Three months before: the steps that can't wait
Give notice on your lease in time. In Switzerland the notice period is generally three months, and often only on the break dates set out in the contract. Reread your lease: missing a break date can cost you several months' rent. Notice must be given in writing, by registered post, and signed by every tenant named on the lease.
Find a replacement if you leave outside a break date. In most cantons, proposing a solvent tenant lets you leave earlier. Plan ahead: the letting agency has to approve the application.
Book the movers or the van. Month-ends, and quarter-ends above all, are saturated in Switzerland. 31 March, 30 June and 30 September are the tightest days of the year.
One month before: the paperwork
- Register your departure with your current commune and your arrival with the new one. This is compulsory, generally within 14 days of the move.
- Transfer or cancel your contracts: electricity, internet, phone. Some providers need several weeks.
- Notify your insurer for household contents and third-party liability: the premium depends on the address and the floor area. An oversight here can leave you without cover on moving day.
- Set up mail forwarding with Swiss Post.
- Update your health insurance, employer, bank, SBB travelcard and residents' registration office.
Two weeks before: sorting through
This is the most profitable moment of the entire move. Every item you don't transport is time and money saved.
Ask yourself a single question about each object: have I used it this year? If not, there is little chance that will change. Communal recycling centres, second-hand shops and resale platforms absorb the surplus very well.
It is also the moment to think about your furniture. Moving a sofa that won't fit the new living room, or a wardrobe that no longer works, costs a lot in handling for a mediocre result.
The furniture question: move it, buy new, or rent?
Moving it makes sense for the pieces you are attached to and that will work in the new home. But do the maths: movers charging by volume can cost more than the residual value of entry-level furniture.
Buying new is justified if you are settling in for the long term and know exactly what you want.
Renting solves two very common cases. The first: you are arriving from abroad and your container will take six weeks — yet you need somewhere to sleep tonight. The second: you don't know how long you will stay, and tying up CHF 10'000 in furniture makes no sense.
At Swaap, our turnkey packs cover an entire home — living room, bedroom, dining area — delivered and assembled by our teams. You can hand pieces back as your own belongings arrive, or keep the ones you have grown to like.
Moving week
- Label the boxes by destination room, not by contents. You will thank yourself while unloading.
- Pack a “first night” box: bed linen, toiletries, chargers, toilet paper, the makings of a coffee. It is the only box that really counts on the first evening.
- Photograph the condition of the old home, room by room, before handing back the keys. It is your best protection when it comes to getting the rental deposit released.
- Read the meters in both homes.
The handover inspection: don't take it lightly
This is often where several thousand francs of deposit are decided. In Switzerland, letting agencies pay close attention. Clean thoroughly, or call in a cleaning company that offers a key-handover guarantee — it costs something, but usually less than the deductions it avoids.
Be clear about the difference between normal wear (which cannot be charged to you) and damage. Equipment lifespans are standardised: a carpet more than ten years old has no residual value.
Arriving from abroad?
Add to all of this the residence permit, registration within 14 days, compulsory health insurance cover within three months, and opening a Swiss bank account. Many expats use a relocation company for these steps.
For furniture, our Expats offer is built for exactly this moment: fully set up in a few days, without buying what you will leave behind.
Taking things in the right order
A successful move is a move planned ahead. Notice period and movers first, paperwork next, sorting last — and furniture treated as a decision in its own right, not as a last-minute constraint.
Browse our furniture catalogue or get in touch: we deliver and install anywhere in Switzerland, often within a few days.