Company Wrecks Wrong House

Worker conceded mistake too late, owner says
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 22, 2023 11:15 AM CDT
Woman's House Wasn't Supposed to Be Torn Down
In this photo provided by Susan Hodgson, her mistakenly demolished family home sits in a pile of lumber and debris in southwest Atlanta, Georgia, on Sept. 15.   (Susan Hodgson via AP)

A homeowner isn't sure what to do after a company mistakenly demolished a home she owned in southwest Atlanta. Susan Hodgson told the AP on Saturday that she found a pile of rubble in place of what used to be her longtime family property when she returned from vacation last month. "I am furious," Hodgson said. "I keep waking up thinking, 'Is this all a joke or something?' I'm just in shock." She said a neighbor called her while she was away and asked if someone had been hired to tear down the vacant house. "I said 'no' and she said, 'Well, there's someone over here who just demolished the whole house and tore it all down,'" Hodgson recalled.

When the neighbor confronted them, Hodgson said, the workers got nasty. "He told her to shut up and mind her own business," Hodgson said. She sent a family member over to see what was going on and who asked to see a permit. When a person in charge at the site checked his permit, Hodgson said he admitted he was at the wrong address. "It's been boarded up about 15 years, and we keep it boarded, covered, grass cut, and the yard is clean," she said. "The taxes are paid and everything is up on it." Hodgson said she's filed a report with police and has talked with lawyers.

"We're still in this process of figuring out what to do," she said. "We keep pressing in different directions to see if something is going to happen." The Atlanta-based company responsible, You Call It We Haul It, has yet to contact her, she said, per the AP. "How do people just go up and tear somebody's property down and then just drive off?" Hodgson said, adding, "I just wish he would come fix the problem that he caused." The company did not immediately return a telephone message left Saturday. In a statement to WAGA-TV, the company said it is investigating and working to resolve the issue.

(More Georgia stories.)

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