Paid £4500 to Council and no remorse. Please help.

n_easy

Dear All,

I am extremely worried and stressed about my situation. I hope somebody can help.

In 2001 we had some support by way of a grant from Leicester City Council to extend my house for my severely disabled Son. The Council placed a charge on my property for roughly £6000 and to this day, it is still on my deeds - they said if we ever sell the house, we would need to pay the charge off.

We have had the property on the market for some time but not selling so we want to remortgage to buy another house to move - we applied for a mortgage and it was approved - they said however, we must remove the charges first.

I rang the Council and said to them that I have a charge on my property and would like to pay it off - I got through to the income protection section, gave my property details and explained about the charge on my property. They found an invoice to the sum of £4,560 - I asked to confirm what this invoice was for and indeed the invoice is for, "APPLICANTS CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS DISABLED FACILITIES GRANT". I queried the difference between my charge letter (£6000) and the £4500 paid - he said that 4500 was the invoice and it needed to be paid. So naturally I paid it and then asked how do I remove the charge now.
He responded with there doesn't seem to be any record of a charge and after numerous phone calls has said that the invoice is not for the charge - albeit the invoice related to the exact same thing.

The invoice is from 2001 - YES 2001. Now I do not know where to go from here. I have paid out £4500 to the council who are absolutely no help to me and say there is no charge on my property when there blatantly is. What's more, why have they not contacted me in the last ten years to say an invoice is outstanding for a sum that is different from the charge letter (6000).

I want to know your advice and also if whether I can claim this money back to pay the charge instead of some random invoice I have never heard of ever come across.

Please give me guidance as this is A LOT of money for me. I have tried pleading with him, but he says that this does not relate to the charge so he cannot help, essentially leaving me on the lurch.

Sorry for the long message, but I am extremely stressed. I feel like crying.

Please help.

N

BlueAngelCV

You really need to get the Council to put in writing exactly what was owed and what has been paid.

Were you paying money towards the work as well as getting the grant? ie did the Council arrange for say £10,000 or work but the grant was only for £6,000 so you agreed to pay the balance?

From the information you've provided it sounds like there's probably just been a mix up with their records but no-one will really be able to help without more information.

WhiteHorse

Charges following grants of this nature are fairly common.

First stop, check with the Land Registry to see what the situation is. They will tell you outright whether or not there is a charge.

If there isn't, or it's for the wrong amount, then the Council has goofed very badly indeed, and you will need to find out exactly what paperwork they hold.

ThumbRemote

I'd suggest getting things in writing, rather than dealing with someone at the end of the phone.

Write, explaining the situation and including a copy of the deeds showing the charge. Explain what you've recently paid and ask them to provide full details of what this has been applied to. With a bit of time for them to understand the situation, rather than just being on the phone, you might get a clearer picture.

You can also involve your councillor if the responses are a bit slow or unsatisfactory.

n_easy

Thanks for your help thus far. I do indeed have things in writing (over email) and have sent over the necessary deeds - the deeds in front of me clearly have a charge on the property for my property.

On the charge letter - the letter outlining how much I need to pay is £6500, however they have made me pay 4500 - I have a feeling they may have incorrectly made us pay the part of the grant that was meant to be free and this is why it is a different sum to the charge sum of £6500.

What should I do? Legal advice? Or Councillor? Or should I just ring back up and ask for clarification again - they are persistent I needed to pay - What I cannot believe is that, it is from 2001 and that they have not ever contacted me about it and the guy wasn't even being reasonable about it. Utter fool.

Thank you all, made me feel a little more comfortable.

bris

Not something anyone here would be able to help with, you need to let your solicitor look into this for you. You will need a solicitor for the new house anyway so get him involved in the process now.

It doesn't matter when the invoice was from, the charge sits on the property until sold, then discharged when paid from the proceeds, your solicitor will be able to get the deeds from the bank and deal with this for you when he has the info to hand.