Swiss tenancy law regulates viewing a flat, not photographing it. What that means in practice — with sources.
The relevant provision is the tenant's duty of toleration, in the original German: „Der Mieter muss dem Vermieter gestatten, die Sache zu besichtigen, soweit dies für den Unterhalt, den Verkauf oder die Wiedervermietung notwendig ist.“ The word is besichtigen — to view. Not to photograph, film, or scan. The duty of toleration covers access to the flat; it says nothing about what may be recorded there or published.
Swiss law has no dedicated photography statute. Whether and how an occupied flat may be photographed instead runs through two other channels: personality rights (Art. 28 of the Civil Code) and data-protection law (the revised Data Protection Act, revDSG).
| Point | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Statutory period | Only “timely notice” (Art. 257h para. 3 CO) — no number of hours in the statute |
| Standard practice | 24 to 48 hours in advance, in writing |
| Standard-form leases | Often specify 48 hours explicitly |
| Excluded | Sundays and public holidays, unreasonable times of day |
| Frequency | Routine viewings only every one to two years |
The Swiss Tenants' Association holds that a landlord may not photograph the flat against the tenant's will. Flat photos are treated as the tenant's personal data — they show how someone lives. Legal commentary reaches the same conclusion for listing photos of furnished rooms. Narrowly scoped documentation shots, of a single damp patch for instance, are judged differently from a full listing shoot.
Since 1 September 2023 the revised Data Protection Act has also been in force, with expanded duties for businesses that process personal data — including property managers and agencies that capture and publish images of occupied flats.
A research note: the case law most easily found online on photographing occupied flats is overwhelmingly German (GDPR, BGB) and does not apply in Switzerland. No Swiss court ruling on this specific question is known — it remains open. What governs is the revised Data Protection Act, Art. 28 of the Civil Code, and the Code of Obligations.
There is no Swiss source addressing 3D capture of occupied flats specifically. Factually, a walkable 3D tour records an entire room's contents and therefore considerably more than a single photograph — including details that would not appear in any one frame. The cautious standard: treat 3D capture like photography, only more strictly. Without consent, nothing gets scanned. Our own capture of an occupied condominium in Schaffhausen shows how much a tour of a lived-in home reveals — published with the owner's consent.
Tools such as Matterport's furniture removal (“Defurnish”) create an additional empty view within the same tour, alongside the original. Per Matterport's own support documentation, only the display order between the two views can be set — not whether the original furnished view stays permanently hidden from visitors. The underlying capture still records the occupied, furnished flat in full. An empty view is a presentation device for marketing, not a substitute for the tenant's consent beforehand. Nor is it proof of condition: the empty view is an AI reconstruction, and where furniture stood or a rug lay it can differ from the real condition.
Then nothing may be photographed or scanned. Where the floor plan is generated automatically from the 3D scan — as is standard with modern providers — no floor plan is produced either, since no dimensional data exists without one. A listing can only run with exterior shots and a written description until either consent is given or the flat becomes vacant.
Personal belongings — photographs, documents, post, medication, children's drawings — should be moved or covered before capture in every case. According to the Swiss Tenants' Association the tenant may request this regardless.
How RoomView360 puts this process into practice for its own clients — including a ready-to-use consent template — is on the Occupied Properties page. The rules for the viewing itself – notice, frequency, sale – are covered in Viewings of a rented flat.
Swiss law does not answer this directly. Art. 257h para. 2 of the Code of Obligations obliges the tenant to allow a viewing where necessary for maintenance, sale or reletting. It says nothing about photography. The Swiss Tenants' Association holds that a landlord may not photograph the flat against the tenant's will, and legal commentary reaches the same conclusion for listing photos of furnished rooms. No Swiss court decision on the point is known. The safe route is written consent.
The statute requires only timely notice (Art. 257h para. 3 CO) and names no number of hours. In practice, 24 to 48 hours is treated as standard, and many standard-form leases specify 48 hours explicitly. Not on Sundays or public holidays, and at a reasonable time of day.
There is no Swiss source addressing 3D capture of occupied flats specifically. Factually, a 3D tour records the entire interior and therefore more than a single photograph. The cautious standard: treat 3D capture like photography, only more strictly — no consent, no scan.
They should be moved or covered before capture — photographs, documents, post, medication, children's drawings. According to the Swiss Tenants' Association the tenant may request this in any case. Practical side effect: the result is a better image, because the room shows rather than the private belongings.
No. Tools such as Matterport's furniture removal create an additional empty view within the same tour, alongside the original. Per Matterport's own documentation, only the display order between the two views can be set — not whether the original furnished view stays permanently hidden from visitors. The underlying capture still records the occupied, furnished flat. Without the tenant's consent, nothing gets scanned or photographed in the first place.
Then nothing may be photographed or scanned — and no floor plan is produced either, where the floor plan is generated from a 3D scan, as is standard with modern providers. A listing can only run with exterior shots and a written description until consent is given or the flat becomes vacant.
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