how come the calculator gives you that much from inflation?
I tried to compare the rent I had 5 years back when I signed the contract. At that time reference rate was also 1.25%
so looking at difference between July 2020 and September 2025, the increase due to inflation and other costs add up to 5,6%
I think it would be a bit weird to ask for rent reduction if the current rent (+5.25% vs 5 years ago ) is same as what it should be considering inflation etc
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