HOUSING

If you have an apartment that is available (end of lease, rental, sub-rental), please think of your co-workers at our institutions.

You can place a free advert on the housing portal for University staff members.

Placing the housing advert

Place your housing advert by filling in all the fields, in particular the compulsory ones marked with an asterisk (*).

If you wish, you can attach a pdf file, with photos and/or additional information (only one file).

You will receive an email alert when your advert is online, and it is possible the Welcome Center might ring you to check whether the advert is authentic or not.

Your ad will remain on the platform for one month.. You should be aware though that if you aren’t a member of the University of Geneva’s staff, you will not be able to see your ad.

If you also wish to place your ad on the student housing website, please click on the following link: Student housing exchange.

Sub-lets

Before sub-letting your housing, you need to ask permission from your property-management firm (‘régie’).

You must also notify the Canton of Geneva’s Office for Population and Migration (OCP) of the arrival and departure of the sub-tenant (form below, in French only).

- Form for sub-tenants leaving

- Form for sub-tenants arriving

Useful documents:

Standard contract in French-speaking Switzerland (in French only)

Model sub-let contract (available on the  UMS website)

Model inventory and property inspection for furnished accommodation (in English and French)

The University does not to accept any responsibility for the outcome of any dealings you might have with people who reply to your advert.

Link to acces the plateforme : logements.welc.ch

If you are a student: Financial Service

Please note that:

The University does not to accept any responsibility for the outcome of any dealings you might have with anyone posting an advert on this site.

The housing is not visited by the University of Geneva and it does not guarantee what is being advertised. You are strongly advised to visit or arrange for someone to visit any properties before entering into a legally binding commitment.

If rent in advance or a security deposit has to be paid, make sure the payment is made through a reputable Swiss bank. Never agree to pay money via a payment system like Western Union.

If you have any doubts about an advert, please alert the Welcome Center immediately by sending an email to: housing@welc.ch.

YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY A PROPERTY-MANAGEMENT FIRM FOR AN APARTMENT

The lease contract will be sent to you or an appointment will be made for you to go to the firm’s offices to sign. You will need to provide:

- A certificate of third-party liability insurance: further information here.

THE FOLLOWING EXPENSES MAY BE INVOICED TO YOU BY THE MANAGEMENT FIRM:

- Cost of having nameplates made for the letter box and the front door

- Deposit for the pre-payment card for use of the laundry room

- Administrative expenses for drawing up the lease agreement

NB: If you refuse to accept a lease agreement, you may still be invoiced for administrative expenses.

Rent guarantee bank account:

-You can open a rent guarantee account with your bank (see the relevant section on Everyday life ).

-You pay into the account the amount that your property-management firm will ask you to pay. It cannot be more than 3 months’ rent excluding charges.

-The bank will then provide you with a document to be given to the property-management firm.

This rent guarantee bank account is in your name, but the funds deposited are blocked. The money will be unblocked with the express consent of the property-management firm once the lease agreement is terminated. The property-management firm does not have any access to these funds.

A rent guarantee contract drawn up with a specialist company:

-Firstcaution or Swisscaution

-Fill in the form

-Pay the sum requested

-The company will then send you a rent-guarantee certificate or will send it directly to the property-management firm.

A sum corresponding roughly to 5% of the rent guarantee will have to be paid each year to the company. It is an insurance premium. When you leave the apartment, this money will not be reimbursed to you.

This inspection is very important. Make sure you carefully inspect the property with the property-management firm’s employee to document any faults detected in the inspection report.

If, in the first fortnight after moving into your property, you notice any faults, you should notify the property-management firm immediately of these in writing.

You will find in this link a checklist (French only) to prepare for the inspection on leaving. This checklist may help you to prepare for the inspection on moving in.

The régies require this document. It is a certificate confirming that there is no legal procedure against you for unpaid debt in Switzerland.

Although this document may not seem relevant for someone coming from another country, we would advise you to get it. Please keep in mind that the régies are dealing with many applications. So they will first check if the applications comprise all the required attachments and remove these that they consider uncomplete.

This certificate can be ordered on-line : https://www.ge.ch/poursuites/demander-extrait-du-registre-poursuites .