New construction still not completed

Hello
I am new here and hope for useful answers.
My parents moved into a new apartment this month. Like all the other tenants who have moved in, they have been paying the full rent since May 1st, even though there are construction delays! Electricians still had to come, masons, and scaffolding is still around the entire apartment block until further notice. The main entrance is not finished yet (elderly people, prams, or wheelchair users have no chance of getting into the building). Smaller things like missing doorbell names (doorbells work on the principle: expect a surprise) - no instructions for the devices (inside and outside the apartment, e.g. washing machine, oven, etc.) are not overly problematic, but I still think this is all a breach of contract and therefore tenants should receive a rent reduction for the first (possibly even 2nd?) month.
Unfortunately, we are not in any tenant association - so I’m reaching out to you - what do you think about this?
Best regards
sunnybelle

What is not finished cannot be occupied, and no rent can probably be charged for that. If one has moved in anyway, at least a significant rent reduction is possible until proper use is possible.

Thank you Wabe! The insidious thing is that most residents terminated their old apartments at this date and therefore had to move out - so almost all tenants really moved into the unfinished building on the promised move-in date. Therefore, all tenants should be able to demand a rent reduction. I am amazed anyway how tightly such an initial occupancy is "planned" (the beloved money :rolleyes:). When I moved into a new building years ago, this only happened three months after construction was completed. Back then, they gave us the plausible reason that the apartments first needed to dry.

building on schedule

good day

i know people who built a top multi-family house on the gold coast at lake zurich. they had also terminated their old apartment to move into the new house. however, this was not finished on schedule. not yet painted, some floor coverings still unfinished, forecourt hardly done yet, etc. etc.

these people then went for 2 months to their holiday apartment in tessin and simultaneously booked an equivalent hotel room like the apartment they wanted to move into – so a 5-star hotel – for the entire period of the construction delay!

so an estimated several tens of thousands of francs accumulated for the hotel, which they actually didn’t even use. through their lawyer, they passed the costs on to the architect, who is responsible for the timely completion of the house. – he then apparently passed these costs on to the craftsmen responsible for the delay...

regards

Considering that this means the mental stress (where to put the furniture? What if you can't just take a vacation...) cannot be alleviated... But really: I'm genuinely interested if there is a fixed regulation for this in Switzerland - just because the architect was too stupid to factor in construction delays caused by various factors. Or do you really first have to take the tedious route with lawyers (who you don't just have readily available)? By the way: What is a tenant supposed to think if the deadline still couldn't be met - what does that mean for responsibility (e.g. safety)... :cool:

house construction penalty clauses

When you consider that this means the mental stress (where to put the furniture? What if you simply can’t take a vacation…) cannot be alleviated...
But seriously: I really want to know if there is a fixed regulation for this in Switzerland – just because the architect was too incompetent to factor in construction delays caused by various factors. Or do you really first have to endure the tedious process with lawyers (who you don’t just have readily available)?
By the way: What are tenants supposed to think if the deadline cannot be met yet – how does that affect responsibility (e.g. safety) otherwise... :cool:

as far as I know, so-called "penalty clauses" are included in the employment contracts for new constructions. These are usually also deterringly high.