The motivation letter for a Swiss flat: short, factual, in the right language

A motivation letter for a Swiss flat is not a cover letter for a job. Nobody needs your life story; the agency wants to see quickly who will live in the flat, whether the rent is affordable for you, and when you can move in. Four sample letters for common situations are below — each one is built by the same engine as the free letter generator.

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Daniel Moreau and I am writing to apply for the apartment. I would be the sole tenant.

I work as a software engineer at a Zurich insurance company since September 2026, on a permanent contract. We are non-smokers and have no pets.

As I have recently arrived in Switzerland, a Swiss debt register extract (Betreibungsauszug) is not yet available for me. To reassure you in the meantime, I can provide an employer confirmation and a credit report from my previous country of residence, and I will supply the Swiss extract as soon as it can be issued.

I could take over the apartment from 1 December 2026. Enclosed you will find: copy of ID / residence permit, employment contract, employer confirmation letter, home-country credit report. I would be happy to answer any questions and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Daniel Moreau

What the letter is for

The documents prove things: the debt register extract shows your record, payslips show your income, the permit shows your status. The letter connects them and answers the questions the documents leave open — who the second adult is, why there is no Swiss extract yet, why your contract is new. It is also the one place where you can come across as an easy tenant to deal with.

What to include

Keep it to a few short paragraphs:

1. Who will live in the flat. Single, couple, family — and every adult who will sign.
2. Work and income. Employer, role, since when, type of contract. If your net income meets the usual one-third rule — rent no more than a third of net income — say so in one sentence; the affordability calculator checks it.
3. Reliability. Non-smoker, pets stated honestly, a reference from your current landlord if you have one.
4. Anything that needs explaining. New to Switzerland and no Swiss debt register extract yet? Say so and offer what you can instead — see the newcomer guide. Probation period, student, new self-employment: name it and name the safeguard (guarantor, deposit guarantee, savings).
5. Move-in date and enclosures. When you can take over the flat, and the list of documents you attach.

What to leave out

• Long personal stories. One sentence about why this flat fits is plenty.
• Pleading. “I really need this flat” tells the agency nothing about you as a tenant.
• Anything that is not true. Statements in an application have to hold up; an agency will check documents, and a discrepancy weighs more than the gap it was meant to hide.
• Exact salary figures. The payslips carry them; the letter only needs the conclusion.

Which language to write in

Use the language of the listing and the region. In Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Winterthur and Zug that is German; in Geneva and Lausanne it is French. If the listing is in English, English is fine. A short, correct letter in the local language reads better than a long one in another; the letter generator writes in German or English.

Sending it with your dossier

Put the letter first and the documents after it, in one PDF — agencies compare applications side by side, and a single file is easier to forward. The documents checklist lists what goes in, and the dossier check shows what is still missing before you send it.