Dream house 60 cm (2 feet) too high...Court orders building freeze...Homeowner shoots himself
Andreas Horn (36) despaired of its dream of the house and the envy of the neighbors.
Herford, Germany: A mighty log-cabin like in the wilderness of Canada. This was his dream of a home for his wife and his twin sons.
It became his grave.
Andreas Horn (36) shot himself in the basement. How desperate does one have to be to leave wife and children behind?
The bitter charges of his family: Resentful neighbors have driven him into suicide!"
His father Heinz (69) tells the sad story: "Such a house has always been the dream of my son.
He bought a large sloped property in beautiful east Westphalia at the outskirts of Herford. He had three containers of stout pine shipped from Canada. The building authority agreed to the outlines for the log-cabin (200 sqm/2000sqr feet).
But when the gable stood, the roof finished, the windows installed, and the family was ready to move in, neighbors complained: "This bunker structure doesn't fit in here." and complained to the building authority. It turned out that the house was indeed 60 centimeters too high.
The office wanted to tolerate the deviation actually. But the neighbors didn't give in. So the agency was then forced to act the consequence: Approval withdrawn, € 350,000 construction-in-progress shut down!
The homeowner was shocked. He desperately appealed to the Administrative Court, then to the Higher Administrative Court. He lost both processes and was saddled with € 50000 court costs.
The father: "Andreas nevertheless didn't give up. He tried again and again to find solutions with the neighbors. In vain."
Andreas H. finally lost all hope for his house. The sport shooter took a pistol (Mauser 08 -sic-) from his safe, drove to the house, and shot himself in the basement.
© 2004 Bild.T-Online.de