Applying for an apartment before your Swiss job starts

What the landlord wants to see

Two things: the committed future income — and your present standing. The new employment contract proves the first; your current contract or recent payslips prove the second. Together they form a picture an agency can assess.

• The signed new employment contract — workload, salary, start date: the centerpiece.
• Your current employment contract or recent payslips as the bridge until the new role begins.
• Or an employer confirmation: one page from HR stating workload, start date and salary — usually quicker to obtain than the contract itself.
• Everything else as in any application: identity document, debt-register extract, references.

State the start date honestly

Hiding a future start date achieves nothing — it is in the contract anyway. Naming it clearly works better: “employed from 1 January” reads as a plan, not a gap. Wohnera's builder accepts start dates up to 18 months ahead and prints them on the cover the way an agency should read them: “from”, not “since”.

When payslips cannot exist yet

Before the job starts there can be no payslips from the new employer — and nobody serious expects them. The checklist does not demand them in that case either: the employment contract carries the income proof. Once the first payslips of the new role arrive, they strengthen every further application.

Built from lived experience: Wohnera exists because its founder hunted for an apartment in spring with an employment contract that only began in August. He attached both — the future contract and the running one.