If you live in the cantons of Uri, Jura, or Graubünden, which are far from urban areas, you may be concerned about finding a replacement tenant. It's true that when terminating a lease early, the tenant is responsible for proposing a new tenant. However, when you are located far from major cities like Geneva, Zurich, Bern, Basel, or Lausanne, the task becomes more challenging. Here are some tips to successfully terminate your lease agreement.
When looking to rent out an apartment, it's obviously easier to find a tenant in a city like Geneva with over 200,000 inhabitants than in Zug with only 30,000. Therefore, a few tips will be helpful for exiting your rental contract early, even when far from an urban area. First, it's important to remember some basic principles. Terminating a lease agreement early in Switzerland is only possible if you find a replacement tenant who not only agrees to take over the terms of the rental contract you signed with the landlord but also meets all the necessary solvency requirements. As you can imagine, fulfilling these criteria is not always easy, especially when living in a village that is inherently less attractive than a large urban center.
While word-of-mouth can be sufficient to find the perfect tenant in Zurich, it becomes more uncertain in rural and mountainous cantons. When located far from an urban area, it is highly recommended to rely on a specialist in connecting outgoing tenants with prospective renters, such as SherlockHomes. This Swiss real estate expert offers you the opportunity to publish your apartment rental ad for free, even if you are not the owner. Moreover, for broad exposure, your ad will be distributed free of charge to over 20 real estate portals. SherlockHomes then manages the scheduling of visits based on your availability and collects application files. In other words, you only need to write your ad, provide photos and your availability schedule, and conduct property visits.
In addition to the property's characteristics and main terms of the rental contract (duration, rent, etc.), you can optimize your ad to attract a replacement tenant by emphasizing various points. In rural areas, there may be less activity but a certain quality of life, tranquility, and natural surroundings that you can highlight. Rents are also generally lower compared to cities. Therefore, be sure to specify the number of rooms, the size of the rooms, or the presence of a terrace. Additionally, reassure potential replacement tenants by mentioning the ease of access to a major city via train, for example.
This article cannot be exhaustive and does not engage the responsibility of its author.