Commercial usury Federal court convicts woman for excessive rents
A woman rented apartments and let their rooms at inflated rates to people who urgently needed accommodation. The Federal Supreme Court found her guilty of rent evasion.
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- The Federal Supreme Court has sentenced a woman to two years' probation for commercial rent evasion because she sublet rooms to socially disadvantaged people at greatly inflated prices.
- The woman had rented apartments, installed additional partition walls and sublet rooms for up to CHF 1,260 per month, even though some of them had considerable defects.
- The tenants' association sees the ruling as an important signal against rent profiteering, while the homeowners' association considers the problem in Zurich to be exaggerated.
A room in a shared apartment for 1260 francs a month - that's how much individual tenants paid a woman who had made subletting living space her business.
According to the Federal Supreme Court, this is commercial usury. It thus confirms the ruling of the Zurich High Court. The woman is punished with a two-year suspended prison sentence. The "Tages-Anzeiger" reported on the Federal Court's ruling in February 2025.
The tenants affected were socially disadvantaged people, including many asylum seekers who hardly spoke any German. The ruling lists a total of 42 people as aggrieved parties.
A business model at the expense of the vulnerable
The landlady had rented three large apartments in 2016 and sublet the rooms at prices that were 25 to 158 percent higher than the usual local interest rates.
In one Zurich apartment, which she rented for CHF 3,850 per month, she installed additional partition walls to create more rooms. She rented these out for between 900 and 1260 francs per room, even though some of them had considerable defects, such as mold and pest infestation.
The woman was briefly remanded in custody during the proceedings in the canton of Zurich. The public prosecutor's office froze 88,000 francs in her accounts to cover the costs of the proceedings.
Usury affects various population groups
The tenants' association feels vindicated by the ruling. Managing Director Linda Rosenkranz emphasizes in the Tages-Anzeiger that the court has made it clear that taking advantage of tenants in need is a crime. Rent profiteering is a widespread problem and the ruling should encourage those affected to fight back.
The case of the "Gammelhäuser" in Zurich, in which an entrepreneur rented studios to people in precarious circumstances for CHF 1,000 and more, is unforgotten. The high court also sentenced him to two years' probation. According to the court, he overcharged his tenants by 750,000 francs between 2012 and 2015.
However, usurious rents not only affect the socially disadvantaged, but also high-earning professionals who urgently need living space. Larissa Steiner from the Zurich Tenants' Association explains that there are several hundred cases of usurious rents in the city.
Homeowners' association sees the problem elsewhere
The homeowners' association also sees itself vindicated, but for a different reason: the majority of those convicted were not the owners of the properties, but tenants themselves.
The HEV wanted to enforce stricter regulations on subletting in 2024, but the voters rejected this. However, the focus was less on excessively high rents than, for example, the provision that subletting could be limited to two years.
Markus Meier, Director of HEV, however, believes that the figure of several hundred cases of usurious rents in Zurich is exaggerated and unfounded.
The editor wrote this article with the help of AI.
