Tenants & landlords: all Swiss tenancy templates free (PDF & Word) – plus the guide that names the right template and the matching Code of Obligations article in 10 seconds
According to Federal Council estimates, around 5 billion francs are locked up in Switzerland as rental deposits, money that belongs to tenants. Whether you get yours back at the move-out handover often comes down to a single sheet: the right protocol, filled in at the right moment. And anyone who fails to challenge a rent increase within 30 days keeps paying the surcharge year after year. In tenancy law you rarely lose for being in the wrong, but because the wrong paper or the missed deadline is in the way. Here you'll find all templates free, each with its CO article, from the defect list to the termination. And the tenancy guide tells you in 10 seconds which one you need.
🧭 The tenancy guide: which template do you need?
No other template portal takes you by the hand: tell us where you stand and the ConvivaPlus tenancy guide names the matching template, the legal article that backs your right and the first concrete step in a second. Exactly the bridge between "I have a problem" and "I have the right document" that is missing everywhere else.
🧭 ConvivaPlus Tenancy Guide
Pick your situation → the right template, the matching CO article and your next step.
The guide gives an initial orientation and does not replace legal advice. In disputes the conciliation authority for tenancy matters (free) or the Tenants' Association helps.
How the ConvivaPlus tenancy guide works: we mapped the most common tenancy situations each to one template and the governing legal article. This situation-to-template mapping according to ConvivaPlus rests entirely on the Code of Obligations (Art. 253 ff. CO) and replaces the tedious search for which paper is even the right one in your case.
📂 All tenancy templates, sorted by phase
In the second half of 2023 alone, Switzerland's conciliation authorities had to handle over 35,000 tenancy disputes (FHO), most of them about the very papers on this page. With the right template you're not one of them. Instead of an alphabetical list, all templates here are ordered the way a tenancy actually unfolds: from move-in through living together and money to move-out. Every template is free as PDF and Word, and each states the legal article it rests on.
Move-in & contract
Living together & order
Termination & move-out
🏛️ What legally applies to every tenancy template
All of tenancy law is in the Code of Obligations (Art. 253 ff. CO). It is largely mandatory, meaning: a contract that gives you fewer rights than the law is void on that point, even if you signed. That's precisely why the right template matters so much: it records what is legally enforceable in the first place. The same logic holds beyond tenancy law: for the private loan agreement too, it isn't the promise that protects you, but the clean document.
For two documents the form decides validity: a rent increase and a termination by the landlord are only valid with the official cantonal form. If it's missing, the declaration is void, even if all parties agreed. For every other paper, careful written form is enough: a properly filled-in sublease template is just as valid as an expensive lawyer's contract.
Anyone who knows these three rules sees through every tenancy template:
⏱️ The key tenancy deadlines at a glance
In tenancy law a single forgotten date decides hard cash, sometimes your entire deposit. Whoever misses the right date pays, in case of doubt, a year longer or loses a right for good. This overview shows the most-used deadlines, with the legal article to look up.
| Situation | Deadline | Law |
|---|---|---|
| Terminate the flat (tenant) | 3 months to the local usual date | Art. 266c CO |
| Terminate a furnished room | 2 weeks | Art. 266e CO |
| Challenge a rent increase | 30 days from receipt | Art. 270b CO |
| Challenge a termination | 30 days from receipt | Art. 273 CO |
| Request an extension | 30 days from termination | Art. 273 CO |
| Serve an increase (landlord) | min. 10 days before the date | Art. 269d CO |
| Flag defects on move-out (landlord) | immediately at handover | Art. 267a CO |
⏱️ ConvivaPlus Deadline Calculator
⏱️ ConvivaPlus Deadline Calculator
Enter the situation and the date of receipt → your exact deadline and how many days you have left.
Guideline value without warranty. The actual date of receipt and the cantonal rules are decisive. When in doubt, act a day earlier.
How the ConvivaPlus deadline calculator works: it takes the date of receipt and adds the statutory deadline (usually 30 days). For meeting the deadline, what counts is receipt by the conciliation authority, not the postmark. The classification according to ConvivaPlus follows the challenge and extension deadlines of the Code of Obligations.
