A Central Texas family is shocked and upset after their grandmother’s home was demolished without their permission, according to KVUE.
In March 2024, Robert Alexander visited the family home at 118 Kimble Lane in East Austin. But the house he anticipated to see, where he and his brothers grew up, had been demolished. All that was left were broken boards and lost memories.
“Everything was still inside, including all of our family artifacts. “Everything was destroyed,” Robert’s brother Kelly Alexander told reporters.
Worse, the demolition occurred shortly after their brother Charles, who had been residing in the house, left owing to numerous calls and letters warning of tax concerns. Months later, the Alexanders discovered a new duplex foundation poured on their property.
The developer alleges the property was ‘foreclosed’
While different members of the Alexander family have lived in the house for decades, the entire family has fallen behind on their property taxes.
“I continued getting letters and phone calls saying that we were delinquent on taxes and needed to leave, which is why my brother [Charles] departed. Kelly Alexander stated that the house was promptly knocked down.
But how could a developer construct on the property without the Alexanders’ permission?
KVUE Defenders began an inquiry to get to the bottom of the problem. According to public records, the home at 118 Kimble Lane is still owned by Julia Alexander, the family matriarch who died in 1979, and her son Charles, who lived there until 2024.
Precise Custom Homes, the development company that developed the duplex, controls the site next door, which has no street address. Despite this, online listings and city records show the new duplex at 120 Kimble Lane, with demolition permits issued in February 2024, only weeks before Robert arrived.
According to Julia Null, a real estate attorney, the new duplex occupies two lots: Lot 9, which the developer legitimately purchased, and Lot 8, which is still owned by the Alexander family. In other words, it appears that the developer demolished the family’s home on Lot 8 and constructed on both lots, even though only one was legally theirs.
When KVUE contacted Danny Olivarez, president of Precise Custom Homes, he declined to speak, referring to the family as “complainers” who were “trying to get something for free.”
He later claimed that Lot 8 was “foreclosed” in the 1970s, but a KVUE inquiry with the Travis County Tax Office revealed no foreclosure on record, but it did indicate almost $15,000 in outstanding taxes owed. According to a county tax office representative, there are no records of any foreclosures or attempted foreclosures.
When reporters asked for foreclosure documentation, Olivarez simply said, “No.” Meanwhile, a renter who currently lives in the duplex built on the Alexanders’ property claims he knows nothing about the land’s past.
“But to hear that, you know, all of this is happening, is very unfortunate,” Joshua Labauve explained.
The Alexanders will not surrender without a struggle.
Null, who reviewed the case with KVUE, confirmed that Lot 8 remains classified as part of Julia Alexander’s estate.
“It appears that a developer bought Lot 9 and then, unfortunately, forced the family out for Lot 8, took down their home, bulldozed it and then moved into it and actually built on it,” she told me.
The developer’s acquisition deed specifically specifies that the land butts up to Julia Alexander’s land, indicating that the developer should have realized it did not possess the adjoining property.
While property laws differ, heirs such as the Alexanders have legal rights to inherited property, even if the original owner died decades ago. Leaving a home empty or owing past taxes does not grant another party the authority to seize the property. That can only be accomplished through a legal foreclosure process, which does not appear to have occurred in this case.
Meanwhile, the family insists they will not let this go.
“Oh, this makes us angry. “It makes us very angry,” Kelly Alexander stated. “We’re ready for a fight.”
According to Null, this type of uncontrolled development occurs more frequently than people know, and it often goes uncontested because families are unaware of their rights. The Alexanders are considering suing Precise Custom Homes for stealing their property and demolishing their family home.
To avoid circumstances like these from happening to you and your family, you can take the following steps: Keep property titles up to date, pay taxes or set up payment plans, and guarantee that heirs file probate or other legal claims of ownership.
Meanwhile, the Alexanders are contemplating legal action, and their story should serve as a caution to other families who have inherited land and are at risk of being overlooked or overtaken.
