@James West Yes...he took a sledgehammer to his knee so he'd have to have it replaced and drank anti-freeze so he'd damage his kidneys, thus prolonging his time away from home.
The dent was dangerous for people inside of it I read somewhere that dude got a fine because he had a flat tire on his car that was parked on his own parking lot Reason: it's an eye sore Wtf my tire goes flat overnight and your greasy wrinke alone with 40 cat's face has the audacity to give me a fine for something that most prople can't even repair without calling a mecanic
City I used to live was vicious! Towed and impounded my truck from my parking area because some yahoo official decided there "wasn't enough gravel" . Apparently they had a campaign to steal as many vehicles they could over 2 weeks and they had hundreds of people lined up at impound hours before opening every day. Didnt know if they even had my truck. Couldnt get in, and they didnt answer the phone. Got notice almost 3 weeks later they crushed it, along with a couple grand in towing and storage fees. Yeah same officials stole property out of yards and off porches because they seemed it an eyesore. Friend lost thousands in tools and construction materials because he left for lunch during a remodel job. Just inssne!
@@rediscoveringamerica3003 that is straight up communism and the worst part is you can't do anything against them. These are usually people in their 70 doing this because they want "nice neighbourhoods" and they will stop at nothing and strike without mercy and if you go to confront them they will chicken out and hide in their unmaintained house
Not being kept up is NOT grounds to tear down the house. I've seen houses in upstate NY full of abandoned homes, and they go years without being demolished. Something fishy is going on here.
MondoBeno More than likely the house was sitting on a richer/better off suburban neighborhood effectively lowering the property value of the whole neighborhood. They destroyed it while he was away so their neighborhood’s value would go up effectively raising each persons home value significantly. When you have a home many things contribute to that home’s total value, including the houses around yours, as people are more likely to buy your house if it’s in a good looking neighborhood. His house wasn’t just an eye sore, it was also costing the county, and his neighbors some money.
Well, as I've seen stuff like this happen before in Ohio (as I was on the historical side to save the homes and not destroy them) I would assume the town zoning probably let the locals ransack it before the demo started. The local people "vintage/antique collectors including hoarders" probably stripped the house clean, taking furniture, windows, doors, fireplace, woodwork, knobs, steps banisters, you name it... Zoning probably only let "close friends" inside before demo if you know what I mean by "close friends".. Happens more than you know, which is illegal regardless.... Then you see the stuff taking from home just "pop up" in the local antique shops for sale and the owner has to buy his/her stuff back at FULL RETAIL, sometimes including family pictures.. What good does it do calling the police for the stolen property when the house was torn down legally. You'd be surprised by what I've seen, especially to the elderly people with this kind of stuff happening to them.. Does the news cover that story, nope, they sure don't... Welcome to "natural selection" within the non-registered historical home community wildlife.
@@gamblefamily768 I also live in Ohio, I've seen a granddaughter take possession of her dead grandma's house and she didn't even go through stuff, just started throwing it into a dumpster outside a window. Some of the glass figurines that she threw out and broke were painted by my great grandmother with real gold and if she didn't want them we definitely did because my dad's ex-stepmom refused to let him and his siblings or dad take any of it out of the house during the divorce and then my late aunt who was her youngest daughter, the second she died her husband didn't even give things to the kids he had an estate auction and sold everything including the glass figurines, told his kids if they wanted anything to buy it. Even got rid of all of her jewelry because his girlfriend demanded it who he bought a house for while my aunt was dying. It's really heartbreaking to go through and watch happen
Assessed value and actual value are two different things. With my home, the assessed value is only one-third of the actual value of the home. The assessed value is only for tax purposes.
Mankrik 'The Thorntusk Butcher' your comment makes no sense. It’s not like i volunteer to give up my money for taxes. But yet the money that’s taken from me is being used to pay off others mistakes. Makes great sense
@@seancampbell6292 Destroying someones house and then paying a lawsuit is not a service. I'm going to take a guess and say you probably didn't watch the video before commenting. If you did.. then i just feel bad for you.
Are you actually defending the city? What is wrong with you. If you have a bad knee, you will only make it worse by not getting help. He was paying the mortgage so the city had no right to tear down his house. There could be a missing shingle and somebody could claim the house wasn't maintained. Do you want them to scrap your car because it has a dent in it?
Right? I was gone for a week and my neighbor to my right, collected 2 Amazon pkgs. from my porch and the neighbor on my right brought my trash cans back to my trash storage WITHOUT me even asking them. I don't even know them that well. We, for sure are blessed with great neighbors...........❤
I have both knees replaced. IT"S NOT TEMPORARY PAIN....November 14, 2018 (First Knee) December 31, 2018 (Second Knee) 13 months later and I still hurt.
