100'848 signatures against the counterproposal on rents

Context

TL;DR

• ASI delivered 100'848 signatures to the Federal Chancellery
• The appeal calls for the counterproposal to be withdrawn
• The proposal concerns the review of rents and a rent based on costs
• According to the initiative, excessive rents should be reduced automatically

Key facts

• Who → Swiss Tenants' Association (ASI)
• Where → Federal Chancellery, Bern
• Signatures → 100'848
• Federal Council decision → September 25
• Request → halt work on the counterproposal
• Duration of collection → two weeks

The handover in Bern

100'848 signatures were handed in today to the Federal Chancellery. The Swiss Tenants' Association (ASI) is asking the Federal Council to withdraw the counterproposal to the popular initiative «Yes to protection against excessive rents». The appeal also calls for work on the indirect counterproposal to be stopped immediately.

The Federal Council is having the draft prepared, which should address the review of rents and rent based on costs. On September 25, it had chosen to submit it as a response to the initiative promoted by ASI. Under that decision, the initial rent should be able to be aligned with that of comparable apartments in the area.

The point contested by ASI

For the association, however, the statistical benchmark would have the opposite effect to that sought by the initiative. Every higher new rent would end up in the reference rent, contributing, according to ASI, to further fueling the spiral of rental prices. The association also objects to the possibility of increases every four years and the absence of a review.

Jacqueline Badran, a Zurich Socialist National Councillor and member of the ASI committee, argues that the Federal Council is aiming for a market rent. In her view, this approach would conflict with the popular initiative, which should establish the principle of rent calculated based on costs and a maximum cap on returns.

For Carlo Sommaruga, president of ASI and member of the Council of States (PS/GE), tenants already bear excessive housing costs. Sommaruga interpreted the signature collection, completed in two weeks, as a clear response to the Federal Council.

The text of the protest therefore focuses on the relationship between the level of the initial rent and the criterion used to compare it. For ASI, a benchmark fueled by new increases would not correct rents, but would push them upwards. For those following the impact of rents on costo della vita in Svizzera, the debate now turns to the criterion chosen to determine the initial rent.

Operational details

Two approaches compared

The divergence concerns not only the name of the counterproposal. It concerns how it is determined whether a rent is excessive and which parameter is used to set the initial rent. The source compares two approaches: on the one hand, an automatic review with a reduction when the rent is too high; on the other, an adjustment of the initial rent to that of similar apartments in the area.

The practical issue is the composition of the reference. ASI argues that every new, more expensive rent would enter it, with the risk of further fuelling the price spiral. In its view, the parameter could therefore incorporate precisely the increases it should help assess. The same association points out that increases would be possible every four years and that no verification would be provided for.

This means that the same expression, reference rent, carries a different weight in the two scenarios: for the Federal Council, it is the criterion for comparing similar dwellings; for ASI, it risks becoming a mechanism that records and fuels increases. The divergence is therefore not merely technical, but concerns the outcome expected by the tenant.

Two scenarios for someone paying rent

If the counterproposal were applied in the form described, the initial rent could be brought closer to that of similar dwellings. The element to observe would therefore be the area's statistical reference, together with the effects ASI attributes to it.

If, on the other hand, the initiative's approach prevailed, the starting point would be the automatic review and reduction of excessively high rents. Jacqueline Badran links this approach to upholding the principle of rent based on costs and the maximum cap on returns. These are scenarios in the political debate, not rules already presented by the source as operational.

The impact on the budget should be assessed starting from actual income: a busta paga svizzera provides the basis for personal comparison.

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Key points

What to do today if you are a tenant

The news concerns a counterproposal currently being prepared. For anyone who pays rent, the useful step is not to anticipate a change to the contract, but to organize the data that makes it possible to follow the federal debate without confusing a proposal with the rules already applicable to rental agreements.

A practical sequence

1. Retrieve the rental agreement and identify the initial rent. Record separately the current amount and any increase already communicated. The project described by the Federal Council starts precisely from the possibility of adjusting the initial rent to that of similar apartments in the area.

2. Build the comparison with similar dwellings, without turning a single listing into an average. The point contested by ASI is that every more expensive new rental could end up in the reference and fuel the price spiral.

3. If your interest is reducing rent that is too high, distinguish the initiative's criterion from the counterproposal's mechanism. In the first case, the request is an automatic review with a reduction; in the second, the reference is the initial rent of similar dwellings. This distinction prevents attributing to the current contract an effect that the source links only to the two political scenarios.

4. For communications already received from the landlord, separate the political discussion from the procedure currently in force: tenancy law is federal and the same in every Canton. A landlord's termination is valid only on the official cantonal form; if you want to contest it, the deadline is 30 days before the conciliation authority.

5. Check the deposit: it may not exceed three months' rent and must be held in a blocked account in the tenant's name. This check concerns the existing tenancy, not the statistical criterion being discussed for the future.

Follow the Federal Council's deliberations and ASI's positions. The signature-collection campaign calls for the withdrawal of the counterproposal, while the project remains in the preparation phase described by the source. Therefore, keep your rental documentation and update the comparison when the project is finalized.

From personal data to the budget

To estimate the effect of rent on income, start with your personal budget and separate the rent from the other monthly items. When the political text is clarified, maintain the same sequence: contract data, initial rent, increases already communicated, and reference to similar apartments. This way, you do not confuse ASI's proposal, the federal counterproposal, and your situation.

To assess the monthly margin with a dedicated tool, try calcolatore stipendio/imposte.

Source: tio.ch