A two-story Sewickley home listed for sale was no longer available about two weeks ago when a real estate agent arrived with clients interested in buying the property.

But it hadn't been sold.

“It wasn't there and we didn't know what happened to the house,” said Drago Cvetkovich, an agent for Coldwell Banker who listed the house.

Turns out, it had been demolished by the borough.

Borough officials are now offering an apology to a Kentucky couple for mistakenly razing the vacant home. Sewickley didn't post a demolition notice on the property or notify the owners.

The house at 883 Dickson Road — a two-bedroom, one-bath home built in 1930 — has been on the borough’s demolition list for the past two years, but owners Erick and Sherri Murrer had been making repairs and paying their property taxes.

“It’s very distressing to think a government agency thinks they have the authority to tear down an owner’s house without due process,” Mr. Murrer said.

Borough manager Kevin Flannery said it was an error in which the borough and the homeowners share the blame.

The borough did not follow proper procedures, but the owners neither applied for building permits nor asked borough officials what steps were needed to get the house off the demolition list.

The demolition took place on or around Sept. 15, Mr. Flannery said.

“The house was not habitable,” he said. “It needed a building permit and needed to be repaired. It was still on the list, and there were several miscommunications, several documentations that weren't done and several procedures that weren't followed.

”I think the borough has to admit that procedures were not followed correctly. It wasn't done properly.” he said. “We’re not going to argue about it. We are not going to assume 100 percent responsibility, but basically I believe it needs to be resolved amicably.”

The Murrers’ attorney, Beth Tarasi of Tarasi & Tarasi, Downtown, said Sewickley has offered to settle for what the couple paid for the property 11 years ago — $18,000 — an offer she said her clients find unacceptable.

“They lost a property that had a good foundation and was structurally sound,” she said. “Hopefully this won’t drag on. It was a mistake on the borough’s part and they appear to want to do the right thing.”

Mr. Murrer, 51, grew up in Leetsdale. He and his wife Sherri bought the house at 883 Dickson Road and another at 875 Dickson Road in a package deal in 2005 when they were living in Illinois.

They planned to live at 875 Dickson while they fixed up 883 Dickson. Meanwhile, their children — now ages 19, 15, 11 and 8 — would have been able to attend school in the Quaker Valley School District.

But Mr. Murrer, a salesman in the commercial food industry, was unable to land a job in Pittsburgh. The couple ended up moving to Nancy, Ky., but kept the taxes current on both properties. He made several trips to make repairs on the houses until December 2012, when a table saw accident nearly cost him three fingers. 

He lost his job following the accident, and the family fell on financial hard times. They decided about a year ago to put both Sewickley properties up for sale in a $60,000 package deal.

The houses are located on the outskirts of the borough in the Steep Slope district of Sewickley, an area that has several houses that are older or vacant. Mr. Murrer said the borough also has been putting pressure on others homeowners on the same street.

“If you don’t have money or some pull in the community, they are trying to squeeze you out,” he said. “I don’t believe it was an accident what happened. It was a calculated move on the city’s part.”

Mr. Murrer said he and his wife had exchanged several certified letters with Sewickley code enforcement officer Nancy Watts over the past year related to repairs they were making at the property. 

But Mr. Flannery said the mistake was a plain and simple breakdown in the borough’s demolition and code enforcement system.

Rather than post a demolition notice at 883 Dickson Road, the borough accidentally posted the notice on another property — 930 Dickson Road — that also was on the demolition list.

Demolition contractors ended up tearing down 883 Dickson Road in mid-September, even though it wasn't posted and procedures had not been followed for notifying the owners in writing.

“Because it was torn down with grant money, as part of the settlement we will make sure there is no bill sent to [the Murrers] for the demolition and there will be no liens against the property,” Mr. Flannery said, adding that demolitions typically cost between $5,000 and $7,000. 

“Most times when you do a demolition grant, the county — under federal guidelines in a community block grant — puts liens on it. We’ll be sure there are no liens on the property. 

“We have revamped all of our procedures now. This won’t happen again.

”When someone on the team hits a home run, the team hits a home run. When someone on the team strikes out, the entire team strikes out. This is one time the entire team struck out.”

Tim Grant: tgrant@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1591.

First Published: November 7, 2014, 5:00 a.m.