Rents Number of arbitration proceedings due to rent increases remains high

In the first half of 2024, 25,350 new conciliation proceedings under tenancy or lease law were opened across Switzerland. The number of new cases continues to be around 65% above the long-term average, as announced by the Federal Office for Housing (FHO) on Tuesday.

Compared to the already record-high figure in the second half of 2023, there was only a slight decrease of 0.76% or 194 cases, according to the BWO.

The number of settled cases in the first half of 2024 was 26,092, which is around 18% more than in the previous semester. According to the BWO, proceedings relating to rent increases accounted for by far the largest share, at more than a third. In 8,207, or 86.2% of these cases, the parties were able to reach an agreement before the conciliation authority.

Challenges due to rent increases already accounted for the highest proportion of settled cases in the previous semester, but in the first half of 2024, the proportion was even slightly higher at 36.5% compared to 36.3% in the previous semester.

The exceptionally high figure in the current reporting period is also likely due to the increase in the mortgage reference interest rate as at June 2, 2023 and December 2, 2023, explained the BWO.

SDA