Zug Tenants' Association criticizes landlords and government

Bea von Rotz-Gubler and Urs Bertschi are the co-presidents of the Zug Tenants' Association (MV: Zuger Mieterinnen- und Mieterverband). In an end-of-year interview with the Zuger Zeitung newspaper, they talked about the housing shortage in the canton of Zug, the high rents - and what could help.

Interviewer: The Zug Tenants' Association offers support with questions regarding renting. Which of your services are used most frequently?
Bea von Rotz-Gubler: Legal advice is very popular, but so is assistance with handing over apartments. The topics covered by legal advice are wide-ranging: it's mainly about contesting notices of termination and requests to extend the tenancy. We also advise many tenants who have received a high service charge bill and would like us to check it. Another very frequent topic is the question of what to do if there are defects in the apartment.
Urs Bertschi: The initial rent is also an important issue. There are landlords who make huge increases when changing tenants. An apartment then suddenly no longer costs CHF 1,700, but CHF 2,300 - without a brush stroke of renovation work having been carried out. In such cases, we encourage tenants to defend themselves. We also support them in this.

What are the chances of a good result?
Urs Bertschi: There is a good chance of reaching a compromise. I contested several initial rents last year. It’s quite possible that tenants can save two whole months' rent extrapolated over the year. But many people are afraid to take action.

Why is that?
Bea von Rotz-Gubler: Some people don't dare, for fear of the landlord regarding them as potentially difficult tenants. This is usually associated with the fear of having the rental agreement terminated.
Urs Bertschi: Many tenants lack the legal knowledge and experience in these matters. The association is there for this specialist area, and supports its members with advice and assistance.

Lawyer and notary Urs Bertschi and lawyer Bea von Rotz-Gubler, both from Zug, in the section's offices.        Photo: Stefan Kaiser

Is the fear of a tenancy termination justified?
Urs Bertschi: Off the top of my head, I don't know of any case in which a landlord has given notice “for the sake of revenge”. That would anyway be contestable. And tenants who successfully defend themselves have three years' protection against a tenancy termination, so they are correspondingly protected after the intervention. Emotions tend to come more into play with private landlords. A landlord may feel that someone is being difficult simply because he or she has put up a fight. Public authorities, on the other hand, are professionals, and are used to tenants who defend themselves.
The tight housing market in the canton of Zug probably plays a role here. Anyone who has an apartment doesn’t want to lose it under any circumstances.
Bea Von Rotz-Gubler: Apartments in Zug are very expensive, and many people can no longer afford them. When someone loses an apartment here, the conciliation authority frequently expect them to extend their search area beyond the territory of the canton, where the search is more likely to be successful. But moving out of the canton can be very difficult, especially for families with school-age children and people who receive social welfare support from the canton.

How did it get this far?
Bea von Rotz-Gubler: Zug is an attractive location. Taxes are low and there are plenty of jobs on offer. International companies have no trouble filling their vacancies, and a lot of people come here because of the work and the beautiful surroundings. But space is limited. We are a small canton in terms of area. I think we should have asked ourselves much earlier where all these people should live, and what path the canton wants to take.
Urs Bertschi: You often hear the middle classes claiming that the dried-up housing market in the canton of Zug is the result of ‘supply and demand’. In my view, however, the housing market is not a real market that can be defined in that way. Many landlords in the canton of Zug are taking advantage of the tight situation, and often charge high rents that give them an excessive, and therefore legally impermissible return. But where there's no plaintiff, there's no judge.
Bea von Rotz-Gubler: They skim off as much profit as the so-called ‘market’ will bear. And this market allows for a lot in the canton of Zug.
Urs Bertschi: There is also a certain amount of greed behind it, of course. If a landlord only operates on the basis of maximum returns, it’s justifiable to keep one's foot in the door. Ultimately, it's also about people who have grown up here and are dependent on affordable housing.

What would help from your point of view?
Urs Bertschi: Fairness. I don't expect any landlord to ‘play Pestalozzi’ (i.e. act in a charitable way: editor) and pay the resulting difference himself. Every landlord is entitled to cover his costs and to an appropriate return. That is undisputed. But there should not be any rip-offs.

Are tenants simply the weakest link in the chain?
Urs Bertschi: To a certain extent, yes. In a canton like Zug, where the housing shortage is so great, the landlord has complete freedom of choice as to who he wants to enter into a contract with and on what terms. There is an imbalance here. The tenant really can’t demand anything. The landlords call the shots - even if they may see things differently.

Has it always been like this?
Urs Bertschi: For a long time, I had the impression that tenants and landlords had a relationship based on partnership. But this has now completely changed. Nowadays, renting is a tough business, and a lucrative investment.
On the other hand, people have a basic need to have a roof over their heads. If the social mix in the canton of Zug is to be maintained, landlords must once again realise that they can ultimately be a major influence here. And they can do this by not aiming for the maximum profit when setting prices, but rather for the legally permissible rental cost.
 

Efforts are also being made to alleviate the housing shortage in the canton. The government recently published the Housing Policy Strategy 2030 (WPS: Wohnpolitische Strategie) for more affordable housing. There have also been lengthy debates in the cantonal council. Is a rethink taking place?
Urs Bertschi: With the WPS, the government had the chance to make a commitment to the middle class in the canton of Zug. But I have the impression that they are still primarily protecting property and investors. And the socio-political and sociological components are being ignored. We still need a good social mix in the canton of Zug.
Bea von Rotz-Gubler: From my work providing advice, I have to say that very little is actually happening, especially for people who can only afford flats in the lower price segment. It’s now often simply accepted that a 3.5-room flat can cost around CHF 3,000 or more.

With this in mind, you’d expect a large increase in membership at MV Zug.
Urs Bertschi: We currently have around 2,800 members. Around 800 members have joined since 2010. In relation to the number of tenants in the canton of Zug, that's pretty modest. The Zurich section, for example, is quite different. They have around 50,000 members.

Why is that?
Urs Bertschi: People often only flip the switch when they have received a notice of termination or a high final bill. If tenants have a problem, they come to us for help. In addition, the canton of Zug has a strong middle-class character - and the tenants' association still has a rather ‘left-wing’ flavour. Yet we are primarily a professional, politically neutral service organisation.

That sounds like hard work. What motivates you?
Urs Bertschi: The most effective thing is to encourage people to defend themselves. Although these are only individual interventions, they often lead to a successful outcome. This promotes a more respectful relationship between the parties, because the owners also realise that there are limits.
Bea von Rotz-Gubler: Interventions often actually have an educational effect. Private owners in particular are sometimes not very familiar with tenancy law. and don't know what their rights and obligations are. In such cases, the arbitration authority can clarify the situation in the event of a dispute and help to find a solution.

The Tenants' Association
With around 230,000 members throughout Switzerland, the Tenants' Association (MV) is committed to effective tenant protection. It calls for fair rents, comprehensive protection against rental terminations and better quality housing for all. The Zug section, based at Industriestrasse 22 in Zug, is one of 20 regional sections of the MV, and has around 2,800 members.
These benefit from free or discounted services provided by the section, such as legal advice on tenancy law, assistance when handing over apartments, advice regarding defects or in the preparation for arbitration negotiations. Members also enjoy legal protection in rental disputes.

For more information about the association (in German): https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv-zg.html