SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Francis Nordmann, Johannes Bürgi, Christian Eichenberger, André Kuhn and Sabrina Kunz, Walder Wyss Ltd
measures are rather limited, unless it becomes obvi - ous that the tenant will not leave on the agreed (and court-ordered, respectively) date. Under these cir - cumstances, it might be possible to evict the tenant on the date of termination. 6.18 Right to Assign a Leasehold Interest Pursuant to mandatory tenancy law, the tenant may transfer the lease or sublease all or a portion of the leased premises, subject to certain conditions. The landlord may withhold consent only for good cause (transfer of lease) in the following circumstances: • if the tenant refuses to inform the landlord of the terms of the sublease; • if the terms and conditions of the sublease are unfair in comparison to those of the principal lease; or • if the sublease gives rise to major disadvantages for the landlord. 6.19 Right to Terminate a Lease Unless otherwise agreed, the notice period with regard to indefinite business leases is six months. Ten - ants are entitled to submit a request for an extension of the lease term to a judge if the termination would cause undue hardship that cannot be justified by the landlord’s interests. The maximum extension for com - mercial leases is six years. Default in the payment of rent entitles a landlord to ter - minate a lease. However, the landlord must first grant a deadline of a minimum of 30 days for payment, com - bined with the announcement of termination in case of further default, and may then terminate the lease with a notice period of another 30 days. The landlord may also terminate the lease if the tenant becomes insolvent (see 6.16 Effect of the Tenant’s Insolvency ). A tenant may terminate a lease if the landlord does not hand over the leased premises at the time agreed upon or if, at the handover, the premises have defects that significantly impair their suitability for the intend - ed use. During the lease, the tenant may give notice with immediate effect if the landlord is notified about such a defect and fails to remedy it within an adequate period of time.
In addition, both a landlord and a tenant may termi - nate a lease for valid reasons that make it impossible to continue the lease. 6.20 Registration Requirements There are no registration requirements and/or execu - tion formalities. However, the parties to a lease may agree to have it entered under priority notice in the land register, with the effect that every future owner must allow the property to be used in accordance with the lease. Typically, the fees relating to such registra - tion do not exceed CHF1,000. 6.21 Forced Eviction Tenants can be forced to leave. The duration of the process to enforce this depends on court instances, but it can take several months or years. 6.22 Termination by a Third Party The government or other authorities may not termi - nate private leases. 6.23 Remedies/Damages for Breach Generally, the court determines the financial conse - quences of early termination, taking due account of all the circumstances. Typically, a security is required by the landlord in the form of either a security deposit or a bank guarantee. 7. Construction 7.1 Common Structures Used to Price Construction Projects As consideration for the services performed by the contractor, prices are usually agreed as unit prices ( Einheitspreise ) or lump sums ( Globalpreise ), or at a flat rate ( Pauschalpreise ). These prices are normally considered as fixed prices. Due to the war in Ukraine and increased inflation, some total contractors ( Tota- lunternehmer ) have started to renegotiate fixed prices. Since 2026, construction price stabilisation (0.3–0.6% increases v prior inflation surge), fixed-price lump sums ( Globalpreise ) and unit prices have regained preference over renegotiated terms. Unit prices determine the consideration for individual services that are listed as separate items in the sched -
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