Sounds like the city owns his property then
What ever happened to private property rights in this country?
Well, property rights are among the rights we either no longer have.. or have only in minimal or highly restricted forms
the government agents can “legally” just come and seize, take , confiscate your personal property (objects, money, etc) too... they call it “asset forfeiture” and while it started in mostly drug cases, its expanded to all sorts of situations at the state and local levels in some places, too...
these seizures of your property, stuff, money are all done without giving you even a right to stop or defend against them....no hearing... nothing....
...just like in a banana republic...only here we pretend we respect citizens’ rights...whereas in most “self-respecting” banana republics they don’t make much pretense about that.
we also have situations where search warrants are falsified and property stolen by corrupt police or agents... all they have to do is leave your valuables off their “seizure list”
and you don’t even get a record of what they took from you...
and you have no evidence they stole your money, stuff..if you ever want to try to get a court to help you get it back
....as far as real property rights go, one of the chief British policies that got some colonists upset in the 1760 and 1770’s was the rule that the King could take your farm away from you anytime he wanted, since all land belonged to the King to begin with (a theory dating back to Willie the First’s invasionary conquest of 1066).
The American Revolution secured a right for ‘just compensation’ for any lands the state takes from you...
but in the 1920’s the S.Court decided that “reasonable regulations are not necessarily takings”... government may adopt such regs without having to compensate you for your loss (such as, the loss of not being allowed to develop your land the way you want, perhaps to maximize its economic value)
following up on that thought, if a citizen violates (especially willfully after being advised or warned) a reg, the govt may levy fines and/or issue corrective (including demolition) orders (such as for unpermitted constructions)
they consider these measures as simple necessities if the govt is to impose its idea of good regulations effectively, without having everyone and his cow disobeying them
Building codes......
You’re in Jersey? You should already be aware