Skip to content
ubvo

Check your rent

If the reference rate has dropped since your rent was set, you can ask for a reduction. Here you work out roughly how much that is and create the letter to your landlord. Free, no account. Everything stays in your browser.

Reference rate today

1.25 %, in force since 2 September 2025

Data as of 3 October 2026. The FHO’s next announcement is on 1 December 2026. Source: FHO, reference rate

For every quarter point the reference rate has dropped since your rent was last set, your net rent falls by about 2.91 %. The basis is VMWG Art. 13: 3 % per quarter point at a rate below 5 %, 2.5 % from 5 to 6 %, 2 % above. The landlord may offset inflation and general cost increases.

Your details

What do you want to check?

The date from which your current rent applies: the start of the tenancy or the date of the last adjustment, not the date of the notice. The reference rate and CPI level are usually stated in the lease or the notice; enter them below, they take precedence over our table.

Without service and heating charges, as in the lease.

Flat rates of the conciliation authorities of the canton of Zurich. 0.5 % is the most cautious assumption.

Listed in the lease under “termination”. If it is missing, the locally customary date applies; the conciliation authority knows it.

Figures from the lease (optional)

If the lease or the last adjustment states a reference rate or a CPI level, enter it here. It takes precedence over our table.

The calculation runs in your browser. Ubivo receives none of these details.

How to ask for the reduction

  1. Send the request for a reduction by registered mail to your landlord or the property manager. It must arrive before the notice period starts, otherwise it only applies from the following date (CO Art. 270a para. 1).
  2. The landlord must reply in writing within 30 days (CO Art. 270a para. 2).
  3. If the landlord refuses, reduces less or does not reply, you can turn to the conciliation authority within a further 30 days. If you miss that deadline, you start again with the letter.

Conciliation authorities by canton (FHO)

You received a rent increase?

  • An increase must come on the form approved by the canton and must state the reasons. If either is missing, or if the landlord threatens termination with it, it is void (CO Art. 269d para. 2).
  • It must reach you at least ten days before the notice period starts and applies at the earliest from the next termination date (CO Art. 269d para. 1).
  • You can challenge it at the conciliation authority within 30 days of receiving it (CO Art. 270b). After that it applies.

Good to know

  • The calculation is an estimate. The landlord may offset a reduction with other reasons, such as value-adding investments, additional services, earlier increases not fully passed on or higher actual costs. The landlord must then state and document them.
  • General cost increase: many conciliation authorities simply use a flat rate of 0.5 % per year, some 0.25 %, and 0 % for new buildings. In Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, according to the tenants’ association, you need not accept a flat rate. In court the landlord must prove the costs.
  • Only the net rent is adjusted. Service and heating charges are not affected.
  • Does not apply to index-linked rents, graduated rents, luxury flats and houses with six or more living rooms, or subsidised flats. Separate rules apply there (FHO).
  • Conciliation proceedings in tenancy matters cost no court fees, and nobody has to pay the other side’s legal costs (CPC Art. 113). During the proceedings your lease continues unchanged (CO Art. 270e).
  • If the landlord gives notice because you ask for a reduction, you can challenge the termination (CO Art. 271a para. 1 let. a). A termination can also be challenged for three years after conciliation or court proceedings in which the landlord lost to a considerable extent, withdrew or substantially reduced the claim, decided not to go to court or reached an agreement with you (let. e, with exceptions such as the landlord’s urgent own need, para. 3).

Guidance only, not legal advice. The Code of Obligations, the VMWG ordinance, your lease and, in a dispute, the conciliation authority are authoritative.

Frequently asked questions

When can I ask for a rent reduction?

When the reference rate has fallen since your rent was last set. Today it is 1.25 %, in force since 2 September 2025. For every quarter point your net rent falls by about 2.91 %. The landlord may offset inflation and general cost increases (VMWG Art. 13).

Does my rent go down automatically when the reference rate falls?

No. You have to ask your landlord for the reduction in writing. If your request arrives before the notice period starts, the reduction applies from the next termination date (CO Art. 270a para. 1).

What can I do if the landlord refuses?

The landlord must reply in writing within 30 days. If they refuse, reduce less or do not reply, you can turn to the conciliation authority within a further 30 days (CO Art. 270a para. 2). The proceedings cost no court fees (CPC Art. 113).

How long do I have to challenge a rent increase?

Within 30 days of receiving it, at the conciliation authority (CO Art. 270b). If the increase does not come on the official form or gives no reasons, it is void (CO Art. 269d para. 2).

When is the next reference rate announcement?

The Federal Housing Office (FHO) announces the reference rate every quarter, next on 1 December 2026. The new rate applies from the following day.

What else does your address cost you? Taxes, health insurance, electricity, commuting in the free report.

You can save on health insurance too: compare premiums and create the cancellation letter.

Data and sources

  • Reference rate: Federal Housing Office FHO, all publications since its introduction on 10 September 2008, retrieved on 3 October 2026.
  • Inflation: Swiss consumer price index of the FSO, monthly values since December 1982, converted to the base December 2025 = 100, latest value September 2026, retrieved on 3 October 2026. The index of the month before the rent was set or notified applies. For older rents the tool only calculates inflation with the CPI level from the lease.
  • Method as in the rent calculator of the courts of the canton of Zurich: 3 % per quarter point below a 5 % rate, 2.5 % from 5 up to and including 6 %, 2 % above (VMWG Art. 13), a reduction converted as E × 100 / (100 + E), inflation 40 % of the CPI change, costs as a flat rate per month. Each factor is rounded to 5 centimes, and so is the total; the total in percent is the sum of the rounded lines.
  • Cost flat rate: information sheet of the conciliation authorities of the canton of Zurich on rent increases (0, 0.25 or 0.5 % per year) and the Swiss Tenants’ Association.
  • Legal basis: CO Art. 266c, 269a, 269d, 270a, 270b, 270e, 271a (version of 1 October 2026), VMWG Art. 12, 12a, 13, 16 (version of 1 October 2025), CPC Art. 113, fedlex.admin.ch.

FHO reference rateFSO price indexZurich conciliation authorities sheetCOVMWGCPC