After Atlanta Authorities Demolish Wrong Home, They Demand $68,000 Demolition Costs From Owner

NEW YORK (VINnews) — In a bizarre story of municipal incompetence, the Atlanta municipality initially demolished a man’s home by mistake and then tried to foreclose on the property to pay for the $68,000 in demolition costs.

The whole time, the owner was claiming that the paperwork had the wrong address on it.

“I’m not going to let the city take this from me. I’m going to fight them tooth and nail,” said homeowner Everett Tripodis, according to a WSB TV report.

After the city mistakenly demolished his southwest Atlanta house, Tripodis said that that he has been served with a lawsuit from the city of Atlanta saying they intend to foreclose and take the property.

“When I saw that came from the city, I was quite excited. Maybe it was a letter of apology. Maybe it was a check. Maybe they’re going to justly compensate me. I opened it up and realized that they were suing me,” Tripodis said.

According to a Channel 2 investigative report, before tearing down the house earlier this year, the city sent its notices that a city inspector found the house unfit for habitation to the wrong addresses. Certified letters were “returned to sender.”

Even the official demolition hearing notice was for Lawton Avenue zip code 30314. But Tripodis’s home is on Lawton Street, which is in the 30310 zip code about 1.4 miles away.

“After you air the story, after everyone sees it, instead of them fixing the problem, they double down and do it again. It’s like after the slap comes the spit in my face. I’m just frustrated,” Tripodis said.

His lawsuit against the city is making its way through the Fulton County court system, even though he only has a few weeks to respond to the city’s foreclosure suit.