“The Washington Post is clean today,” Christian Levrat, 51, its president, assured on March 11. Two months later, Postfinance, which belongs to the group, raises suspicions.
It comes down to their real estate portfolio — and the suspicion that the state-owned company is ripping off tenants. There are similar claims against SBB, which has 3,500 apartments in its portfolio: The goal of the SBB real estate division under its boss Alexander Mohm (52) is to achieve the highest possible income from market rents, the internal paper shows.
SBB want market rent
You need to know: in Switzerland, a distinction is made between rent cost and market rent. As the name implies, the cost of renting depends on the costs incurred by the owner. In contrast, with market rents, supply and demand determine rent. However, the owners are not completely free. When determining the rental price, you need to take into account local and local customs – so you can not rush to get more than is required for similar properties in the same location. But that the owner does not abide by it, you need to prove to him first.
Also SBB. According to the internal paper owned by Blick, SBB wants to put all of their rental properties on the market. In the case of centrally located real estate, that could lead to lawsuits being successful, according to a 2019 analysis, which went to a current member of the SBB-Immobilien board of directors.
Europaallee Risk
He explicitly states Europaallee at Zurich’s main station, “where the lower rents of the small shops on the ground floor are offset by higher office rents above”.
With the paper, the SBB explained how seriously you risk being defeated by a judge if tenants challenge your rent. It comes to the conclusion that the risks can be accepted in individual cases. Mainly because it is very difficult for tenants to prove that the rent is unfairly high.
Media attention!
However, if the apartment rent has increased by more than ten percent, the author recommends paying attention to how the exchange between the tenants. As long as only individual tenants get away with the challenge, this is manageable. Because then the advantage of market rent will outweigh the higher profit. “But if multiple tenants fought for the property, that should look different,” she says verbatim.
The author also warns of reputational risks for federal operations if it becomes known that many SBB tenants are being sued. The ‘active challenge to the media’ should be avoided.
Actions against Federal Companies
This was not well received by politicians: “The paper I cited shows that the SBB knows that their goal of putting as many apartments on the market for rent as possible leads to excessive and therefore illegal rents,” says Tobias Vogelli, co-chair of Junge GLP. Together with national advisor GLP Beat Flach (57), he fights against the unfairly high rents demanded by state-owned companies.
Flash submitted a rental transparency proposal this week. SOEs should be obligated to regularly publish property rents and results.
Real estate tycoons are SBB
The real estate mogul among state-owned enterprises is SBB. They not only connect to their 800 train stations, but also have about 160 investment properties in the planning and construction stages – and they lease commercial space and about 3,500 apartments.
Last year, SBB’s real estate division under its boss Alexander Mohm (52) generated nearly CHF5 billion in sales — more than 600 million of which came through leasing to third parties. And the group has ambitious plans: Within 15 years, they want to earn 1 billion francs from rents, about a quarter of them from apartments.
Other state-owned companies bake much smaller bread rolls: Swiss Post has 671 properties. “We primarily use our property ourselves,” a spokeswoman says upon request. About two-thirds of real estate is occupied by its owners and about a third is leased. Of the outside rentals, only a small portion of the apartments.
It’s the same at Swisscom. The telecom giant does not want to publish the numbers, but says a spokesperson that it is “not a major provider in the real estate market”. Even in your offices you are a renter. In the event that Swisscom owns technical buildings such as telephone exchanges, individual rooms that might otherwise be empty are rented out. They can sometimes be offices, sometimes warehouses, sometimes workshops and rarely apartments, as can be seen on the Swisscom property portal. In general, only about ten percent of the company’s premises are partially rented. Faki’s sermon
The real estate mogul among state-owned enterprises is SBB. They not only connect to their 800 train stations, but also have about 160 investment properties in the planning and construction stages – and they lease commercial space and about 3,500 apartments.
Last year, SBB’s real estate division under its boss Alexander Mohm (52) generated nearly CHF5 billion in sales — more than 600 million of which came through leasing to third parties. And the group has ambitious plans: Within 15 years, they want to earn 1 billion francs from rents, about a quarter of them from apartments.
Other state-owned companies bake much smaller bread rolls: Swiss Post has 671 properties. “We primarily use our property ourselves,” a spokeswoman says upon request. About two-thirds of real estate is owner-occupied and about one-third is rented. Of the outside rentals, only a small portion of the apartments.
It’s the same at Swisscom. The telecom giant does not want to publish the numbers, but says a spokesperson that it is “not a major provider in the real estate market”. Even in your offices you are a renter. In the event that Swisscom owns technical buildings such as telephone exchanges, individual rooms that might otherwise be empty are rented out. They can sometimes be offices, sometimes warehouses, sometimes workshops and rarely apartments, as can be seen on the Swisscom property portal. In general, only about ten percent of the company’s premises are partially rented. Faki’s sermon
If there is excessive rent, tenants must demonstrate abuse today. “In practice, it’s hard to provide that evidence,” Flach says. Therefore, there is a duty of cooperation on the part of the owner, who must disclose the basis of his account.
Postfinance argues
However, there is one exception – which regularly applies to SOEs: if the property has been owned by the same owner for 30 years. Realtors often refused to hand over the basis of calculation with this exception.
And here we return to the Swiss Post and its subsidiary Postfinance. The Tenants Association is discussing in court the disclosure of this information for a property in Zurich – Oerlikon. The fact that Postfinance is resisting posting indicates that the rent is too high.
When asked by the publication, he said he attaches great importance to the fair rent policy. The Oerliker property has been completely modernized and transformed in recent years. “Specifically, we have created a living space out of office space, which we are now renting out on moderate terms – particularly in comparison to the usual local and lively rentals at this location.”
SBB “correct”
Postfinance does not refuse to disclose yield accounts in rental law proceedings. However, one cannot comment more on the pending court case. This is presented differently by the other party.
SBB also says they want to be a fair owner. The state-owned company assumes that it sets rental rates “correctly and at a reasonable level”. But: “However, the existence of a risk of appeal in individual cases due to the unclear legal situation cannot be excluded.”
For Swiss-based state-owned companies, rent thefts will be more than just an attack. It cannot be reconciled with the Federal Council’s objectives, which require Swiss Post and SBB to follow a “sustainable and ethical corporate strategy”.
If the Feds were to disclose their returns, it would be clear how clean SBB and Post really are.