EPFL housing

Last checked: 5 October 2026. Unofficial student guide, not EPFL or government advice: confirm on the linked official pages before you act. Unfamiliar abbreviation? See the Glossary.

Who helps you at EPFL?

EPFL has a Housing Information office (part of student services). It mainly helps students and PhD students: it tells you what housing options exist, answers your questions and gives search advice. It does not give out rooms itself. (EPFL Housing – Contact)

• Email: logement@epfl.ch (for questions and appointments)
• Phone: +41 21 693 49 40
• Hotline and office hours: phone hotline Mon–Fri 9:00–12:00 and 14:00–17:00; office appointments Mon–Thu 9:00–12:00 and 14:00–17:00 (EPFL contact page, checked 5 Oct 2026)
• Office: BP 1135 (BP Building), Station 16, CH-1015 Lausanne

(EPFL Housing – Contact)

See also in this kit: Bank account (rental deposits usually go into a bank account in your name, see Deposits below) · Scam warnings (further down this page)

Important: EPFL has no housing campus of its own. Student halls are run by independent foundations, agencies and other organisations, not by EPFL. (FAQ Student halls)

EPFL's advice in 4 steps

The housing office recommends that you start as early as possible, apply to several places, and go in this order (Students: Bachelor-Master-CMS-Exchange):

1. Look mainly at room listings on the UNIL-EPFL housing portal. UNIL is the University of Lausanne (FMEL – How to book), and the portal is the listings site the two share.
2. Try student halls. They do not require a Swiss guarantor.
3. Check other websites that list rooms for rent.
4. Be careful with real estate agencies. International students need a Swiss guarantor there, and there is a lot of paperwork.

Why rooms and not apartments?

Many Lausanne agencies ask for a guarantor who lives in Switzerland, Swiss financial documents (such as a debt enforcement certificate) or a valid residence permit. For many newcomers this is hard or impossible. Most apartment ads on the UNIL-EPFL portal are lease takeovers that an agency still manages, so the same rules apply. Room ads (flatshares, sublets) usually come from private people or other students and are more flexible. (Information for international students)

The UNIL-EPFL housing portal

This is the shared listings site of UNIL and EPFL. It has ads from private landlords and from students who offer rooms or want someone to take over their lease. (UNIL-EPFL housing portal)

• Access: only for Bachelor's, Master's and PhD students who already have their EPFL login. (UNIL-EPFL housing portal)
• No login yet? If you have applied or been admitted, email logement@epfl.ch with your name, date of birth, study start date and programme (Bachelor, Master, exchange…). The office can send you a temporary link to PDF lists of the offers. (UNIL-EPFL housing portal)
• EPFL's search tips: sort by "latest published", check the availability date and the rent, open the ad before you judge the location, and check your commute on the CFF website. CFF is the Swiss Federal Railways, also called SBB, and its online timetable covers public transport. The average trip between home and EPFL is about 30 minutes. If there is a phone number, call. Tell the landlord quickly if you like the place, and sign a lease or sublease. (UNIL-EPFL housing portal)
• EPFL also recommends household insurance and third-party liability insurance. (UNIL-EPFL housing portal)

Student halls (residences)

EPFL lists the main student halls on its Student halls page. EPFL says that a hall on this list is not a partner of EPFL and is not endorsed by it. Each hall has its own rules, so you apply directly to the hall.

What EPFL tells you (Student halls, FAQ Student halls):

• Don't wait for your admission letter. You can apply with your EPFL application number. This number starts with BA (Bachelor), MA (Master) or IN (exchange).
• Registration windows can be very short, sometimes only 1 to 5 days, and they are often announced only a few days or weeks in advance. Check the hall websites regularly.
• Halls with registration periods usually open in March–April for the autumn semester and in October–November for the spring semester.
• Some halls show free rooms online all year: FMEL (the Fondation Maisons pour Etudiants Lausanne, a student-housing foundation; see below), Silo Bleu, Students Place 4U and Camp'Us.
• For a September start, rooms are usually given out between July and August. Be patient, and keep looking for other options at the same time.
• Applying does not commit you. You can still say no until you sign a lease. Applying also does not guarantee you a room.
• Deposits at student halls are usually 1 to 3 months' rent. Halls do not require a Swiss guarantor.
• EPFL strongly recommends that you accept an offer from a hall. It is the easiest way to find housing before you arrive.
• Two halls are for women only (Bon Accueil and Pension Bienvenue). One hall (Planète Bleue) does not accept students under 18.

