Rental guarantee deposit invested

[gaijin]

@markus654

if you have damage that must be paid for from the rental deposit, then the landlord can also use the profits, as they are legally speaking still part of your rental gurantee deposit.

I disagree with this assessment. The contract between the tenant and the landlord has a number for the deposit (usually three months’ rent). There is no requirement for the tenant or the bank to make any amount beyond that number available to the landlord to cover damages.

About ten years ago, at a time when interst actually meant additional income on your money, I instructed my bank to transfer the interst income of my rental guarantee deposit to my current account. The bank executed my instruction (don’t know if they consulted with the landlord).

An additional FAQ on their website like ‘Can I withdraw profits from the account during my tenancy’ would be interesting.

[gaijin]

@markus654

I find a company that says “There are only upsides and no risks" not entirely honest.

Fully agree. I also find their use of logos of large property management companies a bit suspicious. It’s hard for me to imagine that all these companies use Evorest in a large scale.

Being a tenant myself, I really like this business idea. The only reason I’m not asking my landlord to consider it for my deposit is the current market situation (bubble with some potential to burst soon). If I were a landlord, I would probably not accept it for my tenants’ guarantee, since there are too many risks and not enough advantages.

[markus654]

@gaijin

I disagree with this assessment. The contract between the tenant and the landlord has a number for the deposit (usually three months’ rent).

That’s right. But you can’t withdraw the interest from a deposit account before it is closed either. I would therefore conclude that this becomes part of the security. Otherwise, the bank could simply pay out the interest directly!? There must be a reason why the bank doesn’t do that.

Unfortunately, Art. 257e of the Swiss Code of Obligations does not address this detail

@gaijin

There is no requirement for the tenant or the bank to make any amount beyond that number available to the landlord to cover damages.

As a tenant, you are of course liable for any damage that exceeds the rental deposit. You can’t cause hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs worth of damage to your apartment and then say, “Too bad, there’s only 15k in the rental deposit account” to your landlord.

That this has nothing to do with the bank is clear

[markus654]

Hhm, the canton of St. Gallen says:

Ist nichts Gegenteiliges vereinbart, sind die Zinsen auf dem Konto - wie das Konto selbst - dem Zugriff der Mietparteien entzogen und bilden mit der ursprünglichen Sicherheitsleistung zusammen das erweiterte Sicherheitssubstrat. In der Praxis werden die Zinsen häufig vertraglich aus der Haftung ausgeklammert

Source (PDF)

English translation

Translated with DeepL:

If nothing to the contrary has been agreed, the interest accrued on the account-like the account itself-is withdrawn from the access of the rental parties and, together with the original security deposit, forms the extended security substrate. In practice, the interest is often contractually excluded from liability.

I understand it this way: interest rates are part of the security, but in the end it depends on the contract. Or as a lawyer would say (I’m not one): It depends!

On the other hand, I’m not sure if the PDF is really reliable. Since it actually deals with tax issues.

So… in the end, what’s in the Evorest contract is probably what matters.

Or maybe I’m misunderstanding something… that’s possible.

[gaijin]

@markus654

But you can’t withdraw the interest from a deposit account before it is closed either.

Yes, you can. At least I could withdraw it 10 (maybe even 15) years ago. But as alluded by @cray times might have changed and banks make it unattractive to withdraw.