What happened?

Sigh. It's just an ongoing system of inefficiency, where my side is pay SF and their side is......."crickets chirping". Lots of things really, including lack of action on maniac neighbours - midnight bench-pressing and vigilante games with dog turds. I am starting to think I am living in a David Lynch film. I just kind of lost it when after 8 months of trying to get our rent automatically deducted (including 3 months of hard labour by a very nice young bank officer to fix the problem by talking directly with the Regie) - they sent us a bill for 4 months back-rent. Which we don't owe.

I'll have whatever it is that you are drinking! :)

White wine, apéro time!

I feel for you... Humm, not much I/we can do, but insisting, calling, sending back that bill, and not letting you be trampled on is a way to go. As long as you know that you have paid what you really owe, you have nothing to fear.

Good luck, and venting is OK ;-)

Hi

Thanks for your response....I have heard so many mixed reviews about askloca - have you used them?

Part of our problem, is that we can't "prove" that the other tenants are being jerks, or breaking the law. Some people have advised us to move, but who is to say that the next building won't have a freak in it. Not to mention how damn hard it is to find something here.

Thanks

B

Hey

Thanks... the bill payment is just persistence I know...in French :)

B

Thanks Moonfleet!!

When the noise persists you can also call the police (You might have to insist a bit), who will come and file a report, you then have something concrete to go to the regie with. on everything else take photos if possible.

Also definately contact Asloca, they will definately help.

Simon

It's quite interesting to read you all  I have been working in a very well known Regie in Geneva and I do thank you all for the compliments..... however, I do agree that the situation in Geneva is not easy and that some of the collegues are not very efficient. My speciality was the collecting department and do believe me, that there are also tenants who do not pay their rents and my specialty were the procedures at the court. Now to ASLOCA, the thing is that they are just not objectif and as far as I am concerned they never won a case I was in charge of.... As to the noice of your neighbours, they (ASLOCA) cannot help and to  kick out noisy or bad neighbours it's about the most difficult, read impossible thing to succeed. So move ! that's the best you can do. Then call the Police everytime when they are noisy after 10 p.m. and before 7.00 a.m. They might finally get a find. If you need more advice on specific problems, you can write to me on glocals and I will be happy to meet up. Marianne

(I finally figured out who Regie is..!)

In Zurich a landord cannot act, unless you have proof of their bad behaviour,- so calling the police to make an official record is the way, also getting other neighbors on board.

A landlord can ask a bad tennant to leave, providing he has proof of bad behaviour and has issued written warning prior to cancellation of tennancy.

Here in Zurich folks use HEV (home owners association) for guidance re rentals etc, how is your german?

http://www.hev-schweiz.ch/home/mietrecht/

they do give advice in cases of dispute etc

hope this helps..

Hi Jana - just be aware that real estate law in Zurich and in Geneva is very different! In Geneva the tenants are so well protected, that it is nearly impossible to "throw" them out, unless they don't pay their rent anylonger and even then the procedures takes 18 months.

asloca, like any of these organisations, are happy to sign you up, take your money, and explain when you have a complaint, what YOU should do. they very rarely will act in your defense. only if you have a legal ground breaking problem, they will take it on only to create more notariety for their actions. but noise, rent, untidyness etc are all questions which they feel are not worth spending their time on. even though you've paid your money for just that purpose. same goes for "protection juridique" half the time they don't move their asses, and the other times they just tell you that "this particular problem is not covered in the insurance contract".

@ epicure

Sorry but I beg to differ!  Thanks to Asloca, I was able to win a court case that nobody believed we stood a chance to win. On a much smaller scale, they also helped me contest rent increases that were unjustified. 

I dont know what help they would provide in cases of noisy neighbours but it is worth  consulting them to find out.  They definitely can help with the back-payment issue by writing to the Régie.  It's true they are extremely busy, which I believe is a reflection of the high numbers of people who are experiencing problems with their Régies or owners in Geneva.  I cannot recommend them highly enough because it is thanks to their work that tenants can defend themselves in the current situation in Geneva where there is a great shortage of apartments and not much room to complain about genuine problems as the Régies know there are queues of people ready to move in as soon as a tenant moves out!

Hi Mozambique, I'm glad for you that you won the case  You don't need ASLOCA to contest rent increases, it's sufficient if you are writing to the Regie yourself.

Hi Geneva 99,

Unfortunately, it isn't usually sufficient to just write to your Régie to contest something.  Once the Régie has issued you with a demand, that contestation normally requires written reasoning and justification that needs to be well-documented and written in French!  That's where ASLOCA comes in.  They aslo assisted us with obtaining reimbursement from our insurance company which didnt want to pay us for losses.

I would agree with you that you can sometimes correspond with the Régie yourself. I had a long exchange of correspondence with my Régie to prove that they were  mistaken in continuing to ask me for rent back-payments which I did not owe them.  I was able to do this because I can communicate in French and I had all the elements to prove that I had already made the payments they were demanding.    

Ah Yes....the familiar response from the Regie - just move. Good idea. Why don't I just move to another, over-priced, apartment, at great cost, only to go through all this again, and only to have the Regie tell to move if I don't like it again. Brilliant. Instead, I think I will try to become a Regie. Seems great - money for nothing, you get to be rude all day to people who can't do anything about it.

Hi all
I have another Regie related issue. I would be glad if someone can help on this.

The problem is something like this :
I want to leave my apartment by the End of February and I have obviously paid the full rent of February. But my regie wants me to vacate the apartment on 26th February instead of 28th Feb or 1st March because 26th February is the last working day of the month. I think this is unfair as I have paid the whole rent and hence I should be allowed to stay for the whole month.
But they point out that somewhere in the contract it is written that I should leave on the last working day of the month. Off course, I did not read the fine print before signing the contract. But I still think it is a unfair clause in the contract especially since they have made me pay the full rent for the month.
Besides I can move into the new apartment only on the 1st of March, so am I supposed to stay in a hotel for the two days ?'

Does anyone know is this legal what they are doing or can I insist that I will leave only on 28th Feb ?

I will be very grateful if anyone can answer my question.
Thanking you in advance.
H