Report Defects and Reduce Your Rent
Four template letters from the defect notice to depositing the rent, and at every step it says what happens if you skip it. Including the order this fails on in practice.
Checked on 21.08.2026 by Jens Herbst, BoVitaWe keep every document current and check it regularly against the sources.
Who is this document for?
For tenants with a defect in the flat: mould, noise, broken heating, leaking windows. Also when nothing has happened despite several reports.
What is inside
- Defect notice letter that proves when the rent reduction starts
- Deadline letter with the warning about the deposit that the law requires
- Letter announcing the deposit to the landlord
- The deposit as six fixed steps, because a skipped step means default on rent
- Recording sheet for the defect with photos, measurements and a noise log
How to fill it in
- 1Open the file in Word, Pages or Google Docs and replace every field in square brackets.
- 2Record the defect first: photos with a date, and for noise a log over several days.
- 3Send the defect notice by registered mail, even if you already reported it orally.
- 4Only once the deadline has passed unused does the deposit follow, and only in its order.
- 5After the first payment: file a request with the conciliation authority within 30 days.
Frequently asked questions
For tenants in Switzerland with a defect that impairs the use of the flat: mould, persistent noise, failed heating, leaking windows. It works for flats, rooms and shared-flat rooms.
No, and that is the most expensive misunderstanding on this topic. Simply not paying, or paying only part, is default on rent, and after a warning the landlord can terminate with 30 days' notice. The legal route is called depositing: you pay the full rent, but to the cantonal office instead of the landlord. It then counts as paid.
From the moment the landlord learned of the defect until it is remedied (Art. 259d CO). Not from a decision, and not from the day you go to the conciliation authority. That is exactly why a written, dated defect notice is the most important step.
You lose the money. Deposited rents accrue to the landlord if you do not assert your claims before the conciliation authority within 30 days of the first deposited rent falling due (Art. 259h para. 1 CO). The defect is still there and the money is gone.
No. Only rents falling due in future may be deposited (Art. 259g para. 1 CO). What you already owe remains owed.
If the template alone is not enough
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