When arriving in Switzerland, searching for an accommodation and moving into your first Swiss home may prove to be an unforgettable experience. During your first house hunting visits, you may discover that:
- The apartment building provides little or no parking
- The bedrooms are tiny with no closet space
- The fridge is so insignificant that you didn’t think they even made them that small
- There are so few bathrooms you have to share
Once you find an accommodation and your moving-in day arrives you meet with the landlord for the entry inspection and you find out that:
- The former tenant left with all his light fixtures and window treatments. He took the curtain rods too! There isn’t even a light bulb left in the apartment, apart from the kitchen and bathroom. Only bare wires are hanging out from the ceiling.
- Once the landlord finds a light bulb, you see that the walls haven’t been repainted and are graced with numerous marks. The landlord explains that in Switzerland the walls are only painted every ten years. Then he takes you down to check out the laundry room and you discover that you are only entitled to a half a day a week and it’s during the week when you are at work. It is not usual to have a washing machine or dryer in your apartment. If you wish to install one you need prior authorization from the owner.
- At the end of the inspection, he hands you a number of keys but he is in a hurry and doesn’t have time to check out if all the keys actually work. Tip: You should receive 3 keys for your apartment and two keys for your mailbox, one for your storage, one for the garage, etc. If you are lucky, you might receive one key that opens everything. This is great, but beware if you lose a key because lock changes are expensive.
Once the landlord leaves, you want to get settled and:
- When you try to lock your door, it is impossible to turn the key so you try to call a locksmith. The landlord forgot to explain that you just need to pull up the handle, to enable the key to turn.
- You try to heat the oven, but it won’t heat so you call an electrician. As the apartment is new, the electrician simply didn’t plug them in.
- You have a beautiful fireplace and want to make a fire, but the landlord forgot to tell you that it was simply decorative.
- While leaving the laundry room, you have your first encounter with a Swiss bomb shelter. This is obligatory everywhere in Switzerland (in case of a Soviet attack!). In villas, they are usually used as storage. If your building does not have one, don't despair, there is a place reserved for you at the nearest communal building, just in case . . .
