Dr. iur. Alexander Schiemenz, LINDEMANNLAW, FuW opinion piece, June 2026
On 14 June, Zurich rejected three popular initiatives on the housing shortage: the left-wing housing initiative, the left-wing tenant-protection initiative, and the centre-right home-ownership initiative. All defeated. And yet the electorate said Yes twice: to the counter-proposals of the Cantonal Council. This is not a contradiction. It is a precise political statement. Voters do not want ideology. They want solutions.
The situation is well known, but it deserves figures. The vacancy rate in the canton stands at 0.48%, in the city itself below 0.1%. Of around 224,000 urban apartments, just over 130 stand empty. Asking rents have most recently risen by 8.5%. Anyone looking for an apartment in Zurich today knows: this is not a market correction. It is structural scarcity.
“A No to all three initiatives is not indifference. It is a rejection of politics that prefers posturing to building.”
What does the counter-proposal to the housing initiative provide for?
The counter-proposal to the housing initiative receives 57.9%. Its core: simpler zoning and building-law requirements, faster permit and appeal procedures, and the option of taller buildings. The Cantonal Council must present implementing legislation within three years. This is the opposite of the rejected initiative, which sought to create a state housing authority with 500 million francs in start-up capital.
Where are the legal limits to faster construction?
Legally, this is demanding. Zoning lies primarily with the cantons and municipalities, but federal law sets limits: the Spatial Planning Act, the RPG, prescribes how densely, how high, and how quickly construction may take place. A cantonal counter-proposal that shifts these limits may founder on federal-law barriers. The decisive question is whether the Cantonal Council genuinely opens up new room for manoeuvre or merely reformulates existing instruments. Will taller buildings in residential zones actually become eligible for permits, or will objections continue to block every second project? This is where the real test lies.
What does the counter-proposal to the tenant-protection initiative deliver?
The counter-proposal to the tenant-protection initiative comes to 54.3%. Its content is more targeted than the initiative it replaces. From 20 simultaneous tenancy terminations onwards, a landlord must submit a termination plan, inform tenants at least one year in advance, and examine whether construction measures are also possible while the property remains occupied.
Why is this tenant-protection counter-proposal legally delicate?
That sounds moderate. Legally, it is delicate. Tenancy law in Switzerland is federal law. The Code of Obligations governs termination, rent, and tenant protection conclusively at the federal level. A cantonal counter-proposal that regulates landlord conduct in termination situations moves at the edge of what is permissible under federal law. As soon as a cantonal provision intrudes into this core area of the Code of Obligations, a conflict of precedence with Art. 49 of the Federal Constitution looms. The first serious application of the counter-proposal will end up in court. With what result remains open.
What does the result now mean for the Cantonal Council?
Having adopted two counter-proposals is no free pass for the Cantonal Council. It is a mandate with a deadline. Those who supported the counter-proposals in order to prevent the initiatives must now deliver. This applies to the centre-right parties, which lobbied for years against tenant-protection rules, just as it does to the left-wing parties, which will now press to exploit the counter-proposal to the tenant-protection initiative to the maximum.
The political compromise has been found. The legal dispute over interpretation is only beginning. Every implementing provision will be challenged, by one side or the other. That is precisely the price of a ballot result that delivers no clear majority for one model, but a narrow majority for two different models at once.
Zurich needs more apartments. Zurich also needs tenant protection that works without deterring investment. These two goals are not mutually exclusive. But they cannot be produced by popular votes. Popular votes set a direction. The work that follows is craftsmanship: laws, ordinances, procedures, courts. The 14th of June can be a turning point. Greater Zurich is growing, the infrastructure is not keeping pace. That can be changed, if the legislature seizes the opportunity and finally introduces the processes that enable fast, reliable construction. The conditions are there. The excuse that it cannot be done, no longer is either.
Are you planning a construction project in Zurich, or are you a landlord affected by the new rules? LINDEMANNLAW guides owners, investors, and developers through spatial-planning, construction, and tenancy law, from the permit to litigation. Contact our team.
Read the full guest commentary in Finanz und Wirtschaft.
