How to Rent Furniture in Switzerland
Step by step
- 1
Find out exactly what your flat includes
Read the listing and then ask the agency in writing: are there ceiling light fittings or only wires, are wardrobes built in (Einbauschrank), is there a dishwasher, a fridge, a freezer, curtain rails? Kitchens are normally the landlord's and stay, but light fittings, curtains, shelving and wardrobes are frequently the tenant's and leave with them. Get the answer before you sign, because it changes your first-month budget by CHF 1,000–3,000.
- 2
Do the two-year test before you rent anything
Furniture rental for a one-bedroom flat typically runs CHF 100–250 a month, and CHF 250–500 for a family flat. Over 12 months that is roughly CHF 1,500–3,000 — competitive with buying new. Over 36 months it is CHF 4,000–12,000, which buys a fully furnished home twice over second-hand. If your permit and job point beyond two years, buy.
- 3
Compare the rental providers
Switzerland has a small but real market: Möbel-Miete-style local rental firms, In Lease and Homelike for serviced or furnished packages, Livique and Micasa rental options, and Grover for electronics rather than furniture. Serviced-apartment operators effectively rent you furniture as part of the rent. Ask each for the monthly price, minimum term, delivery and assembly fee, damage liability and buy-out option at the end.
- 4
Price the second-hand route honestly
tutti.ch, Ricardo, Facebook Marketplace expat groups and the local Brockenhaus are how most residents furnish. A functional flat — bed, wardrobe, sofa, table, chairs, lamps — is realistic for CHF 800–2,000 second-hand, and departing expats sell good IKEA and Swiss-brand pieces at 20–40% of new. Time it: the last week of March, June, September and December is when leases end and prices collapse.
- 5
Budget for the kitchen and light fittings
If your flat truly has no kitchen — rare, but it happens in older or gutted buildings — a basic IKEA Metod or Swiss-supplier kitchen with appliances and fitting runs CHF 5,000–15,000, and you should negotiate for the landlord to install or co-fund it, or for a rent reduction. Ceiling lights are far more common: budget CHF 30–150 per room, plus an electrician for anything you cannot safely clip onto an existing Steckdose.
- 6
Handle deposits and contracts carefully
Furniture rental firms take a deposit — often one to two months of the subscription — and charge for damage beyond normal wear. Photograph every piece on delivery, from every angle, with the date visible in the file metadata, and keep the delivery note. That photo set is your evidence at collection, exactly as the apartment handover protocol is for the flat itself.
- 7
Plan delivery around your handover date
Swiss handovers happen on a fixed date, often the last working day of the month, and lifts in older buildings must be booked. Order furniture with a delivery slot after your key handover and before your first working week, tell the caretaker (Hauswart), and check whether the building bans deliveries during lunch or on Sundays — quiet-hours rules cover assembly noise too.
- 8
Decide now what happens when you leave
Rented furniture is collected, which is the whole point of paying the premium. Bought furniture has to be sold, given away or disposed of, and Swiss bulky-waste disposal is chargeable. Selling on tutti.ch four to six weeks before departure recovers a meaningful share; leaving it in the flat is not an option, as the handover requires the apartment empty and professionally cleaned.
What 'unfurnished' actually means here
In most countries an unfurnished flat still has lights on the ceiling and a wardrobe in the bedroom. In Switzerland the tenant owns and takes far more than that. Expect bare wires where lamps were, no curtains and often no rails, no wardrobes unless the listing says Einbauschrank, and no shelving. Kitchens are usually the landlord's fixture and stay, complete with hob, oven, fridge and frequently a dishwasher — but in older stock you may inherit a very basic kitchen, and in a small minority of cases the outgoing tenant installed and part-owns elements, which they can either remove or sell to you at a depreciated value. Washing machines are rarely in the flat: most buildings have a shared Waschküche in the basement with allocated slots. The practical consequence is that a Swiss move-in has a hardware bill on top of the deposit and the first month's rent, and it is the item newcomers most often forget when they budget.
