10 Most Stubborn Homeowners Who Refused To Move! We're all too familiar with this script – people in an area are going about their lives peacefully then a mega-project appears from nowhere. It could be a road, a high-end apartment or a railway line. Naturally, this means the people have to be moved – after being compensated, of course. A good deal of them do.
But for some, no amount of money can convince them to leave a locality they’ve been living in for years. In today’s video, we take you on a tour of the places where homeowners decided that moving out wasn’t an option.
#10 Roubaix, France
Roubaix was once a robust town filled with people from all walks of life doing one thing or the other – doctors, shoemakers, and miners. That was back in the 1970s.
And it is in the midst of this thriving setting that one Salah Oudjani established himself as a renowned café owner – the Café Chez Salah. The Algeria-born moved to France in 1949 and sweated it out with his wife before they bought the two-story building in 1965. It was a worthwhile purchase as it gave the couple the much needed social and financial independence.
So it was clear the café held so much significance in their lives. And this is what posed a challenge for the developers who were looking to set up a new project in the French town.
The exodus of people from the town began in 2000 as a good deal of land was bought from the residents. About three years later in 2003 and 2004, the two last-standing factories closed shop. This would have been a sign for any remaining homeowner to give it up. But for Salah, it meant nothing. He wasn’t going to move out of the coffee house he had owned for the last 40+ years.
The developers had no choice but to tweak their plans in line with his café.
#9 Rui’an, China
China probably leads the pack when it comes to defiant homeowners. For some reason, they’re tolerated. Such was the case in Rui’an, Zhejiang province.
Zheng Meiju had been living in this neighborhood for a while when one day she woke up with the news that a business plaza was going to be set up. Naturally, the surrounding blocks of flats were to be demolished to pave way for this project. And, of course, the owners were to be compensated.
But the amount, as it turned out, wasn’t to the level Ms. Meiju was expecting. And she wasn’t going to move if it wasn’t looked at. The developers on the other could hear none of that but they couldn’t also force her out of her apartment.
They went ahead to demolish the other buildings and even the one Zheng was occupying, but only partially. So she was left alone in a deserted plot and a half-demolished home.
Naturally, the developers didn’t like her still hanging around – and didn’t want to pay the amount she was asking for. They’ve employed other means to have her move, like making her life unbearable by cutting off electricity and running water.
But she held on, usually getting water from a friend’s place which is 30 minutes away from where she lives. During the hot weather, she has to entirely move to the friend's home but drops by now and then to check on her house just in case.
#8 Washington D.C, USA
In 2003, real estate developers were willing to fork out wads of cash to get hold of a place on Massachusetts Avenue. Equally, people were willing to hand over their properties. After all, who doesn't like a sudden windfall of money?
Turns out there was someone. He went by the name Austin Spriggs and owned a rowhouse in the exact place everyone was selling their property. As an architect, Mr. Spriggs used his rowhouse as his office. For some reason, he found it hard to sell his property even after numerous hefty offers.
According to the developers, Spriggs demanded way more than they were willing to offer and had tried to blackmail them into hiring him seeing as he was an architect. He received as much as $3 million in offers but still held onto the more than a 100-year-old building that had been valued at just $200,000.
But the projects had to go on, and for some time, the little house stood out like a sore thumb between the two towers that had been built on each side.
Four years after passing on opportunities to make a fortune, the architect tried to sell his place for $1.5 million but he couldn’t. He ended up getting just under $800,000. The buyer went on to flip it for a whopping $4 million.
#7 Tokyo, Japan
Airports naturally take up a lot of landmasses. Therefore to set them up, lots of people have to be displaced.
The same goes for Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan that was set up in the 1960s. Over 1,200 had to move, duly compensated by the government. Some, the majority, moved readily. But a few weren’t having any of the government’s cock and bull stories.
For copyright matters please contact us at: top5bestbusiness@gmail.com
Subscribe to 100M:
#100m #education #viralstory #facts #entertainment #top10 #top5 #list #countdown
0 Yorumlar