✍️ Defect-letter generator: report a defect and set a deadline
The landlord ignores a defect? Then only one thing counts: the written defect notice with a deadline. That's exactly what the ConvivaPlus defect-letter generator builds for you in a minute, with the right legal basis (Art. 259a CO) and the reservation of your rent rights. Fill in the fields, download as PDF or copy.
✍️ Defect-letter generator
Fill in the fields → defect notice with deadline ready as PDF or to copy. Free, no registration.
DEFECT NOTICE AND SETTING OF A DEADLINE
… Subject: defect notice and setting of a deadline for repair Dear Sir or Madam, In the flat I rent, …, the following defect exists: … I hereby request you to remedy it properly by … at the latest (Art. 259a ff. CO). If the repair is not carried out within the deadline, I expressly reserve the right to assert the statutory remedies: reduction of rent, deposit of the rent with the conciliation authority (Art. 259g CO) or substitute performance at your expense. Please confirm receipt of this letter. Kind regards … Landlord / management: …
Tip: send the letter by registered post and photograph the defect with the date. What counts for the deadline is receipt by the landlord (not the postmark).
This template does not replace legal advice. In disputes the conciliation authority (free) or the Tenants' Association helps.
How the ConvivaPlus defect-letter generator works: it places your details into a formally correct defect notice under Art. 259a CO, including the deadline and the reservation of rent deposit (Art. 259g CO). The wording according to ConvivaPlus follows tenancy-law practice.
⚠️ The 5 costliest mistakes with tenancy documents
Each of these mistakes has already cost someone hundreds or thousands of francs, and the first often happens before the tenancy has even properly begun.
Accepting a rent increase without the official form. It is void (Art. 269d CO). Whoever pays it anyway gives away money month after month. Demand the official cantonal form.
Not making a move-in protocol. Without a protocol the landlord can pin old defects on you at move-out. There's no longer a presumption in your favour. Always document with photos.
Paying replacement value instead of residual value. Paying the new price for a worn-out carpet is the costliest reflex. You only owe the residual value per the joint life-expectancy table (Art. 267 CO).
Letting the 30-day deadline lapse. Increase, termination, extension: everywhere a 30-day deadline runs from receipt. Missing it permanently loses the right to challenge.
Starting the sublease without the landlord's consent. Subletting is your right, but you must obtain consent (Art. 262 CO). Without it you risk a termination. And you remain liable for the entire rent.
A missing form makes a rent increase worthless. A missing protocol makes your deposit attackable. In tenancy law, the right paper decides.
The lever almost nobody uses: Art. 270 CO lets you challenge the initial rent if you were forced to sign due to housing shortage or the new rent is well above the previous tenant's. Deadline: 30 days after taking over. In cantons with a mandatory form for the initial rent (e.g. Zurich, Vaud, Geneva) the landlord must disclose the old rent on their own. Those who check sometimes live hundreds of francs cheaper – on the same contract.
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❓ Frequent questions about tenancy templates
The questions that come up most before filling in a tenancy template, answered briefly and honestly.
People also ask
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All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
A rent increase without the official cantonal form is void – even if you signed as the tenant (Art. 269d CO). And a termination by the landlord mandatorily requires the same form (Art. 266l CO). Knowing this sees through the two most common traps in tenancy law.
Related
The most-used tenancy templates in detail
Discussion
6 voices from the community
Finally a site that doesn't dump 50 templates on you but tells me which one I actually need. The guide took me to the handover protocol in 10 seconds, exactly what I needed before my move-out.
The management wanted to raise the rent by ordinary letter. Read here that it's void without the official form. Demanded the form, never came, increase off the table. Brilliant.
Thanks, Marco – that's exactly what the site is for. Art. 269d CO is clear: without the official form the increase is void. Well done insisting on it.
I'm subletting a room and didn't know I needed the landlord's consent. The guide took me straight to the sublease and Art. 262 CO. Very clear.
I printed the deadline table and stuck it on the fridge. That 30-day challenge deadline I didn't even know about – it can get really expensive if you miss it.
As a landlord of two flats I regularly use templates like these. Having the CO article right next to each one is worth gold – I instantly know what I can rely on.
ConvivaPlus Editorial
TemplatesResearched and verified. Facts, not opinions.
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