We left our apartment recently to move to another part of Geneva. For 2 years we had been renting this beautiful apartment. We were sorry to be leaving it, but a change in personal circumstances dictated so.
Our appointment was set for the état des lieux de sortie and we frantically prepared the apartment for this momentous occasion in the life of a locataire genevoise. We had read a lot about these inspections and, as we turned up for the Monday meeting, our feeling was one of apprehension.
As it turned out, the inspection went pretty well. The representative from the régie was cordial and complimented us on the cleanliness and general state of the apartment. Then he got to the stove hood. He opened it up and discovered that we hadn't changed the filter.
Bügger!
Fair enough, it was written that we were responsible for replacing the filter and we hadn't done it. One black mark was noted down onto the sheet and the inspection continued. By the end of the walk-through, "filtergate" was the only crime we could be accused of. The friendly chap informed us that we should find a replacement filter by Friday before he could release our hefty deposit. We signed our état des lieux document and went back to our lives.
Thursday arrived and we hadn't yet found the correct filter for their rather outdated stove ventilation thing. We informed the régie over email that it was unlikely we would hit our deadline. If they could find the correct filter, we would be happy to receive the bill. We included a copy of the état des lieux document as a reminder of our obligations.
The following Monday, a letter dropped into the mailbox at our new residence. Exciting! Everyone loves mail! No. It was from the régie. Now, these letters in French are always littered with niceties, buttering up the reader with "your message received our utmost attention" and a whole paragraph dedicated to their distinguished sentiments, but between the lines the actual message was slightly more sinister.
Firstly they told us that they would sort the filter and will duly send us the bill. Cool. But there was something else. Apparently they had conducted the entrance inspection with the new tenant and had a few more things to add to our naughty list. Hold on? Hadn't we already signed off? Well, apparently not. It turns out we were stupid enough to not notice that the gentleman from the régie hadn't signed the document.
Bügger!
The letter pointed out that the document we possessed was not legally binding as only one party had signed. So he was kind enough to enclose a new copy, with his signature added next to ours, backdated to the date of the exit inspection. The galling part was that this cheeky chappy had added a number of items to the list of felonies we had committed. To a document we had already signed! Now, we are not legal eagles but surely this is somehow fraudulent? Among the items we were charged for was the cleanliness of the apartment. Hold on again? Hadn’t he told us throughout the inspection that the apartment was clean? We were given another deadline of Friday to sort out our mess or be forever condemned to the naughty step.
After spending 24 hours in a state of shock we decided something should be done. A bit of research on glocals and other places led us to the angels at ASLOCA. We gathered our documentation went to their offices during the “sans rendez-vous” hour and waited to be seen. 20 minutes later we were attended to by a pleasantly serious young lady who seemed rather dissatisfied by the actions of the régie. We also appreciated the fact that she politely tried to hide her disappointment that we dimwits could let the régie leave without signing the document.
After reviewing our case she turned to her computer and wrote a beautifully-worded letter about how the régie’s latest message had “received our utmost attention” and “we salute them distinguishably etcetera”. But between the lines it was quite punchy. It referred back to the document we signed originally, contested all the items added illegally and my favourite part was when it brazenly asked: “why would we sign a document that was incomplete?”
We popped that one into the mail and waited for their next move.
Their response was received the following Monday. There was no mention of ASLOCA in the letter we sent, but I’m sure the régie sensed that a stupid foreign-type could never have composed such a note. Their climb-down was spectacular. Obviously they told us that our letter received their “utmost attention” (you betcha!) and they will now retract their claim for all additional items. They will send us the bill for the filter in due course and hope that we receive their distinguished sentiments from the heavens above.
The moral of this tale is that as an expat in Geneva, there are seemingly professional folk out there trying to get one over on you all the time. They will twist, bend and break the rules to their advantage. Do not allow yourselves to be pushed around in this town. If something doesn’t seem right, challenge it. If you’re in the right, you will generally get your way, but unfortunately you sometimes have to fight for it. And if it’s related to tenancy, join ASLOCA. We probably didn’t need them in this case, but they gave us the confidence to challenge this absurd attempt at fraud.
Because of the blatantly illegal move by the régie to amend an already signed document, followed by their swift retraction of the claims, the temptation is there to take this further - I smell blood! But we don’t have the time or wherewithal to get into something like that.
All the best!
R