The rent-versus-buy maths over one, two and three years
Take a two-room flat furnished to a normal standard. Renting a package costs roughly CHF 150–250 a month including delivery amortised over the term. That is about CHF 2,000–3,000 for a year, CHF 4,000–6,000 for two, and CHF 6,000–9,000 for three, with nothing owned at the end. Buying new from IKEA, Micasa or Livique for the same rooms is realistically CHF 3,000–5,000, and buying second-hand CHF 800–2,000. Add resale: a decent second-hand set resells for perhaps a third to a half of what you paid, because the buyer is the next arriving expat facing the same problem. So renting wins clearly under about twelve months, is roughly a wash between twelve and twenty-four, and loses badly beyond that. The other half of the decision is not financial: renting removes the work of buying, hauling and then selling, which for a one-year assignment is worth paying for.
Providers, packages and what to ask them
The Swiss rental market is smaller than the German or Dutch one, so treat quotes individually rather than expecting a standard product. Furniture-rental firms typically sell room packages — bedroom, living room, dining — with a minimum term of six or twelve months, a delivery and assembly fee of CHF 150–400, and a deposit of one to two months. Serviced-apartment and furnished-flat operators such as Homelike or corporate providers bundle furniture into a higher rent, which suits stays of a few months. Grover and similar services rent electronics, not furniture, and are worth it mainly for a laptop or TV you will not take home. Whoever you use, get five things in writing: monthly price including VAT, minimum term and early-exit cost, delivery and collection fees, the damage-liability standard, and whether you can buy the pieces at the end and at what price. A buy-out clause quietly turns rental into a hire-purchase that can be the cheapest option of all if you end up staying.
Buying second-hand: where, when and what to avoid
tutti.ch is the default marketplace, Ricardo covers auctions, and every region has a Brockenhaus run by charities where solid Swiss-made furniture sells for very little. Facebook expat groups in Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Zug and Lausanne carry a constant stream of departure sales, usually priced to clear in a weekend and with delivery help included if you bring a van. The rhythm matters: Swiss leases overwhelmingly end at the end of March, June, September and December, so the fortnight before those dates is when the good listings appear and prices drop. Bring a friend, a tape measure and cash. What to avoid: upholstered items with any smell, mattresses of unknown history, and anything so large it will not fit the staircase or the lift — Swiss stairwells in older buildings are narrow and a sofa that will not turn the corner becomes a bulky-waste bill. A cheap van hire or a Mobility Transporter for two hours costs far less than a delivery service.
Deposits, handover and getting your money back
Two deposits run in parallel and people confuse them. The apartment deposit is capped at three months' rent and must sit in a blocked account in your name, released when the handover protocol is signed off. The furniture deposit sits with the rental firm under ordinary contract terms. Both are recovered the same way: documentation. At key handover, walk the flat with the agency and record every scratch and mark on the protocol, including inside cupboards and on the parquet, and take photos. Do the same with delivered furniture. At the end, normal wear (Abnutzung) is not chargeable and Swiss tenancy practice uses depreciation tables for things like paint and flooring, so a landlord cannot bill you for a full repaint after four years. If a deduction looks wrong, the Mieterverband tenants' association will review the protocol for members and their advice pays for itself in one dispute.
Kitchens, appliances and lighting: the hidden first-month bill
The realistic move-in extras for a normal unfurnished flat are lighting at CHF 200–600 for the whole apartment, curtains and rails at CHF 300–800, a wardrobe or two at CHF 300–1,200 new or a fraction of that used, and small hardware — drill, tools, shelf brackets — at CHF 100–200. If you actually need a kitchen, you are in a different bracket: CHF 5,000–15,000 fitted, and it is worth negotiating hard, since a kitchen improves the landlord's property permanently. Appliances follow the Swiss energy-label rules, and the cheapest sensible route for a fridge or a washing machine you will use for years is a mid-range Swiss retailer with a delivery-and-disposal option, because getting rid of the old unit is otherwise your problem and chargeable. Check the electrical situation before you buy lamps: Swiss sockets are type J and adapters for imported fittings are common but must be safe.
