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Survey: many potential tenants ‘lie’ to secure Swiss apartment

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Survey: many potential tenants ‘lie’ to secure Swiss apartment
Photo: Goodluz/Depositphotos

Apartment hunting in Switzerland is so competitive that one in seven people admit to having lied to get accepted, according to a new survey.

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Smoking, pets, musical instruments and bizarre hobbies are among the things that people lie about or fail to mention when applying to a landlord for a flat, according to the result of the survey by online comparison site Comparis.ch.
 
And most of the time it works, therefore the vast majority of liars would be prepared to do so again, it found.
 
Flat-hunters in Geneva and Lausanne are the biggest liars, with 20 percent (one in five) saying they have lied to secure an apartment. 
 
On the other side of the so-called röstigraben, only 12 percent of those surveyed in Bern said they had not been truthful on their applications. 
 
“It is not recommended to make false declarations on a rental application,” said Comparis.ch spokeswoman Nina Spielhofer. 
 
“Small irregularities in a potential tenant’s file can be easily compensated for by making a good impression during a viewing,” she added.
 
However 36 percent of those surveyed said they didn’t take particular care over their appearance when going for an apartment viewing. 
 
 
House-hunting in major Swiss cities is notoriously difficult, with low availability and high prices that figure among the most expensive in Europe. 
 
However experts say the rental market is slightly more favourable this year, with an increase in new-build apartments in recent years leading to a slight fall in prices.
 
Around 60 percent of Swiss residents rent a home rather than buy, although those who choose to purchase will benefit from extremely low interest rates for mortgages.
 

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