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Switzerland

Landlords Beware! Court Rules Geneva Woman Was Gouged, Reduces Rent By 70%

A federal court in Switzerland rules that rent should not be based solely on market conditions, but on how much the landlord originally paid for the property.

Geneva is asking: how much is this worth? (Jean-Michel Just)
Geneva is asking: how much is this worth? (Jean-Michel Just)


*NEWSBITES


GENEVA – Renters of the world unite! Switzerland's Federal Court has sent a "strong signal," according to one lawyer, to landlords across the country (and beyond??) when it ruled in favor of a Geneva tenant who claimed she was being gouged on her monthly rent. The plaintiff won the right to a 70% reduction on her rent when the judged ruled that the monthly price should be calculated according to what the owner originally paid for the property.

Here are the facts of the case: the woman moved into the two-room, 48-square-meter (517 sq-ft) flat in 2004, and within the legal deadline of 30 days she contested the monthly rent of 1,500 Swiss francs ($1,650). Her landlord had acquired the property in 1988 by buying a share of the company that owned it for 79,500 francs ($87,500).

"Return on investment should be the basis for determining how high the rent should be, not the going rental rates in the neighborhood," read the ruling, according to the local paper Tribune de Genève. The federal judge reduced the rent by 1,090 francs to 410 francs.

Felicitas Huggenberger, general manager of the Zurich Tenants' Association (MV), said that the decision showed that "having the courage to contest a starting rent is worth it." The court decision applies to all Switzerland, where tenants can contest their rent within 30 days of moving in. But the tenant must be able to document key figures about the property in order to make a case. "The difficulty is establishing proof," says Huggenberger.

Read the original article in German

Photo - Jean-Michel Just

*Newsbites are digest items, not a direct translation

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Geopolitics

Why The Latin American Far Left Can't Stop Cozying Up To Iran's Regime

Among the Islamic Republic of Iran's very few diplomatic friends are too many from Latin America's left, who are always happy to milk their cash-rich allies for all they are worth.

Image of Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's embassy in Tehran/Facebook
Bahram Farrokhi

-OpEd-

The Latin American Left has an incurable anti-Yankee fever. It is a sickness seen in the baffling support given by the socialist regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela or Bolivia to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which to many exemplifies clerical fascism. And all for a single, crass reason: together they hate the United States.

The Islamic Republic has so many of the traits the Left used to hate and fight in the 20th century: a religious (Islamic) vocation, medieval obscurantism, misogyny... Its kleptocratic economy has turned bog-standard class divisions into chasmic inequalities reminiscent of colonial times.

This support is, of course, cynical and in line with the mandates of realpolitik. The regional master in this regard is communist Cuba, which has peddled its anti-imperialist discourse for 60 years, even as it awaits another chance at détente with its ever wealthy neighbor.

I reflected on this on the back of recent remarks by Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, the 64-year-old Romina Pérez Ramos. She must be the busiest diplomat in Tehran right now, and not a day goes by without her going, appearing or speaking somewhere, with all the publicity she can expect from the regime's media.

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