My smart neighbour owns at lease two houses in the same street in Reinach BL. Three years ago we had some checks by the Gemeinde on out sewage system and that was done for the entire street, then the Gemeinde listed some repairs we should do. Since I share the sewage with my neighbour for one of her houses, she offered to organize the repairs with the repair company and we split the costs, and I accepted. Last September she sent me an orange payment slip for 2000 chf and asked me to pay half. I said ok, but send me the invoice so I can deduct it from my taxes, she didn’t and I didn’t pay her anything.
Yesterday she sent me a betriebungsbegehren document, I asked her again for the invoice and she refused again. I called the repair company this morning and asked for the invoice but they too refused to give it to me because it’s under her name, but they told me that the invoice covers 3 properties in the same street. So basically she repaired all her houses, and she wants me to pay for half of the total cost, in short she is trying to steal my money.
What do you recommend I should do? Go to the police? How to stop this betriebungs process? Should I get a lawyer?
my personal reccomendation is to get a laywer involved before it gets officially registered in Debt Register. We have been using CAP in the past with good results (no endorsement, other similar services could be fine as well). https://www.cap.ch/de/privatkunden.html .
So, what document did you get? Is it a notification from the regional betreibungsamt (debt collection office) or just an announce that if you don't pay she will start a debt collection process?
If your neighbor has already started a debt collection procedure, you have a relatively short time (10 days?) to show up in the debt collection office and inquiry about the case. You may ask the invoice there and start planning your negotiation strategy. If this is the case, you have to act fast.
If it's the second situation, start using registered post for all communication. Request the invoice once again via registered letter and wait for answer.
If you have an insurance for this kind of extra liabilities like you damage something etc normally they include the lawyer as well eg AXA has one. We had a similar incident where an online company kept sending us reminder s for a bill we had payed and they kept insisting we hadnt we contacted our insurance and the lawyer from insurance sent them a notice , we never heard anything from anyone ever since.
Do you have to pay CHF1000 (“pay half”). In canton Zurich you get a Pauschal off your Eigenmietwert . Above this you can claim repairs etc off your income liability. 1000 or 2000 is well below the Pauschal anyway, so you would gain nothing from submitting an invoice!!
The OP believes they are being asked to pay CHF333 more than their fair share. On the other hand the other made the arrangements and they did agree to ‘split’ the costs.
Step 2: is to make "Rechtsvorschlag" as instructed on the back of the Betreibungs letter. This must bee done no later than 10 days after receiving the Betreibung. It is super simple and you do not have to justify anything, nor provide any documents, evidence etc.
Step 3/4: Is to optionally get a lawyer and appear at the justice of peace which will act as a arbitration and mediation court. Only there has the claimant to provide evidence for the first time.
You need an invoice as a base for the cost split. In the neighbor refuses to share it, then it's really dodgy and neighbor definitely has something to hide.
Yes, this word: Rechtvorschlag. I didn't remember it. I assume you made the conclusion that the claim is already made to debt collection office because "betriebungsbegehren" is a notification from them, right?
@Bondok, it's confirmed. You have 10 days to answer. Otherwise the claim is uncontested, thus acknowledged, and all that is left is to follow the debt collection process.
The Betreibungsbegehren is what the creditor (OP’s neighbor) submits to the BetreibungsAmt, which then sends the debtor (OP in this case) the ZahlungsBefehl (against which the debtor has ten days to raise RechtsVorschlag, search for “Musterbrief Rechtsvorschlag” for a template). The costs up to this point are marginal, around 50.- for a debt like OP’s.
It may be worth noting that the Rechtsvorschlag can be submitted in person, at the Betreibungsamt(BA), verbal or in writing, because language issues is often an issue for EFers. Further, it’s the BA’s job to explain the details of the proceedings upon request (though of course not on what strategy to pursue). Also see here for an overview and the relevant terms.
Once the ZahlungsBefehl has been received, the debtor can at any time request that the creditor submit the evidence for the claim to the debt collection office for inspection, together with an overview of all claims due against the debtor. This request has no effect on the proceedings per se, but if the creditor fails to react in time the court will take this into consideration when allocating the procedural costs(*).
ETA:
(*) which at that stage should be expected to be higher than the marginal 50.- mentioned above.