A PROPERTY owner has been sued by city officials for buying and moving into a former firehouse that was advertised as a residential property when it was sold.
Thom Kroon bought the historic Seattle, Washington, building for $712,000 at an auction in 2012.
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"[I] thought we had essentially bought a residential property," he told KIRO.
After spending thousands renovating the firehouse and using it as an office and event space for years, Kroon received a land use violation notice in 2016.
The letter obtained by KIRO demanded that he "discontinue all unauthorized uses including but not limited to office and residence" because "the legally established use of the property is as a public facility."
Kroon was shocked by the notice, as he believed the property had been designated as a residential space before he bought it.
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"I thought it was sort of a joke when they said it’s still a fire station," he said.
"This is just crazy! You sell a residential property and then you tell me it’s still a fire station?"
Seattle went on to sue Kroon for $500 a day for the alleged misuse of the property, which came out to around $400,000.
That lawsuit was dropped shortly after Kroon hired Clayton Graham, a land-use attorney.
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"After that... it appears that people’s attention was more focused on solving the permitting issue," the lawyer said.
Graham helped Kroon file his own lawsuit against the city.
They want to recover the more than $50,000 he spent fighting the initial suit.
"If any seller sold a property as a residence and it couldn’t be used as a residence, the buyer could seek recourse for damages," Graham said.
"We’re just trying to hold the City to the same standards that the rest of the community need to live by."
The suit also claims that an inspector who discovered the alleged violation stepped foot on Kroon's property without his consent.
It's not clear what the outcome of this case was.
