Facts
[G. AG] is the owner of a single-family house that it has rented to Marie-Louise F. On December 22, 1978, [G. AG] obtained a retention certificate for the current rent from January 1 to June 30, 1979, as well as for the maintenance obligation on the garden. [G. AG] initiated debt collection proceedings for the January rent on January 18, 1979, and for the February rent on February 22, 1979, but exceeded the 10-day deadline since the respective rent claims became due.
The debt collection office declared the retention lapsed due to the lack of timely prosecution, but nevertheless issued a payment order for a retention debt collection. [G. AG] filed a complaint against this decision with the High Court, which dismissed the complaint.
With the appeal to the Federal Court, [G. AG] requested that the retention seizure for the items included in the retention certificate be maintained.
Considerations
The Federal Court states that according to its case law in BGE 66 III 11/12 E. 3, to maintain the retention seizure for the current rent, it is sufficient if debt collection proceedings are initiated within 10 days after the due date of the last rent installment for the period for which the retention was made. This also applies if the individual current rent installments are collected separately and the 10-day deadline since the due date of the individual installment is not met.
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