Man buying vacant lot slapped with $20K demo bill from 3 years ago by Detroit

DETROIT (WJBK) - WEB UPDATE (9 p.m.): City of Detroit attorney Lawrence Garcia tells Amy Lange that upon further consideration the city will not be pursuing collection for demolition costs. 

Garcia said that in cases where there was no lien recorded on a property, such as this case with Raymond Ware, there is nothing more owed. Ultimately, he agreed that it was not fair.

The original story is below.

A man with plans to expand his Detroit barber college but is on the hook for $20,000.

The city says he is responsible for a demolition bill from over two years ago - before he even owned the property. 

The Metro Detroit Barber College on West McNichols has been there since 1994. Owner Raymond Ware has dedicated his time and talent to this city through the worst of times, teaching his 
students while dreaming of expanding and hoping the neighborhood would get better.

And it did - the blighted property next door was torn down by the city in 2015 and the vacant property is for sale from the county for $500.

Raymond paid for the property, paid the back taxes and he did everything he thought he was supposed to do. Then in April of this year out of the blue, a bill from the city of Detroit.

"I get this letter saying I was being charged for demolition of the building next door for $37,000," he said.

To be exact, it was for $37,556.85, two and a half years after he purchased the vacant lot next door. He is being forced to pay for the demolition of a building he never owned.

"I talked to the lawyer for the city and he said he would talk to his colleagues and he called me back the same day and said he would reduce it to $20,000," Raymond said. "And he said he could set me up on a payment plan."

Blindsided and upset, Raymond called FOX 2.

"I've heard people say it's hard to do business in the city of Detroit," he said. "But this is my first time experiencing something like this."

This may seem outrageous but the city of Detroit told FOX 2 it's perfectly legal and guess what, Raymond's not the only one being forced to pay a steep price for property he bought years ago.

"We're willing to talk to Mr. Ware as with anybody we're in litigation with about resolution," said Lawrence Garcia.

Garcia is head of corporation counsel for the city of Detroit. He said the city knocked down 300 commercial properties in the last four years and did not record some of the demolition 
costs with the register of deeds - which is why Raymond had no idea when he bought the property from the county that he might owe all this money.

Only recently did the city start trying to recover its demolition costs.

"We're coming across a lot of things that are several years old," Garcia said. "Because we're now cleaning up the paperwork and getting straight with the money on demolitions that took place years ago."

"So it's unfortunate that it did not happen earlier?"

"Yeah," Garcia said.

It is an oversight now costing Raymond and countless others - a whole lot of money.

"This was back in 2015 and I'm just now getting a bill in 2018," Raymond said. "That's a big time difference."

To learn if there are additional fees associated with properties they are trying to buy CLICK HERE or go to http://www.detroitmi.gov/demolition