Geneva and home ownership: what Law 13025, put to the vote on 27 September 2026, would change

A canton where few people own their home

Geneva has the lowest rate of owner-occupiers in Switzerland, at around 18%. This is due to several factors: a predominantly rental housing stock, high prices and, above all, a legal framework that makes it almost impossible to sell a rented flat to its occupant.

What the current law provides

At present, Article 39 of the LDTR (the law on the demolition, conversion and renovation of residential buildings) regulates this type of sale very strictly. Three cumulative conditions must be met:

• the tenant has occupied the home for at least three years;
• the written consent of at least 60% of the other tenants in the building;
• authorisation from the Département du territoire, which weighs the tenant’s interest in becoming an owner against the public interest in preserving the rental housing stock.

In practice, this mechanism allows very few applications through each year across the canton.

What Law 13025 would change

The text put to the vote removes the rule requiring the consent of 60% of the other tenants, as well as the weighing of interests by the State, and replaces them with automatic criteria. A tenant could buy their home if the following conditions are met:

• they have occupied the home for at least three years;
• the owner freely agrees to sell, without being compelled to: the decision to sell remains entirely in their hands;
• the tenant is informed of their rights in the event of a notice to vacate given with a view to a sale;
• the buyer undertakes to occupy the home personally for at least five years after the purchase, unless there is a recognised reason (divorce, death, job transfer, health reasons);
• the sale price is capped, indexed to the average approved prices of PPE units in a zone de développement over the last three years, currently around 7’000 CHF/m², well below prices on the open market.

By way of example, a five-room flat of 100 m² could thus sell for around 700’000 CHF under this framework, compared with a considerably higher price on the open market.

Two opposing readings of the same text

The yes camp, led by the PLR, the Centre and the MCG, presents the law as a response to a situation it considers almost deadlocked today, and highlights the safeguards in the text: minimum length of tenancy, a five-year occupancy requirement and a capped price. For its supporters, the aim is to offer an additional option to long-standing tenants, without creating any obligation for the owner.

The no camp, led by the Asloca and supported by the left and, more surprisingly, by the UDC and Libertés et Justice sociale, fears the opposite effect: that the possibility of selling at a capped but still attractive price will lead some owners to give notice to tenants who are unable to buy, in order to resell the property with vacant possession. According to this argument, the current protection against notice given with a view to a sale holds only thanks to the LDTR lock that Law 13025 specifically aims to relax. Its opponents also fear a gradual conversion of moderately priced rental homes into owner-occupied property, at the expense of the affordable rental supply.

The Geneva Conseil d’État is not taking an official position on this matter.

What this means for owners and prospective buyers

For a landlord, Law 13025 would introduce no obligation: the decision to sell would remain theirs alone. It would, however, offer an additional option for selling a property to its occupant, within a capped-price framework and therefore distinct from an open-market sale. For a tenant who has lived in their home for several years, it would open, subject to conditions, a route to ownership at a price appreciably below the Geneva market.

The result of the vote on 27 September 2026 will determine whether this mechanism comes into force. Millenium Properties is following this matter closely, given its potential implications for the sales and property management market in Geneva, and is available to owners who wish to review their situation.