A woman from Atlanta was left in utter disbelief when she returned from vacation to find her vacant family-owned property mistakenly demolished, according to the Associated Press. The incident took place apparently due to an error by a local hauling and demolition company.
Sarah Hodgson said that she was alerted about the demolition by a neighbor, who called to ask if she had sent someone to tear down the house in southwest Atlanta. As one would naturally assume, she had not.
The workers had the wrong address
“I said ‘no’ and she said, ‘Well there’s someone over here who just demolished the whole house and tore it all down,’” Hodgson recounted during an interview with AP on Saturday. Upon hearing this, the neighbor confronted the workers at the site, and Hodgson said they told her to “shut up and mind her own business.”
Hodgson then contacted a family member to come to the property and assess the situation. The family member requested to see the workers’ permit. It was at this point that the person in charge reportedly realized they had the wrong address. “The guy pulled it out and said, ‘Oh I’m at the wrong address,’ and he just packs everything up and leaves and the house is just down and gone,” Hodgson shared.
The company responsible has made no contact
“We’re still in this process of figuring out what to do,” she told the AP, adding that she had filed a police report. Moreover, the company responsible for the reported demolition of her had not made contact with her since the incident.
“We keep pressing in different directions to see if something is going to happen,” shared Hodgson. “It’s just hard to believe someone thinks they have the right to just come and tear something up and walk away from it and didn’t come back and say ‘I’m sorry,” she expressed to the AP. “What do I need to do to fix this? It was an accident.’ They didn’t give me nothing.”
“It’s just a grumbled mess,” Hodgson shared to Fox 5. “The whole house is tumbled in and a big old mess.”
‘Is this all a joke?’
Although the house had been boarded up for about 15 years, Hodgson claims to have “kept it boarded, covered, grass cut, and the yard is clean. The taxes are paid and everything is up on it.”
“I am furious. I keep waking up thinking, ‘Is this all a joke or something?’ I’m just in shock,” Hodgson told the AP.