Waiting list at cooperatives: register, renew and what else helps

Anyone looking for a cooperative flat hears the word waiting list early. The umbrella association Wohnbaugenossenschaften Schweiz writes about it: there is no magic formula, but a few tips help with the search.

What the umbrella association says about the waiting list

• Some cooperatives keep a waiting list. The earlier you register, the better your chance of getting a flat.
• As a rule the registration has to be renewed regularly.
• Other cooperatives no longer have a waiting list at all and advertise available flats on their homepage.

What follows for you

These are our conclusions from these statements, not the rules of a particular cooperative: ask each cooperative whether it keeps a waiting list, and note when you have to renew your registration. Where there is no list, what counts is that you keep an eye on the page on which it advertises its flats.

On the waiting lists page Wohnify shows which waiting lists we know. For cooperatives without a list, Wohnify checks the advertisements for you and reports new listings.

Further hints from the umbrella association

• It is worth contacting cooperatives directly in your desired town or neighbourhood and visiting their homepage regularly.
• Anyone willing to get involved in the cooperative, for example at estate events, in a working group or in neighbourly help, has better chances.
• The best chances exist when a cooperative plans a larger new building and has many new flats to let. New-build flats are, however, also somewhat more expensive at cooperatives than flats in older buildings.

More on the topic

• Current listings: Zurich, Bern, Basel.
• New-build projects we are watching
• First letting at cooperatives
• Finding a cooperative flat: the overview