The city wouldn’t do this unless A NEIGHBOR COMPLAINED. Want to bet those two are the ones who complained?
4 года назад
@Loopsad It happened to me too, but in Suffolk. Everything gone, machinery, tools, house everything gone, my grandfather built it with his hands back in the 40's. It was my family's property since 1925, all those years of paying huge property tax bills and that's what I get while caring for my dad when he was dying of cancer.
@@rinamarie8703 I performed CPR on a dude for over half an hour, he went in an out during this time, when I saw him a few days later he was sniveling about his ribs, I told him that I had thrown my back out working on him. He seemed to come to grips with it after that.
Yea with that statement would imply that guy burglarized that house. Wanna bet anything of value was long gone before teardown to hide possible crimes?
Got proof? None of the neighbors were having their homes seized and destroyed.Why THAT piece of property...and ONLY that piece of property on this one street?
David Thaler there are dozens of little things the city could do with that piece of property. It’s not like their only option is to turn it into a strip mall
Actually, since the house is gone, the bank can demand the balance. Since there won't be an insurance claim payment, they have no collateral for the loan. But that depends on New York law too, which I know nothing about.
Haywood2 - not quite the same thing, but in my hometown a couple purchased a derelict, city owned home through the city’s urban homesteading program. They had the deed and everything. Started renovations, which were periodically inspected by the city as part of the homesteading purchase contract. They went away on a holiday weekend, leaving Thursday night and returning on Monday evening. When they got home, all that was left was a partially empty pit of debris. The city had demolished their house in what’s called “am emergency Friday night demo”, which happens all too often here. They lost equipment, construction materials, some furniture, appliances, and personal property. Luckily, most of what they owned was still in storage (they only had the essentials at the house). After a lot of shoulder shrugging and deflection of blame, the city claimed it was a clerical mistake and that the “department” that manages demos and the one that manages the homesteading program failed to communicate with one another. The “funny” thing is, these offices are across the hall from one another and share all of the same support staff and records/archiving. This happened in 2014. As far as I know, it’s still in litigation.
Instead of stepping in, helping him restore the place, they just appoint themselves to destroy it. God, I hope I never have those kind of neighbors!!!!
@cool guy You would be shocked how one factory can turn a dump into a thriving city. Pushing development while pulling labor from the big cities into a "rural" area. Those people buying cheap houses or land. Busy businesses with long lines creates obvious investment areas.
Vagabond Wastrel lmao shut up, do you live in long island? I live not even an hour away and no more stupid factories than what we have will make that town, or brentwood, or central islip looking anywhere near decent. This “socialist bad capitalism good” mentality lol get that out of here this is reality, republicans have been ruling everything for years and THIS is what its become..not democrat socialism, republican capitalists.
@@BiteSizedCrafter I don't think so, first he was up to date on his mortgage payments and second the house is collateral, they are not going to destroy their collateral.
This is why I always ask my neighbors to watch my house when I go out of town. So far they've done a good job of not letting it get taken! Thanks guys!
Sounds to me like they wanted THE NEIGHBOR GONE not just his house. He probably ticked some of them off about something and sieged the "opportunity" when he had his medical issues and was out of town.
A neighbor said there was “lots of trash.” He wasn’t throwing trash in his yard, and the neighbor knows that! One or both of those neighbors complained or the city wouldn’t have done this.
You choose to live in a city, you vote for your city council, you are agreeing to follow the city ordinance.... the house had obvious signs of neglect, sounds like he failed to respond to the city’s notices, the city followed state protocol and corrected the problem.
@@gemrough Where in the law does it say that the city can assume ownership of things that you own? I don't remember seeing any laws that say that you only really own stuff until the government says that they own it.
This should never have happened without someone putting paperwork in his hand - officially serving notice of the issues! And even then, they have to have codes that show him what he's in violation of and allow him time to repair. I hope he wins a massive settlement.
How is this not a crime? His utilities were still on and being paid. The mortgage is being paid monthly and the lien holder thats collecting the mortgage payments are recorded on the deed. The neighbors be who showed approval of the destruction of the man's home and all his possessions should be so fortunate as to have the same thing happen to them. The city cited conditions on the inside that could be dangerous to people living inside the house??? How would they know about those conditions
because it's not (a crime). The status of utilities and mortgage is not relevant to the physical condition and appearance of the property. They (city) typically have no obligation to notify any lien holders, only the owner of record. Sadly, he will still have to pay off that mortgage (lien) an an additional lien for the cost of demolition which cities usually file when they incur costs from actions like this. All the neighbors saw is a decaying house and no one around, so their opinions are valid.
