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The family-friendly district of Albisrieden is attractive for many reasons, including its proximity to Uetliberg, the fantastic swimming pool, and plenty of green spaces. By autumn 2025, the new "Langgrüt" development by the Gemeinnützige Baugenossenschaft Limmattal (GBL), will be completed here. It will consist of several buildings with a total of 155 apartments, primarily featuring 3.5 and 4.5-room layouts. The leasing of these highly sought-after units took place on July 15th, and we monitored it live (online).
Some background
We had been aware of the Langgrüt project in Albisrieden for a long time and had it listed on our website under the new construction projects section, visible for free. We also promoted it on Instagram for everyone to see. In June 2024, the internal leasing took place. This means that cooperative members living in over- or under-occupied GBL apartments could apply for these new units. From then on, we were on high alert, ready for the announcement of the external leasing. Soon enough, it was announced on the GBL website that this would would start on July 15th.
As usual: email warning
Of course, on July 7th, we sent out an early warning email with a link to the rental portal to our subscribers. This gave them time to prepare their application documents, such as a current debt enforcement register extract. Our website also freely provides a practical checklist detailing the commonly required documents. Our subscribers greatly appreciate these early emails as they know they still have time and won’t miss the start of the leasing period.
15 July 2024: Ready, steady, apply!
Some apartments had been reserved for internal applicants but it was clear even before July 15th that around 129 apartments would be available for application. The exact time when the portal would go online was unknown. Unfortunately, we see that cooperatives often lack transparency: they hide their newbuilds on separate websites, do not publish on popular portals like Homegate, and the exact date and time of the application window are often not disclosed. This makes it very difficult for prospective tenants, especially those with children and jobs, who cannot constantly check all these websites. That's where we help. The day before, we set an early alarm for the next morning. Despite a tough night with a sick child, we got up and continuously checked the leasing portal. At 7:30 AM, there was a shock: the entire portal went offline, and anyone trying to access it received an error message. We immediately received desperate messages from our subscribers wondering if they (and we) had missed the start of the application window. But we suspected something was happening at the cooperative's office and that soon the site would likely go live soon. And indeed, at 8:01 AM, it went online. Time to apply! We immediately informed our subscribers by email. It's interesting that most of these types of portal go online around 8:00 AM or shortly thereafter. We suspect someone at the office looks at the clock and then activates the portal with a click. For those who need to drop off children at daycare, etc., 8:00 AM is a challenging time...
All flats gone after one (working) day
We monitored the portal throughout the day. For a long time, it showed that almost all apartments (except those internally reserved) were still available. Then, late in the afternoon, they were suddenly all reserved. Since we were at the pediatrician, we missed the exact moment. What is clear is that the rush was over in less than 11 hours. We do not know how many applications GBL received or if there was a maximum per apartment. It is also possible that there was no limit, and they simply took the portal offline around 5:00 or 6:00 PM, without considering the exact number per apartment. Unfortunately, cooperatives often communicate very little, so we can only guess.
Our subscribers' advantages
Once again, for a cooperative's newbuild, things moved very quickly. And once again, our subscribers had an advantage! They had known about the project for a while and could also set their alarms and monitor the website. By the way, our email also came a full two hours before GBL's own newsletter! Without the advance knowledge we provide, it's almost impossible to secure an apartment in most of these types of newbuilds, as one must be online and apply at exactly the right time. We hope that through this project, we will soon receive many positive cancellation emails with the subject ‘Apartment Found’!
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