Hi Kamran

Sorry you have had such a rough time. I suggest you join the Association Suisse des Locataires who will be able to give you advice and support. Their website (in French) is www.asloca.ch

Good luck

Marianne :-)

Hi,

I just saw your comments and really do not understand it.

I came to Switzerland 6 months ago with my family and hired A1 Relocation. They were fantastic, found me the perfect place and got it !!!!! which is a miracle in Geneva. The follow up was very professional and they were very proactive.

From my understanding, it is perfectly ok that the real estate agency or agent keep the bank guarantee until all damages and issues are resolved in a proper manner. I am sure they gave you your money back. They have a very good reputation in Geneva and I will spread the word that this reputation is true.

I don't think there is any mistreatment here, maybe a lacking of professionalism, but no mistreatment.

You obviously signed a contract with this company before taking the appartment, on doing so it is YOUR responsability to make sure everything is in order and any discrepensies in the appartment duly noted and reported.

By swiss law if you notice things that are not correct, and you do nothing about it, you are accepting the situation.

The fact that you noticed there were things broken, and did nothing to have them fixed then you have no proof that they were broken before you moved in and are thus responsible for the state they are in now.

If they were damaged by workmen that the regie had come to the appartment you should have complained immediately, if you did not then you have once again put the responsability back on to your shoulders.

It is 100% legal for the company you hire the appartment from to withold the deposit until the damages have been repaired. Pay the damages then get your money back, but I would advise you to look over your contract again to make sure that there is no clause where they can keep the totality of your deposit in the case of damages.

I wish you the best and hope you will be more dilligent next time, I know it sucks, and nobody tells you these things before hand, but unfortunately that is the way the system works over here.

That company may have worked well for you and not for someone else. In this case, it does not matter whether you understand it or not as you should not assume that everyone gets the same service. You cannot vouch for anyone else's experience other than your own.

I wold take a look at your contract with the relocation agency and I would also immediately consult with lawyers at ASLOCA as mentioned above.

There are some very irresponsible relocation agencies out there who work more on behalf of the landlords than the client.

A relocation agent with professional standards should indeed assist you with the apartment walk through as well as noting any problems. I have experience with friends who used relocation agents who acted in seriously unprofessional ways, including neglecting to assist tenants in these basic matters.

I am not certain why a relocation agent might be holding any deposit from you unless they are also the owner/manager of the apartment.

Before contacting the ASLOCA lawyers, try to reconstruct a timeline of your experience of the events and assemble all the documents. If they own or manage the apartment, they must also show a proof of an "etat de lieu" -- the state of the apartment when you moved in -- that nothing was wrong and that you signed off on this.

Do not give up. Consult an ASLOCA lawyer immediately.

And thanks for posting about your experience from your point of view. The more people who complain about poor and unprofessional service the better for the expatriate community.

Thanks Translator for your comments and sorry Kamran for what happened to you!

Relocation agents are expensive in Geneva and therefore should work on behalf the clients (though they have to pamper the regies as well due to the lack of apartments). To my mind the agents should do "l'etat de lieu" at least together with the client.

Please correct me if I am wrong but everybody who moved over to Geneva once knows that details like a broken plank can slip your attention...

So a relocation agent, to my mind, also has a sort of backup function as he/she is based here and knows the rules. Though I can confirm that they are not always willing to do it despite being kicked into the...

To make a long story short: Best is to contact ASLOCA (as mentioned above). You pay 80 CHF for a one year membership and have access to English speaking lawyers.

Hope that helps.

Or have the door repaired yourself. There are some handy-men on glocals who offer their services in the forums and might do it for a reasonable price:

http://www.glocals.com/forums/?forum_search=handy&forum_network=-1&x=0&y=0