It's a story Eyewitness News first covered this summer that sparked outrage and a rally in the community.
Now, the homeowner's attorney is taking action and lawmakers are crafting legislation to try and prevent a similar situation from happening to other people.
"I can't sleep, as soon as I put my head down, I wake up," Filmore Brown said.
Brown is fighting to keep his home in Flatbush, Brooklyn, a home he worked seven days a week for decades to pay off.
He found out the home was sold out from under him, when strangers attempted to drill off the locks to his front door in the middle of the night. Turns out, they were working for the new owners.
"It opened a lot of peoples' eyes," Brown said.
Back in 2019, just after Brown paid off his mortgage, he said he didn't know he had an outstanding $5,000 water bill. The city sold the unpaid bill to what's called a trust, which is a group of investors. It was then up to the investors to collect the money with interest. When the balance wasn't paid, the $900,000 home went into foreclosure and it was sold at auction.
Brown said he had no idea any of it was happening. Once his bill was put into the trust, it was deducted from the city's billing system as if it never existed.
"I believe Mr. Brown will get his house back," said his attorney Alice Nicholson.
She filed a new lawsuit against the city and others claiming Brown never received the proper warning notices.
"To my knowledge I never received a notice," Brown said.
He lives on the top floor of his home and rents out the apartments on the two lower floors to other families. The city claims someone was served with paperwork at the house during the height of the pandemic.
"I can't imagine, we were living in a ghost town in New York City," Nicholson said.
Brown isn't alone. In his area of East Flatbush alone, more than 1,000 homeowners had their properties put into the tax lien sale. More than half of those were for unpaid water bills.
"It was a shock and this was definitely a grave injustice," Councilmember Chris Banks said.
Banks has submitted city legislation that he says would improve the notification process and remove water bills from being sold into a trust in the first place. Last year, state lawmakers tried to pass two similar bills but they didn't leave committee.
"This is something that has to change, you can't play around with peoples' lives," Banks said.
The New York City Department of Finance sent a statement in response to our story:
"Our goal is to always help homeowners keep their properties. Last year, we worked with the City Council to implement reforms that give property owners more time, information, and resources to resolve their debts. For this year's lien sale, we strengthened outreach efforts through partnerships with nonprofits, Council Members, and other City agencies. This resulted in a record number of properties being removed from the initial lien sale list, with thousands of homeowners either making the minimum payment, entering payment plans, or applying for homeowner exemptions. We will review the legislation being proposed and look forward to working with our city partners to continue supporting homeowners."
The New Yor City Department of Environmental Protection, which issues water and sewer bills, also issued a statement:
"With more than $1 billion in outstanding water and sewer charges from delinquent accounts, the lien sale remains a critical collections tool - helping ensure fairness for the customers who pay on time and allowing DEP to limit the FY26 water rate increase to 3.7%, rather than the 8.5% originally projected. While we cannot comment on pending litigation, we do want to note that last year, in partnership with the Department of Finance and City Council, DEP implemented reforms to give property owners more time, information, and resources to pay their debts. DEP remains committed to working with customers to resolve their accounts, connect them with financial resources, and, if a lien was sold, direct them to the appropriate party for assistance in order to avoid foreclosure."
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