Finding accomodation in Lausanne

We have been here for more than a month and I have to admit: I have been lazy. My job involves many daily hours of screen and I have not been feeling like a dose of extra screen at “home”.

Apart from having a busy work life, feeling insecure about a new job, and keeping myself busy with Swiss bureaucracy (I heard it will last for at least 6 months), we have been quite entertained trying to find a flat.

I say “trying to find a flat”, but what I mean is hoping to get one. Because in Switzerland people don’t find flats: FLATS FIND YOU.

Well, it is more like this: you find a flat, you like it, you tell the agency that you like it, they check your records, and then, if you are lucky, you get picked.

We visited several flats. Some better, some worse, but all more or less adequate and more or less within budget. 

But apparently our budget is one of the most common in Switzerland. And while in any other country you could rent a palace for the same amount, here you should feel lucky if you find something with windows.

If you are looking for a flat anywhere in Switzerland (in or around a major city) you must be either flexible or ready to be homeless. You will visit very beautiful, central places that seem affordable. But be realistic: if it is the perfect place for you, it is probably the perfect place for another 50 people.

At one point during our search we even got some sort of “real estate” social life. We visited many apartments and we met the same people again and again. And it is weird, because you talk to them, they are nice, they are more or less in the same situation. But still, they are enemies to you. They came there to take that nice lake-view flat from you… and you hate them for that.

Once you see a flat that you like, you put an application for it. What comes next is still a mystery to me, because the forms are quite simple: they ask you your name, nationality, salary, and then random things like if you committed any crime or if you have any pets. And then they pick, they do not need to meet you in person to know that you are the right person.

And once that happens, once the magical moment of being picked comes, then the question is: do I say yes? Do I wait a bit longer to see if they also pick me in that other nicer apartment? You might choose to wait. But that means, in most cases, that you will lose your right to the one you already have. Normally they request you to let them know when they call you.

Anyway, we survived the process and got “approved” to live in a nice flat as of 1^st of January. Now we can fully concentrate in arranging all the other paperwork that is needed to live in this country.

In the meantime, we have to cope with the temporary mini-studio. It does have its advantages though: I do not need an excuse to eat cheese and drink wine in bed.