1. A building list should be filled out for all residential buildings, independent of if they are occupied, vacant or misused on census day. Considered residential buildings are all single family houses, duplexes and apartment buildings that could be built as detached houses, semi-detached houses or town houses. If it involves semi-detached houses, town houses or apartment buildings, every section of these building complexes that contains apartments lying on one staircase and is separated from other staircases by a wall reaching from the basement to the roof, are considered separate buildings in the sense of the census. In these cases, a building list is filled out for every rise way up such as elevator or staircase. For a new apartment building with several rises, a building list is also filled out for every rise. Side houses or wings and rear houses that have their own entrance are counted as independent buildings.

The following buildings are only recorded on one building list:
a) Apartment towers with center elevator tower surrounded by outer apartment units, even if they have several rises
b) Inner or outer maisonettes whose apartments are accessible via an internal or external entrance

2. A building list should only be filled out for non-residential buildings (e.g. school buildings, institutional buildings, administrative buildings) if at least one apartment inhabited by a household is located inside.

3. A building list is only filled out for temporary accommodations [emergency] if they are a permanent, regular residence of one or several households, not only inhabited occasionally (e.g. on the weekends or during vacations).