Susan Hodgson was on vacation when her neighbor called to say a demolition company was outside her house. They had the wrong address, but didn't listen.
Susan Hodgson/AP
A woman is mulling the next steps after a company mistakenly demolished a home she owned in southwest Atlanta.
Susan Hodgson told The Associated Press she found a pile of rubble in place of what used to be her family property when she returned from vacation last month.
"I am furious," she said. "I keep waking up thinking, 'Is this all a joke or something?' I'm just in shock."
Hodgson said a neighbor called 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,'" she recalled.
When the neighbor confronted the workers, Hodgson said they got nasty: "He told her to shut up and mind her own business."
She sent a family member over to see what was going on and asked to see a permit. When a person in charge at the site checked the permit, Hodgson said he admitted he was at the wrong address.
No one was living in house when it was demolished.
"It's been boarded up about 15 years, and we keep it boarded, covered, grass cut, and the yard is clean," Hodgson said. "The taxes are paid and everything is up on it."
Hodgson said she's filed a police report and talked with lawyers but was "still in this process of figuring out what to do." "We keep pressing in different directions to see if something is going to happen."
To this day, she said the Atlanta-based company responsible, You Call It We Haul It, has yet to contact her or offer any compensation for the mistake.
"How do people just go up and tear somebody's property down and then just drive off?" Hodgson said. "How can they think that's OK? I just wish he would come fix the problem that he caused."
In a statement to WAGA-TV, You Call It We Haul It said it was investigating and working to resolve the mishap.
Susan Hodgson is not the first Atlanta resident to face a demolition nightmare.
In March, the city tore down Everett Tripodis' southwest Atlanta home despite all notices and demolition documents naming a different address, WSB-TV reported. He now facing a $68,000 bill as the city tries to foreclose on the property to cover the demolition costs.
