" Hello everyone, my wife and I are moving to the Zürich area from Germany next year. We have temporary housing arranged for the first 2-3 months, but are looking for an apartment after that. Here in Germany, we were able to find an apartment without having to go through an agency-- which normally costs one or two months rent. (And, unlike back home in the US, the agents here in Germany don''t do ANYTHING besides giving you a phone number and address). Is it possible to find a place on your own with a little bit of effort in Switzerland (through newspapers, online ads, etc.)? I can''t see us paying 2000-3000 CHF (or more) to an agency for an apartment. Also, I saw somewhere in a discussion here that Swisscom attempts to collect a 500 CHF deposit for a new telephone connection. Is there any way around this? Thanks for your help! Mark Rakozy "

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" Cécilia Koch - 03:59pm Feb 7, 2001 Look at these pages for flats. http://www.wohnungen.ch http://www.swissclick.ch http://www.schweizerinserate.ch http://www.ws-immobillien.ch http://www.anzeiger.ch/ambassador http://www.immopool.ch http://www.utoalbis.ch http://www.truegum.ch http://www.fundgrube.ch Unfortunately there is no way to around the deposit of Swisscom. Regards Cécilia "

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" Mark I have a habit of giving other people a chance to answer first before I add my 2 cents worth. So I apologise to others if I beat you this time. Please feel to add more. There are several online sites for Zurich and also various papers that you can use. The lead time for picking up an apartment is about 2 months so now is a good time. When I first came here I was ""ripped-off"" with an agency that did as you described (ie nothing other than provide phone details and take a 1 month rental fee). You should be close enough to check out the place once you start negotiations. Some of these sites have been ""published"" on other threads many times so look through the old threads. Other tricks for apartments are NK and parking. NK is a chf100-200 charge for heating and additional costs. Make sure it is included or this is added on top of the rent. Parking is usually also an extra cost. Rental is usually paid one month in advance at the end of every month (most Swiss get paid in the last week of every month). Some places might like an extra one month for bond, but my experience is that this is the smaller number of cases. Check your lease as most times you need to give a minimum of 3 months notice to leave and also may have to live a minimum of 1 year in the apartment. Some older lease conditions will only let you leave with 3 months notice at crazy times of the year. I am only allowed to leave at the end of April and October. Try to get a diplomatic clause added and make sure they do add it.... Other things to watch out for. The apartment ""must"" be cleaned to Swiss standards when leaving. Expect a lot of work and the carpet ""must"" be cleaned (high cost). ""Auslanders"" are/were charged chf500 for a phone number. Phone numbers are issued by Swisscom. This is to overcome, supposedly, the huge number of people who leave without paying their bills. These conditions recently changed (last few months) for mobile phones, but I think still apply to home phones. Your ability to get a mobile is determined by your Visa as the phones are usually discounted and they want their money back. I avoided paying the home phone deposit as a Swiss man filled out all the paperwork for me to ""take-over"" his phone. Never been charged since, even though I have moved. The billing cycle can take a month to get started and you are usually a month to 2 months in arrears. This can be complex when leaving the country. Most bills in Switzerland are 30 days plus in arrears and doctors/dentist bills can be anything upto 6 months old. Most payments can be made at the local Post Office. Expect tax matters to take at least a year after the end of a tax year. Hope this all helps. Regards Allan "

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Not always so. I used a relocation service called Touchdown Relocation and they did a wonderful job (www.touchdown-reloc.ch). They make it a turn-key operation doing everything for me including utilities, phone, contract, etc., all you do is show up with your stuff. Yes, it cost some money but consider the hassle free move, the ability to see apartments that are not listed on the web or paper (if they are there is a reason why) and the monthly dissapointment of living in a place (apartment of neighborhood)you don't like over the years you are here. I would gladly pay double what they charged me. All of my friends agree - if you are not local hire someone locally on your behalf. This is Switzerland - it's complicated enough.
As for Swisscom deposite, they return it to you after one year in cash plus interest.
Best of luck.

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