Before they demolish the building they have to check to see if anyone is living inside and when they went inside that's when they would have found out about the leaking roof/ceiling
That's what I was thinking. The neighbors were probably throwing garbage on his property thinking it was "abandoned" so they could do whatever they pleased with it.
Property wasn’t abandoned, you see cities with abandoned properties all the time that haven’t been demolished for years. This seemed odd for it to be demolished so soon.
If the city makes an ordinance saying that they can (and the state county, state, or federal government doesn't call them on their bull manure), then yes, they can.
If it's a public lot and you leave the car there for an extended period of time, yes they can. And it's not the same as the house. The house and the land it sits on was this man's property. Your car is yours but the parking lot isn't
@@secretsquirrel5439 Only because the state says so - the truth is a mans property is between him and god. The idea that the state owns your 'land' is the biggest lie ever sold to the american people.
The reason why court filings must be served through official or certified mail is because you can't assume the other party had read filling and did have time to respond, if they so desired...honestly, his lawyer could argue that they have no legal basis for defense. They did not exercise diligence in their inspections, nor in their correspondence to owner of property. As such, they have made themselves legally liable for an improper seizure of property. It looked pretty bad - they'll downplay how much the house was worth (of course,) but a savvy lawyer could maybe argue that you just cannot put a price on heirlooms - such as granny's tea set, or albums of family pictures...
He also had to pay tax on a value that the town says the house was worth then of course he had all the gold tea sets n diamonds n undiscovered Vangos I hope he wins big enough to put himself back in fine shape!!
People making up their own rules. There are laws requiring homeowners to keep up with reasonable maintenance, and they have nothing to do with paying a mortgage, which by the way is between the homeowner and the bank, not between the homeowner and the town or state. Rules may vary, but if a homeowner fails to take care of their home, and lets it sit in an abandoned looking state (and some of those photos here made it look pretty uncared for), there are laws allowing the town or state to take various actions, including condemning the property. So, if you imagine that as long as you are paying your mortgage and nothing else matters, you might be in for a big surprise after that 10 year hiatus.
@@youtuuba please explain the thousands of abandoned houses that have been sitting for decades, why have they not been torn down?? Any logical response will be accepted.
@@wilysquid2278 , Joseph Kampmann, why do you look to me for an answer to your impossible to answer question? Pick a locale, and look up that particular situation to answer your question. My guess is that various communities don't have the resources to deal with abandoned or neglected houses. Perhaps the problem might involve the courts, trying to track down who actually owns a home and get them to deal with it.
Probably because the neighbor kids and people passing by on the street kept throwing trash into his yard, and no-one was home, so no-one was picking it up. Inconsiderate people throw trash out of their car windows all the time, without caring about the people who get annoyed by this.
Court: "You didn't stop it from happening" Owner: "How do I stop that from happening while away on surgery?" Court: "....." "You uh-- should've predicted this...?" I don't care if the house looked like it may collapsed, he paid for the land and every on it, and HAD FULL INTENT TO RETURN once his scheduled surgery in Florida was completed. And although the surgery was delayed due to complication, he still full paid for the house and it amenities and keep his promise of returning home once surgery was completed. You failed as a city and state and must rebuild this man's home bran new, free of cost, or pay him out so he can find somewhere less asinine to live. You "not my fault" people are a literal joke of a human being.
@TheBlackYoshie. RIght on. Even if he defaulted on his taxes, most states have a period for the owner to pay off liens on his/her home. He was robbed of due process.
It looks like they didn't even go to the courts. They just had a vote in a city council meeting to have the property demolished. Then they used the existence of the vote and the absence of an opposition as a means of defending the action while sidestepping the fact that they did not actually have the right to act on this phone. In order for a city to demolish home it has to seize ownership of the property first which it has to go through the courts for. If they demolished it without taking ownership of the parcel then they have committed criminal trespass and destruction of property. Imagine how much worse it would have been if the guy got home and the next day of the demolition starts while he is in it. There's a multitude of reasons why they have to own the property.
if you're like me and you're here from recommendations, well it took me awhile but I finally found an update on this seeing as it was 4 years ago. he filed in 2015, first court appearance was in 2016, case was denied. went back in 2017 and 2019 and both times case dismissed and denied. so yeah the dude was left with 2 suitcases and no home or financial reimbursement. source: www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/11279690/Williams_v_Town_of_Hempstead_et_al
Total horseshit. The case like this should not be allowed in a courtroom in the same city or state. As long as it is the judge is gonna have bias towards the city and rule in their favor. Same thing happens when police investigate themself, they never find their self at fault.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Too many brain dead people with no common sense basically being put in control of other people’s lives. I hope the guy was compensated for what happened, loosing all your possessions must be rough.
