Post by Mystic Wanderer on Nov 5, 2015 14:04:11 GMT -6
This man left his home to go have knee surgery in a different state, which required he stay there for 8 months for rehab. During his absence the town demolished his house.
He came back to discover an empty lot. Now he is suing the town for the money he paid for his house.
Source
This would infuriate me too!
The townspeople said they tried to reach him, but got no response.
What do you think? Should they have waited longer? Is there a legal time limit for demolishing someone's home if they are away?
He came back to discover an empty lot. Now he is suing the town for the money he paid for his house.
A Long Island man who left his pricey house for eight months so he could recover from surgery, came back to find he didn’t have a house anymore — because his town demolished it in his absence.
Now Philip Williams, 69, is suing the Town of Hempstead for giving him the worst homecoming imaginable.
“Nothing was left. It was gone,” the distraught Williams told CBS News York,standing in the empty lot that once held his home.
“Everything I have, or had, is gone.”
His furniture, jewelry and other prized possessions all disappeared along the house, he said.
The 1,570-foot home was valued at $423,072, according to the real estate site Zillow.
Williams said he left Long Island in December for a knee surgery and stayed in Florida for months to recover. While he was gone, he wasn’t getting any of the mail coming to his home up north — so he never knew about the town’s plan to take down his home in May.
Hempstead destroyed the house as part of its efforts to eradicate “zombie homes” — but didn’t know its M.I.A. owner was just living elsewhere.
Hempstead officials ordered the destruction of Phil Williams’ house (l.), leaving an empty field in its place.
Town officials told Newsday they considered the seemingly abandoned home dangerous, and made every attempt possible to let Williams know about the impending wreckage.
Now Philip Williams, 69, is suing the Town of Hempstead for giving him the worst homecoming imaginable.
“Nothing was left. It was gone,” the distraught Williams told CBS News York,standing in the empty lot that once held his home.
“Everything I have, or had, is gone.”
His furniture, jewelry and other prized possessions all disappeared along the house, he said.
The 1,570-foot home was valued at $423,072, according to the real estate site Zillow.
Williams said he left Long Island in December for a knee surgery and stayed in Florida for months to recover. While he was gone, he wasn’t getting any of the mail coming to his home up north — so he never knew about the town’s plan to take down his home in May.
Hempstead destroyed the house as part of its efforts to eradicate “zombie homes” — but didn’t know its M.I.A. owner was just living elsewhere.
Hempstead officials ordered the destruction of Phil Williams’ house (l.), leaving an empty field in its place.
Town officials told Newsday they considered the seemingly abandoned home dangerous, and made every attempt possible to let Williams know about the impending wreckage.
Source
This would infuriate me too!
The townspeople said they tried to reach him, but got no response.
What do you think? Should they have waited longer? Is there a legal time limit for demolishing someone's home if they are away?
