When you rent a flat in Switzerland, the tenancy agreement includes a monthly advance payment towards service charges. This amounts to 100, 150 or 200 francs, depending on the flat. It covers heating, hot water and the cleaning of communal areas. All of this is included in that monthly amount, which you pay without fail alongside your rent. What many people don’t realise when they arrive is that this amount is an estimate, not the actual cost. And that at the end of the year, there’s a final adjustment.
The document is called a ‘decompte de charges’ or, if you’re in German-speaking Switzerland, a ‘Nebenkostenabrechnung’. If you’ve used less than estimated, you’ll get a refund. If you’ve used more, you’ll receive an additional bill. The difference can range from 50 francs to several hundred, depending on the winter and how you’ve set the thermostat. And almost everyone discovers this in their first year, with the same look on their face: “But I was already paying for it every month.”
There’s something else that causes confusion: in Switzerland, you don’t decide when the heating comes on. It’s the landlord or the building manager who decides, usually when temperatures drop below about 12 degrees and remain there for several days. You can turn the thermostat up or down inside your flat, but if the central heating system isn’t running, the thermostat can’t work miracles. In September or October, when the temperature drops at night but the flat isn’t yet warm, pretty much everyone finds this out.
What you can do: when you receive your rent statement, you are entitled to ask for a detailed breakdown of the calculation. And if something doesn’t add up, you can challenge it. In Geneva and Vaud, there are tenants’ associations such as ASLOCA or SOS Locataires that can help you check it. In other cantons, there are equivalent organisations, such as the MK (Mieterverband) in German-speaking Switzerland.