Debt enforcement: the payment order and the ten days

Debt enforcement is organised by the Federal Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act. The creditor applies to the office at the debtor's place of enforcement. The office serves a payment order. The debtor may lodge opposition within ten days of service (art. 74 DEBA). Opposition does not decide the merits: it stops enforcement until the creditor obtains a setting aside of the opposition or a judgment. Seizure, realisation, or, if the assets do not cover the debt, a certificate of loss, come next. Enforcement for rent follows the same Act, with the particular tenancy rules in the Code of Obligations. The text of the Act is on Fedlex. The competent office is that of the debtor's canton and district, not a single federal office.