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RentsFrom 2023, tenants will have a hard time, but not all at the same time
The rate that governs the fixing of rents remains stable this end of the year, but everyone is now certain that it will increase next year. And not just once.
The Asloca fears that many tenants will simply end up giving up the keys.
20min/Marco Zangger
Three percent next year, then three more the following year and so on: from 2023, many rent bills will rise, also for people who are already well settled in their homes. All eyes are on the reference interest rate, set by the Federal Housing Office (OFL) each quarter.
The calm before the storm
When it goes up, landlords can raise rents for their tenants. When it drops, they must, on request, lower them. On Thursday, the OFL set the rate at 1.25%, which is the same as since March 2020. Still, that’s just the calm before the storm, because everyone knows it will increase.
The banks expect it to rise to 1.5% in March 2023, the Confederation thinks it will be in the summer. However, a quarter point more is up to 3% more on the bill, or 60 francs per month for a rent of 2000 francs. In spring or summer, it’s a detail; what we know is that it’s here to stay. As the “Luzerner Zeitung” notes, the Cantonal Bank of Zurich expects “five increases over the next five years”. Current rents could therefore increase by 15% by 2027.
Last served the worst off…
Some tenants will be reassured, others not. Because the rule is well established: your landlord can only increase the rent if the new reference rate is higher than the one in effect when your current rent was established. Clearly, this will be bad news for all people who, for example, moved in after March 2020. As the rate has been stable since then, any increase in it may be passed on by the owner to the bill.
… but happy those who have been there for a while
For those who have had a lease since before 2020, it will all depend on what happened on a case-by-case basis. As the rate had dropped several times in previous years, any tenants who had not requested or obtained the corresponding rent drop would have to pass through the drops…at least until the rate climbs back to where it was at. time of signing.
And from there, each rise will make you put your hand in the wallet like the others. In figures: if you signed your lease in 2018, when the rate was 1.5% and your rent has not changed since then, you are safe for the expected increase in 2023, which will bring the rate to 1.5 %. And if you have been settled since 2008, when the rate was 3.5%, you have time to see it coming.
“The limits of the bearable have been reached”
In addition to rent increases for tenants already installed, there are also those relating to new contracts. Anyone looking for an apartment knows that the prices get crazy. “Since 2005, rents have increased by more than 22% while the general increase in prices has remained below 7%”, notes Asloca. Added to this the increases (gas, electricity) and the scarcity of available housing, the association expects difficult times. “We fear that there will be lease terminations next year because some households, without being responsible for it, will no longer be able to pay their rent”, writes the councilor for the States Carlo Sommaruga (PS / GE), president of Asloca.