Renting out a flat in Zurich: tenant search for owners

In a tenant search alphakey lists the flat with photos and text, holds the viewings itself, checks files and creditworthiness and hands over the flat with a handover report and keys. You remain the landlord. The search runs in four steps; the mandate ends with the handover.

1. Enquiry and brokerage contract

   You tell us the address, size and preferred start of the lease. We record the mandate in a written brokerage contract.

2. Listing and viewings

   alphakey creates the listing with photos and text, answers the enquiries and holds the viewings itself.

3. Files and creditworthiness

   We check the applicants' files and creditworthiness. You choose the tenant.

4. Handover

   alphakey hands over the flat with a handover report and keys.

As the owner you decide on the rent, the tenant, the start of the lease and the deposit yourself. You conclude the lease with the tenant yourself; alphakey only brokers it. Under Art. 412 CO, a brokerage contract is a mandate to point out the opportunity to conclude a contract, or to arrange its conclusion, in return for a fee.

• Rent: you set it; the official rent figures in the next section help you place it
• Tenant: you choose from the checked files who gets the lease
• Start of the lease: you name the date from which the flat is let
• Deposit: you decide whether to ask for security; for residential space at most three months' rent is allowed (Art. 257e CO)

Anyone letting residential space in the canton of Zurich must use the official initial-rent form when concluding a new lease (Art. 270 para. 2 CO, § 229b of the cantonal EG ZGB; government decision in force since 01.11.2013). The duty applies as long as the cantonal vacancy rate is 1.5 % or lower; on 01.06.2026 it was 0.52 %, and 0.11 % in the city of Zurich (canton of Zurich, press release of 18.08.2026). Since 01.10.2025 the form must also state the reference interest rate and the consumer price index level that applied to the previous rent (Art. 19 para. 3 of the tenancy ordinance VMWG).

If the initial rent is not notified on the official form, the agreement on the amount of the rent is void (Federal Supreme Court, BGE 140 III 583). The tenant can challenge the initial rent as abusive before the conciliation authority within 30 days of taking over the flat (Art. 270 para. 1 CO). This is possible if the tenant felt compelled to sign because of personal or family hardship or because of the conditions on the local housing market; according to the Zurich courts, a housing shortage is already enough. It is also possible if the rent was raised considerably compared with the previous rent; according to the Zurich courts, an increase of at least 10 % counts as considerable.