Imagine the horror of coming back from a trip to find that your house had been demolished in your absence—by mistake!
Last month, Susan Hodgson came back from a business trip to find her longtime Atlanta family property in rubble, the Associated Press reported Saturday.
“I am furious,” Hodgson said. “I keep waking up thinking, ‘Is this all a joke or something?’ I’m just in shock.”
The demolition company had confused her address with another one that was scheduled for demolition due to structural damage. Hodgson had lived in her house for over 20 years and had many valuable and sentimental items inside.
In what surely must be an understatement, she said the incident left her devastated and violated.
“I can’t believe this happened to me. I worked so hard to buy this house and make it my home. I had so many memories there, and now they’re gone. They destroyed everything I owned, without even checking if they had the right place. How could they be so careless and irresponsible?” Hodgson said in an interview.
The first bad news came while she was still away, as Hodgson had received a call from a neighbor asking whether she had hired someone to demolish the vacant home, but the demolition was already underway.
“It’s been boarded up about 15 years, and we keep it boarded, covered, grass cut, and the yard is clean. The taxes are paid and everything is up on it,” Hodgson said.
Hodgson told the neighbor that she hadn’t hired anyone to tear down the home. The neighbor went over to confront the worker, who rudely “told her to shut up and mind her own business,” Hodgson said.
The homeowner sent a family member over to speak with the worker, who then realized he was at the wrong address.
“He said, ‘Well, I want to see a permit or something’ and 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 … gone,” Hodgson told FOX5.
Hodgson has filed a police report and contacted lawyers, but it’s still unclear what her next steps are, AP reported. What is too clear is that the house is gone and there is no bringing it back.
Hodgson told FOX5 the company responsible, You Call It, We Haul It, hasn’t contacted her. USA TODAY was unable to reach the company. In a statement to FOX5, the company said it was investigating.
“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. What do I need to do to fix this. It was an accident. They didn’t give me nothing,” Hodgson said.