@@user-fr4cg2xj2w The courts. The way it works is you ask the court to serve the person by mail. I'm not sure if you would call it circular logic but the theory is the USPS is infailible and not to trust them would cause chaos in the system. To my it's one of those things because I say so.
Hempstead, while not a small town, isn’t very big either. Having lived there briefly I can tell you the people that live there are rude and selfish. My lease ended and I was out of there. Long Island isn’t the friendliest of places to live.
That's a great point! If the mortgage company still had a lien on the house, which it still does. The city should have served them some papers as well before destroying the house.
so where did my $250,000 of personal items that were in the house and on the property? no comment? so show me the signatures where I signed for these important notices.
They were sh!tty neighbors. If they were worried about it, they could've mowed the grass, which apparently was their main complaint. When my neighbor was being treated for cancer and couldn't keep up with his place for a while, all the neighbors on my block took turns mowing his yard and keeping the place looking good for him.
@Brendan Yates These look like young folks just starting out, and the condition of his house didn't happen overnight. If they didn't like the state of his house, they shouldn't have moved in.
I make the town rebuild the house to exactly the way it was when the house was first built and replace all the furniture and furnishings at the towns cost.
Not only did he lose his home but every thing he holds dear that was in his house. No photographs or stuff from family living and gone. They know that they messed up and they know that they are going to be paying that man a lot of money. More than his house and the stuff he owned yet also for him to have someplace to live and emotional damages
@@lonewolf9578 He wasn't allowed to build a road to his place of business after another business built where his road was. Also when the other business built where it built they disconnected him from city water/sewage, which he tried to get reconnected, but the city denied it then fined him for it.
I still don't understand how could happen.....what about people who take a long sabbatical overseas, but still have a home here? Do you demolish their home too?? I'm trying to figure this out.
UPDATE: if anyone is interested, the courts found in favor of the town and all defendants in Feb. 2019, and Williams also lost his appeal later that year. This might be a crappy law, but ultimately the courts found that the town acted within it 🤷♀️. It's up to voters and lawmakers to change it, not the courts (it is New York after all). It's interesting to note that back in 2017, Williams let his deadline for filing amendments to his complaint time out after asking for and being granted repeated extensions and failed to show just cause for doing so. He kept adding defendants, accusations of fraud, all kinds of stuff. Unjust law or no, and will all due respect to his military service, it seems like this individual just cannot get his sh*t together. Here's the legal stuff I found. It's awful to read but have at it. 2017: www.bhpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/10.18.2017-Decision-on-Amended-Complaint.pdf 2019: casetext.com/case/williams-v-town-of-hempstead-1
Destroy my house that I paid for and something you raised your family in. "Sentimental" you cant get that back! The town would go bankrupt by the time I was finished!
One of the comments below found out the updated info still to this day the judges keep dismissing his case. So sad 😞 truly unjustified ! At its very best !
Thanks for updating us. It the judge, what level? The superior court is closely connected with any city as they are a part of the executive branch of government. But, what happened to appear all the way to state supreme court n even US Supreme court, fee-based on a contingency fee, cz he has a very strong case to win! USA
What happened to the days when neighbours looked out for each other? Imagine the outcry if the owner had passed away and his body was lying in the house. Surely the authorities could have done a bit more than sending letters.
my neighbor in Rhode Island had a vacant lot next to his house. The neighbors won a suit to force him to keep it mowed. Heck I love natural seasonal growth. And of course when he goes and mows it, he finds toys and stuff from their kids. They also won a suit that he had to trim his hedges in front of his house that were too high. I like privacy. Just horrible people there
This is the opening plot of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They knocked down his house (and the Earth) and were like oh the plans were filed in the basement lavatory behind a door labeled “beware of the leopard”.
They thought the house was abandoned. Abandoned properties dont have owners to sign stuff. Idiot should have forwarded his mail. Who doesnt read their mail for 4 months?
None of those pictures of his house looked remotely similar to the photo of the front and how would the man know there were leaks all over of he had not been inside.
If he had a mortgage, that means the home was still partially owned by the bank that issued the mortgage. The town never bothered to notify the bank that they would be demolishing the home? The bank also would be able to sue the town. And how much of his property was "stolen" by those send to demolish his home. I'm sure it all didn't end up in a landfill.