Why and how?

Learn why fair rents are important and how you can fight against excessive prices on kreispreis.ch. Learn from the founder's personal experience and his motivation for creating this platform.

What is fair and what is abusive?

When exploring kreispreis.ch, you will find clues to help you answer this question for your current situation.

For a rental apartment, a maximum return of 3.5 percent is allowed.

For newer buildings, up to 1.5% is added depending on the situation.

To spare others my situation

I had to leave my sublease due to the needs of the main tenant.

Fortunately, something happened by chance in the neighborhood at short notice. However, despite the same size, the rent was more than twice as high, and the standard of the apartment was not particularly better.

Missed the 30-day deadline

You can challenge and review the initial rent up to 30 days after the handover of the keys at the conciliation authority after signing the contract. This does not apply to all regions in Switzerland, but in Zurich it is always possible due to the prevailing housing shortage. It is important that you act despite moving stress.

For the approximately equal number of square meters, I now pay more than twice as much compared to the previous rent of the other apartment: CHF 2,800.– instead of 1,200.–.

Rental yields are legally limited depending on the situation. I pay way too much because I missed the 30-day deadline and can no longer challenge the initial rent, even though it seems significantly higher than the nationwide guideline

Why kreispreis.ch?

To help others better assess their situation, I decided to visualize the data points from Zurich and automate certain components that help with the challenge.

I see this project as an opportunity to simplify the process and raise awareness of tenants' rights.

It is important to me to raise awareness among people that they do not have to simply accept a high rent.

Being right is not the same as getting it right

The whole process is tedious, complicated, and lengthy. It currently takes a lot of patience and time to check the rent, and the chances of success are also not certain in every case. Nevertheless, it is important that you at least know your rights and inform yourself, and know that you do not have to accept everything.

A good location does not necessarily justify a high rent

If you suspect that your rent is too high, start a dialogue with your landlord, make use of your rights, and check the rent for abusiveness.

City of Zurich Open Data Catalog

Kreispreis is based on rental and housing data from the City of Zurich's Open Data Catalog.

Insights into the Open Data Catalog

Tsüri.ch – In focus at the city magazine

For ten years, the city magazine has been researching the housing crisis and gentrification.

Exciting insights into the city