How it works

How it works, step by step

A lease takeover in Geneva follows the same sequence every time. Here is what happens at each stage, what we take care of, and the little we need from you.

Start with the right question: takeover or sublet?

The seven steps below describe a lease takeover: you are leaving the flat for good and someone else signs for it, on the same terms, from the date you hand back the keys. If you are away for a defined period and intend to come back, you are looking at a sublet, where you keep the lease and the responsibility that goes with it. Gone for good means a takeover. Coming back means a sublet.

If you are still weighing up your options, our guide to thethree ways out of your lease sets the three routes side by side. Everything below assumes a residential lease in the Canton of Geneva.

The seven steps of your lease takeover

  1. Initial contact and analysis of your fileYou send us the essentials: the address, the number of rooms, the floor area, the rent and the running costs, and the date you need to be out. We handle your file within 24 hours of receiving it. We read the lease, look at the notice terms that actually apply to you, and tell you plainly which route fits your situation, whether that is an ordinary termination at the next legal date or an early release with a successor. What we need from you here is a copy of the lease and a genuine move-out date, not an optimistic one. We then agree on the search and on the terms described onis the service really free.
  2. Publishing the listing on the Geneva property portalsWe write the listing ourselves and publish it where tenants looking in Geneva actually search. A professional photographer visits the flat first, because poor photographs attract poor applications, and a poor application is what costs you money later. All we ask is access for the shoot and a tidy flat on the day. From the moment the listing goes live, enquiries arrive with us, and your address is not handed out to strangers.
  3. Selection and verification of candidatesReplies are read, sorted and answered by our team. Every serious candidate is asked for the documents a managing agent will want to see: identity and residence permit, proof of income, a recent extract from the debt-collection register, and a fully completed application form. Agencies in Geneva generally look for rent and running costs of around a third of gross monthly income, and no uncontested debts. We run that check before anyone reaches your landlord. You do nothing at this stage: filtering is the step that decides how the rest goes.
  4. Presentation of candidates to the landlord or managing agentThe complete file goes to the managing agent, the office that runs the building on the owner's behalf, or straight to a private landlord where there is no agency in between. In Geneva practice, agencies are generally expected to be presented with more than one candidate, so we build a shortlist rather than banking on a single name. The decision must be reasoned and given without delay, and recognised grounds for turning a candidate down include over-occupation of the flat or an activity that would disturb the neighbours or the standing of the building. If a candidate who meets the conditions is refused, you are released from your lease.
  5. Organising the viewingsViewings start as soon as the listing is live and carry on until the successor is confirmed. We agree slots with you, group them so that your flat is not open all week, and lead every one of them ourselves. Candidates get accurate answers on the running costs, the building and the terms of the lease, which is what stops someone withdrawing three weeks later. You do not need to be there; we only need to reach you to confirm a slot and to get in on the agreed day.
  6. Signing the takeover or the sublease agreementOnce the landlord has accepted a candidate in writing, the paperwork is drawn up: a new lease in the successor's name on the same terms, or a sublease agreement if that is the route you have chosen. We check that the dates line up with your move-out, that the deposit arrangements are settled, and that nothing is left hanging between the two tenancies. You sign what has to be signed, and we tell you in advance what that will be.
  7. Inventory of fixtures and release of your leaseThe last stage is the walk-through: the flat is inspected, its condition recorded, meters read and keys handed over. We prepare you for it, so that repairs that are genuinely yours are dealt with beforehand and the rest is not put on your account. Your lease is then released on the agreed date. Our guides onthe final walk-through andgetting your deposit back explain what is checked and how the deposit comes back.

What you no longer have to do yourself

Once the decision is made, the flat has to be shown. That short sentence hides most of the work, and this is what leaves your hands:

  • Writing the listing and publishing it on the local property portals.
  • Booking and briefing a professional photographer, and being there for the shoot.
  • Reading every reply, answering the serious ones and closing the rest politely.
  • Checking who is behind each application before they are given your address.
  • Fixing viewing slots and rearranging around your working week.
  • Leading the viewings themselves.
  • Assembling the file the managing agent expects and following it up.

You are never the one showing the kitchen to a stranger. Your evenings and weekends stay yours, which matters when you are also packing a household.

What we need from you

The list is short, and it does not grow along the way.

  • A copy of your lease, with the rent and the running costs as they appear on it.
  • The date you have to be out, and whether that date can move.
  • Access to the flat for the photographer and for the viewings.
  • An answer within a day or so when a decision is waiting on you.
  • Accurate information: a detail hidden at the start comes back at the walk-through.

Why one weak file costs a month of rent

Most outgoing tenants discover this too late. If the candidate you present does not pass the solvency check, the process does not resume where it stopped. It starts again: a new candidate, a new complete file, and a fresh examination period counted in roughly a month. That month is rent you keep paying on a flat you have already left.

Hence the shortlist that stands up rather than the first enthusiastic person who saw the listing. Our guide onwhat goes in a tenant file lists what a complete application holds, andleaving your lease early in Genevaexplains how it fits into the wider procedure.

What this costs you

No fee for the outgoing tenant when we find the successor, in exchange for two weeks of exclusivity. The listing, the photographer, the sorting of applications and the viewings are not billed on top of that. The reasoning behind the condition is set out onis the service really free, and the separatethank-you bonus has its own conditions, with an amount that depends on the property and is agreed in writing.

Questions before you start? Write to us through the contact page, or see our expertise.

Official sources

Hand over your lease with a team that does it every week

Tell us about your flat and your move-out date. We handle your file within 24 hours. When we find your incoming tenant, the service costs you nothing.

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