Lucerne homeowner Rosmarie Bichel (62) fell in love and made a big mistake: foreclosure is her last hope

It’s cool outside. Inside too. “I only turn on the heat when it’s absolutely necessary,” he says, pulling his wool jacket a little tighter around his shoulders.

people talking

Rosmarie Michel’s real name is different, we changed her name. Because the place where he lives is small and people talk. The bus schedule reveals how small the place is. Every half hour during the morning, evening and lunch on weekdays. If you need to go somewhere in between or on the weekend, you need a car.

Another cost that cannot be avoided. Rosmarie Michel has a lot of bills she doesn’t know how to pay.

falls deeply in love

It started in 2008. Rosmarie Michel is flipping through the local newspaper. She met Werner Stucki through a personal ad. In reality, it also has a different name. Very attractive. She falls in love fast and hard. And let all the attention be paid. When Stucki’s ex-girlfriend tells him at a birthday party why she broke up with Werner, he doesn’t want to hear it.

Years ago Werner Stucki and his then partner bought a detached house with a terrace in Lucerne. Despite the separation, he still owns half of it. The ex refuses to give up the keys to the house as long as he still has the title and is therefore allowed into the house. This stresses the newly in love couple.

Rosmarie Michel strikes for freedom. In September 2009, he pressed the tip of the pen to the paper, drew squiggly lines, sat down and handed the pen back to the notary. She bought half of the property from her ex-boyfriend. This means that you enter into a mortgage agreement with the bank. He buys Werner’s freedom with 30,000 francs from his pension fund. It seems like nothing can stand in the way of a comfortable union.

Rosmarie Michel sips her latte macchiato and shakes her head as if she can’t believe this part of the story anymore. He was diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago. That’s why she was so impulsive, she would act first and think later. This could explain a lot of things. “But buying this house was the biggest mistake of my life.”

Beating and banning from the house

He says that after the move, “Dr Stucki” showed his true colors. At that time, he was still working as a night watchman in a nursing home. When he came home exhausted after work, she demanded that he do the housework, cook dinner, and walk the dog. «Mr Stucki himself didn’t do much. He let me put up with him.” He found out that she had lied to him and hid his debts from him. Werner Stucki sees it differently. According to him, the relationship failed for a completely different reason: “Rosmarie had a strange couple staying with us without my knowledge,” he told the “Observer” by phone. ” said.

At the beginning of December 2009 the situation worsened. He attacks him and blows occur. He calls the police. He throws his partner out of the shared house and keeps him away from home for a few days. Stucki himself claims he was only defending himself. Both report each other for assault. Transactions will then be stopped.

Rosmarie Michel moves out of the house she half owns. Werner Stucki cannot buy his own shares. As a disabled retiree, he doesn’t have much. He hires a lawyer and requests the dissolution of the joint property. Successfully: In 2012 the court ruled that the terraced house should be put up for auction.

It might have taken a good turn in this story. But he doesn’t.

One blow of fate follows another

Latte macchiato is now drunk. Rosmarie Michel grabs Tessa by the collar. The dog jumps up, pulls Michel toward the front door, and pulls him away. Knock-knock, knock-knock. Then outside, down the stairs, onto the grass across the street.

Since the split, Rosmarie Michel has had four accidents and seven surgeries. She slips twice on the ice, tearing ligaments in one shoulder and fracturing the head of the other shoulder three times. She suffers from a herniated disc, has to have her uterus removed, and injures her foot. A series of stupid coincidences and twists of fate. Michel loses his job as a night watchman. Money is becoming increasingly scarce.

Rosmarie Michel receives a 50 percent IV pension. But after an additional insurance payment, taxes increase rapidly. And he still has to pay tax on his share of the house, on the imputed rental value. Although he hasn’t lived there for a long time. Werner Stucki doesn’t plan on paying his rent.

Nobody wants a house

He reports to the Lucerne division office, which is responsible for such home auctions. He’s pushing for an auction as quickly as possible. Werner Stucki is in no rush. On the contrary, he still lives in the same house and cheaply. At the beginning of 2014, the time has finally come. Single-family terraced house is being auctioned in the hall of an “Ochsen”. 19 people gather around polished tavern tables, looking at the rise conditions, the forecast report and whispering to each other. “After all, they were neighbors who wanted to know what was going on,” Michel says. There is no purchase offer.

The division office will send an invoice for the effort. Almost 10,000 francs. Rosmarie Michel and Werner Stucki need to pay. Michel pays half in monthly installments of 250 francs. Nothing else. “After that I was afraid of more costs. That’s why I didn’t postpone the sale anymore. He can’t afford a lawyer anymore. Nothing has happened for years.

Does not receive any additional benefits

The house is a burden that he cannot get rid of. And the situation is getting worse. Rosmarie Michel has around 3,000 francs a month – depending on how many hours she can work. This is too little.

When he asked for additional help, his application was rejected. Half of the house is considered his property. She can’t even get a cultural right without additional benefits, and therefore can’t get discounts on magazines or events. “I’m pretty isolated socially,” says Rosmarie Michel. The days of going to lottery games for fun are inevitably over.

They blame themselves

Why couldn’t the house find a buyer for all these years? The former couple blames each other. He says he found an interested party who wanted to buy the house for half a million. Only: “Mr. Stucki” did not agree on the price. He says everything is being prepared for another interested party. Only: Rosmarie refused to send the required copies of her ID to the notary. He also did not want to sign a brokerage agreement.

Rosmarie Michel takes the empty glass in front of her, stands up and goes to the sink. On the way, she caresses Tessa’s side. “Now I’m hoping for April 10.” In fact, Rosmarie Michel comes to the aid of someone she least expected: the tax office. Old tax debts are weighing on Werner Stucki. The office wants to see the money. He is requesting the mandatory auction that the enforcement agency has planned for April.

Rosmarie Michel squeezes her eyes shut with her thumb and forefinger, caresses the bridge of her nose, and blinks almost happily. Tessa jumps. Finally some hope again. I hope someone else soon presses the tip of the pen to the paper, draws a few squiggly lines, and drops it. And I hope you’re luckier than him.