For private landlords
Find a tenant for your property
You are letting a flat or a house in the Canton of Geneva and would rather receive a verified file than a pile of replies. This is the part we take off your desk.
What a bad letting actually costs
Letting a property in Geneva is rarely difficult in terms of demand. It is difficult in terms of choice, and three things go wrong.
A tenant who stops paying is the expensive one: recovering unpaid rent takes months, and the flat is occupied throughout. A long vacancy is the quiet one, since every empty month is rent that will never be earned back, and it usually comes from a listing that was rushed rather than from a market that was closed. A file checked too lightly is what creates the other two, because a candidate who charmed everyone at the viewing and never produced a debt-collection register extract is not a candidate, only a hope.
Our answer to all three is the same: verify first, then present.
The listing, and where it is seen
We write the listing ourselves, in the terms that matter to the people who will actually apply: the rent and the running costs, the floor area, the floor and the lift, the storage, the transport. It is then published on the Geneva property portals, where local demand is.
Before that, a professional photographer visits the property. This is not decoration. The quality of the photographs decides how many serious applications arrive, and how many viewings you need to run before someone signs. A well-photographed listing shortens the vacancy far more reliably than a lower rent does.
How each application is checked
Every reply comes to us, and every serious candidate is asked for the same file. Agencies in Geneva generally ask a prospective tenant for identity documents and residence permit, proof of income, a recent extract from the debt-collection register, and a fully completed application form. We collect all of it before anything reaches you.
On solvency, agencies in Geneva generally look for rent and running costs of around a third of gross monthly income, together with an absence of uncontested debts. That is market practice rather than a legal threshold, and we apply it consistently so that the files you compare are comparable. Employment status and the stability of the household are read alongside the figures. Our guide onwhat goes in a tenant file shows the same checklist from the candidate's side.
Viewings, and the shortlist you actually see
We arrange and lead the viewings ourselves. Slots are grouped so that the property is not open all week, candidates get accurate answers on the spot, and you are not the one explaining the boiler to a stranger.
What reaches you afterwards is a shortlist: a small number of candidates whose documents have been checked, with the file behind each one and a plain summary of why they hold up. You choose, and we handle the correspondence with those who were not selected.
Entry inventory and the start of the tenancy
The tenancy begins properly with a written inventory of fixtures. We carry out the entry inventory, record the condition of each room, note the meter readings and photograph what needs photographing. It is a dull document that settles every later argument about wear, damage and the deposit.
The same care applies at the other end: our guide onthe final walk-through sets out what is inspected when a tenant leaves.
If your current tenant asks to leave early
It happens often in Geneva, particularly with international households whose plans change. Under Article 264 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, a tenant may return the property before the end of the term if they present a solvent successor willing to take over the lease on the same terms and whom you cannot reasonably refuse. A refusal must be reasoned and given without delay, and recognised grounds include over-occupation of the property or an activity that would disturb the neighbours or the standing of the building.
Provided the successor's file is solid, this is good news for a landlord: the flat stays occupied and there is no void between two tenancies. We handle both sides of that process, and the outgoing tenant's side is described onlease takeover and step by step inhow it works.
How to take this further
One point of honesty, because landlords ask it first. The arrangement described onis the service really free concerns outgoing tenants. No fee for the outgoing tenant when we find the successor, in exchange for two weeks of exclusivity. It is not what is on offer here. A tenant search for a private landlord is a mandate in its own right, and its terms depend on the property and on how much of the tenancy you want us to handle afterwards, so we do not publish a figure that would be wrong for most properties.
Tell us about yours through the contact page, with the address, the type of property and the date it becomes available, and we will come back to you with what we would do. Our expertise sets out the rest of what the agency handles in Geneva, from relocation to property management.
Letting a property in Geneva?
Send us the address, the type of property and the date it becomes available. We handle your file within 24 hours and come back to you with a plan for the search.