FMEL (Fondation Maisons pour Etudiants Lausanne)

FMEL is a Swiss organisation that designs, builds and manages housing for students at UNIL and other Vaud schools (UNIL – FMEL). It is one of the halls that EPFL mentions (FAQ Student halls). From FMEL's own booking page:

• Who can book: Bachelor's and Master's students at EPFL, UNIL and several other Vaud schools, plus students in EPFL's CMS (Cours de mathématiques spéciales, a one-year preparatory year before the Bachelor's; EPFL – CMS, in French). PhD students, postgraduate students and people who already have a Master's degree cannot book.
• How: create an account on the FMEL portal and enter your preferences (lease start date, room type, budget). Rooms are assigned automatically.
• Lease: at least 3 months and at most 3 years, fixed-term. It starts on the 1st or 16th of a month, and you must give 2 months' notice to end it.
• Deposit: UNIL says to plan for a first payment of CHF 1,200 as a rent guarantee. UNIL also says that when FMEL sends you an offer, you must accept it within 48 hours. (UNIL – FMEL)
• Cancelling after you sign is expensive. More than 30 days before the lease starts, it costs CHF 600. At 30 days or less, it costs one month's rent plus CHF 600. Read the conditions before you sign.

Deposits (rental guarantee) and Swiss guarantors

See also: Rental deposit / garantie de loyer (blocked account, art. 257 vs 257e, insurance-style guarantees).

• Deposit size: in Switzerland you usually pay a rental guarantee when you sign a lease. It is 1, 2 or at most 3 months' rent. In Vaud the legal limit is three months' net rent (rent without extra charges). EPFL quotes the Vaud letting rules citing the Swiss Code of Obligations art. 257 for that three-month net-rent cap (Fedlex federal article is 257e; see Rental deposit). At student halls the guarantee is also usually 1–3 months' rent. (Rental guarantee and Swiss guarantor, FAQ Student halls)
• Where the money goes: the guarantee is put into a blocked bank account in the tenant's name. Neither you nor the landlord can take money out without formal notice to the bank. You get it all back when you leave, as long as there's no problem. Instead of a bank deposit, you can buy a guarantee from a security company. (Rental guarantee and Swiss guarantor) See the kit's Bank account page.
• Swiss guarantor: this is a person living in Switzerland who signs to promise your rent will be paid. Agencies may ask for one on top of the deposit. (Rental guarantee and Swiss guarantor)

Watch out for scams

EPFL warns that housing scams are increasing, and that more and more of them now target rooms, not just apartments. (EPFL Housing, FAQ I need housing)

Warning signs (Scam attempts-warnings):

• The rent is much lower than the market price, and there is a touching story to explain it.
• The landlord "lives abroad" or "is away on business" and can't show you the place.
• The reply comes from an email address that doesn't match the ad or the person's name.
• You are asked for copies of ID or income documents straight away, or a "lawyer", "notary" or "agent" handles everything.
• You are asked to pay by Western Union, MoneyGram or into a foreign bank account.

How to protect yourself (Scam attempts-warnings):

• Call the landlord at least once, using the number in the ad.
• Visit if you can, and never pay just to see a place. Prefer payment into a Swiss bank account.
• Do a reverse image search on the ad's photos.
• If you must send documents, add a watermark to them.
• Not sure? Email logement@epfl.ch. To report a fake ad on the UNIL-EPFL portal, send the ad number, its text and photos, your messages with the advertiser, and any contract you received.