Swiss voters reject more powers for landlords on subletting

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss voters narrowly rejected a change in the law giving landlords more powers to restrict subletting by tenants, according to preliminary results of a referendum on Sunday that scrutinized Airbnb’s role in the rental market.

Advocates of the change passed by parliament in 2023 argued tenants were increasingly subletting via rental company Airbnb. Opponents of it, led by a major tenants’ association, rejected this, saying most Airbnb letting is via landlords.

Kathrin Anselm, who is in charge of Airbnb for Switzerland, told Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger earlier this month that the company had no influence on the residential housing market.

Preliminary results showed 51.6% of voters rejected the subletting change, which also applied to commercial property.

In the latest round of national referendums held under its system of direct democracy, voters also rejected – by a slightly larger majority – legislation to give landlords more rights to terminate leases when wanting to make use of their property.

The tenancy questions have been closely followed in Switzerland, where most households lived in rented or cooperative dwellings at the end of 2022, official data show.

Swiss voters also rejected the government’s plans to expand the country’s network of motorways.

In a separate consultation, residents of Zurich rejected an initiative to remove gender-inclusive language from the city’s official texts following months of debate.