Man loses fully paid £600k home over unpaid bill he knew nothing about
A man has lost his Brooklyn home after not realising that he had an unpaid water bill to his name.
Filmore Brown claims that the city 'failed' him, after he worked seven days a week for over two decades to pay the American home off.
Describing the property as his 'only dream', he insisted that he had no idea about the bill and would have paid it off with 'no problem'.
Brown got a shock one night when strangers tried to drill his door locks off as a result of his $800,000 (£600,000) home being foreclosed.
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While he wasn't happy about it, he discovered that those strangers had a legal right to be there, in his dream home.
Having bought the home in 1996, he finished paying the mortgage in 2019, and highlighted that he didn't know anything about the $5,000 (£3,700) water bill.
"I don't want anybody to go through what I'm going through, I cannot eat, I cannot drink, and I cannot sleep," he admitted.
Speaking about the bill, he claimed: "I didn't know, I just would've paid it."
New York takes legal action against those who leave large tax or utility bills unpaid, often selling these bills to a group of investors called a 'trust'.
They are then responsible for collecting the money with interest, but if this is unpaid, the home can go into foreclosure and be sold through auction.
The Department of Finance in New York City claim that they sent several notices, warning the homeowner, report ABC News.
"It was stolen from me," Brown said, adding that he did not receive any warnings.
Court documents reveal that the investors served someone at the property with papers in November 2020, detailing that foreclosure proceedings were starting.
Brown lives on the top floor of a three-unit property, renting the lower two units out to families.
His attorney, Alice Nicholson, said that she believes his claims, while attorney Yolande Nicholson pointed out: "He just paid a water bill this year in the thousands of dollars, so it's just heart-wrenching."
But once his old bill was put into the trust, it didn't show up on his bills, as Nicholson added: "There needs to be some type of notification that there's another bill out there that needs to be paid,
"There needs to be more done to make sure that these hardworking older people who paid off their mortgage and have fixed incomes don't get into that kind of rut."
According to the publication, over 6,800 have been put into the trust for failing to pay water bills, with the majority of communities of colour.
In a statement provided to ABC News, a spokesperson with the city's Department of Finance said: "Our goal is never to see a homeowner lose their property.
"Last year, we implemented reforms to specifically prevent unfortunate situations like this from happening, by giving property owners more time, information, and resources to resolve their debts."
They claimed that they strived to reach 'as many owners as possible', working with non-profit groups and agencies to do so via methods such as door-to-door visits and phone calls.
"Homeowners have several options for resolving their debt with the City, whether it's related to property taxes, water and sewer charges, or other municipal charges," they claim.
The spokesperson said that 'flexible payment plans' are also an option as they aim to 'protect' the homes of property owners to 'avoid the lien sale altogether'.
Joshua Nair