Moving out of a Geneva apartment

The handover inspection, your deposit under Swiss law, what actually goes wrong, and what cleaning costs per square metre. Written for people who have never seen a Swiss état des lieux.

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If you arrived in Geneva from abroad, the Swiss move-out process will not match anything you have done before. The apartment is inspected room by room against a written record, your deposit is not automatically returned, and the standard you are measured against is set by the managing agent, not by you.

The words you will see

  • Régie The managing agent acting for the owner. In Geneva you will deal with the régie, almost never with the landlord directly. They run the inspection and they decide whether the cleaning passes.
  • État des lieux de sortie The exit inspection. You walk the empty apartment with the régie and everything is recorded on a form, compared against the entry inspection made when you moved in. The date is fixed and does not move.
  • Garantie de loyer Your rental deposit. Not held by the landlord: held in a blocked bank account opened in your name.
  • Réserve A reservation, meaning a defect written onto the inspection form. A cleaning-related réserve is what costs you money.
  • Congé Your notice of termination. The moment you send it is the moment to book cleaning.

What Swiss law says about your deposit

  • Capped at three months of net rent Article 257e of the Swiss Code of Obligations limits the rental guarantee for residential leases to three months' rent, excluding service charges.
  • Held in an account in your name The landlord must deposit it with a bank, in a blocked account opened in the tenant's name. It is your money held under a condition, not the landlord's money.
  • Reclaimable after one year Under art. 257e para. 3, if the landlord has started no legal proceedings or conciliation within one year of the end of the tenancy, you can ask the bank to release the guarantee without the landlord's signature.
  • Cleaning is only part of it A deposit can also be reduced for damage or unpaid rent. No amount of cleaning changes those, and no cleaning company can promise otherwise.

General information about Swiss federal tenancy law, not legal advice on your individual lease. For a dispute, ASLOCA Genève advises tenants.

What actually goes wrong

Not "the apartment looked untidy". Three specific outcomes, in order of how often they happen:

  1. An amount is withheld from your guarantee to cover cleaning the régie considers unfinished.
  2. You are invoiced by a cleaning company the régie appoints, at their rate, with no say in who does the work or what it costs.
  3. Your guarantee stays blocked while the matter is contested, which can run for months at a point when you have usually already left the country.

None of these depend on how clean the apartment looks to you. They depend on whether a cleaning-related réserve is written on the form.

Timing: book when you give notice

Geneva moves cluster at the end of the month and the end of each quarter, because that is when leases end. Cleaning slots fill up in exactly those weeks, and an exit inspection date cannot be rescheduled to suit a cleaner's availability.

Order matters too: the apartment must be empty before it is cleaned. A furnished apartment cannot be cleaned to inspection standard. If you need the contents removed, that is a separate job booked immediately before: clearance and removal.

What it costs

CHF 10 per m² up to 100 m². CHF 9.50 per m² above 100 m². The final price also depends on the actual condition of the apartment. A 70 m² three-room flat therefore lands around CHF 700.

You can work it out yourself in 30 seconds, without giving us your phone number. The calculator page is in French, but the calculator itself is just numbers.

Calculate the price

Of four Geneva cleaning companies whose public websites we checked on 6 August 2026, none published a rate for end-of-lease work. If you are collecting quotes, that is why the numbers you get back are hard to compare. The full comparison is here: comparatif des entreprises de nettoyage fin de bail (French).

When not to hire us

  • A studio in good condition, flexible date

    Hire an independent

    An independent cleaner will usually be cheaper than we are, often by CHF 100–150. We employ declared, insured staff with the social charges that implies, and on small surfaces that difference shows.

  • You want a written promise to come back

    Hire eco2net

    We do not give that promise. A return at an undetermined date is not something a team our size can guarantee, and an advertising promise that cannot be kept is not permitted in Switzerland. What we do instead: the check is done with you before the team leaves, and anything you point out is redone on the spot, free. eco2net SA undertakes in writing to re-clean until the régie validates. If that is your main criterion, hire them.

Working with us from abroad

Move-outs organised from another country are routine here, particularly in the Nyon district where many residents are on multi-year postings. Keys are collected from the managing agent, and photographs of the finished apartment are sent to you afterwards. We cover the whole canton of Geneva and the Nyon district, including Founex, Coppet, Mies, Tannay, Commugny and Prangins, at the same rate with no travel surcharge.

Vertnet Nettoyage Sàrl is a Geneva company, business identification number CHE-391.574.443, verifiable in the Swiss commercial register. Staff are declared and the company carries civil liability insurance, so you are not the employer and carry none of the social-insurance or accident liability that hiring someone privately creates.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to use a professional cleaning company?

No. Nothing obliges you to hire anyone. The obligation under art. 267 of the Swiss Code of Obligations is to return the apartment in the agreed condition, normal wear excepted. Many tenants clean it themselves. A company is worth it when the inspection date is fixed, the surface is large, or the deposit at stake is significant.

What is actually checked at the inspection?

The points that generate reservations most often are the oven and hood filters, the fridge and freezer including seals, limescale in the bathroom and kitchen, windows including frames and the rails they slide in, blinds slat by slat, radiators, inside cupboards and drawers, and the cellar or attic if the lease includes one.

Do you work in English?

Yes. The quote, the scheduling and the handover can all be handled in English. The inspection itself is run by the régie and will usually be in French.

Can you clean the day before the inspection?

Often yes, including weekends, which is why we work seven days a week. But the slot has to exist, and at the end of a month it frequently does not. Book when you give notice.

Know the price before you call

The calculator gives the exact figure for your surface area in 30 seconds, with no phone number required.

Calculate the price +41 76 531 69 03