Swiss tenants will have more transparent rents; Geneva’s public health insurance idea is scrapped; and more Swiss news in our roundup on Monday.
Government wants rent-setting process to be more transparent
This new move will allow tenants to “better assess the initial rent and whether there are grounds to challenge it,” the Federal Council said in a press release on Friday.
According to the government, the level of the reference interest rate and the inflation applied to the previous rent may, depending on the circumstances, provide an indication of whether the initial rent was excessive.
Additionally, landlords must make it clear to tenants that they have 30 days to contest the rent if they suspect it of being excessive.
READ ALSO: Can you know how much your Swiss landlord charged previous tenants?
Parliament says no to a public health insurance in Geneva
The canton of Geneva will not be able to establish a single public health insurance fund, as it wanted to do, MPs decided.
Its bill aimed to create a legal basis allowing individual cantons to set up their own health insurance funds as an alternative to private carriers and as a way to counter the sharp rise in health insurance premiums.
But the Geneva initiative is not the best solution, deputies said.
“A Switzerland with 26 different public health care financing systems is not desirable,” argued MP Benjamin Roduit, pointing out it would create too much of an administrative burden.
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Training course for Zurich dog owners will become obligatory
Starting in June, all Zurich dog owners must attend a training course, the local government announced on Friday.
All first-time dog owners will now be required to complete a two-hour theory course, and all dog owners, old and new, will also have to attend a six-hour practical course.
The new rule extends to all breeds, regardless of size.
That is an important point because until now, only owners of “large and bulky” dogs were required to attend a course, not owners of Chihuahuas, Dachshunds, and other small breeds.
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Basel EuroAirport will double in size over the next five years
The Swiss-French airport, the smallest of the three international airports in Switzerland, will invest 125 million francs to increase its terminal capacity by 2030.
Its current 15,000-square-metre terminal, from which flights depart to 90 destinations, will be renovated and flanked by a new building of equivalent size in order to “improve the quality of service,” according to the management-
READ ALSO: What you should know about Basel’s EuroAirport
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