When you leave: collection, resale and disposal
Departure is the moment the earlier decision pays or costs. Rented furniture is collected on a booked date, usually a few days before the flat handover so the apartment can be cleaned. Owned furniture needs a plan four to six weeks out: list on tutti.ch and in the local expat groups at realistic prices, offer collection-only, and expect to shift most of it in the final fortnight when the next wave of arrivals is looking. What does not sell goes to a Brockenhaus if they will take it, or to bulky waste (Sperrgut / déchets encombrants), which is a chargeable, scheduled service in most communes and cannot simply be left at the kerb. The flat itself must be handed over empty and professionally cleaned to Swiss standards, with a joint protocol — and deregistration at your Gemeinde, cancelling your health insurance and closing your Serafe account belong in the same fortnight.
Your next step
Turn this guide into action — run the numbers for your own situation, then work through the deadlines for your canton.
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Build my free checklistNever assume a Swiss flat has ceiling lights, curtain rails or wardrobes. Viewing photos are often taken while the previous tenant's fittings are still in place, and those leave with them.
Furniture-rental minimum terms bite. Many contracts run 6 or 12 months minimum with an early-exit fee — if your assignment could be cut short, ask for the cancellation terms in writing before signing.
Damage charges at collection are where rental gets expensive. A ring mark on a table or a pet scratch on a sofa arm can cost several hundred francs; photograph everything at delivery.
Do not modify the flat to fit the furniture. Drilling, painting and removing built-in elements must be restored at your cost at the handover, and it is deducted from your rental deposit.
People also asked
Do Swiss apartments really come without lights and wardrobes?
Yes. Ceiling light fittings, curtains, curtain rails, shelving and freestanding wardrobes normally belong to the tenant and leave with them. Kitchens are usually the landlord's and stay. Confirm each item in writing before you sign.
How much does furniture rental cost per month in Switzerland?
Roughly CHF 100–250 a month for a one-bedroom flat and CHF 250–500 for a family apartment, plus a delivery and assembly fee of CHF 150–400 and a deposit of one to two months' subscription.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy furniture?
Renting wins for stays under about a year. Between one and two years it is close. Beyond two years buying is clearly cheaper — a functional second-hand flat costs CHF 800–2,000, less than a year of rental for a family-sized package.
Do I need to install my own kitchen?
Usually not — the kitchen is normally a landlord's fixture. In a minority of older or renovated flats you may need to install or buy out one, at CHF 5,000–15,000 fitted. Negotiate this with the landlord before signing, since it improves their property.
Where do expats buy second-hand furniture in Switzerland?
tutti.ch, Ricardo, local Brockenhaus charity shops and city expat groups on Facebook. Prices are lowest in the two weeks before the end of March, June, September and December, when Swiss leases end and departing tenants clear flats.
What about washing machines?
Most buildings have a shared laundry room (Waschküche) in the basement with allocated time slots, so tenants rarely own a machine. Some newer flats have an in-unit machine — check the listing, because buying one for a shared-laundry building is wasted money.
Will I be charged for damage to rented furniture?
Normal wear is not chargeable, but marks, scratches, stains and pet damage are, sometimes at several hundred francs per item. Photograph every piece on delivery and keep the delivery note as evidence for collection day.
What do I do with my furniture when I leave Switzerland?
Sell it on tutti.ch or in expat groups four to six weeks before departure, donate the rest to a Brockenhaus, and book chargeable bulky-waste collection for anything left. The flat must be handed over empty and professionally cleaned.
Read: Waste disposal and recycling in SwitzerlandOfficial sources for this guide
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