Like many people, teacher Neil Hosken is being careful with money as the cost of living crisis pushes up his food and energy bills, and his low-cost mortgage deal comes to an end. So he was shocked to receive a letter from the council warning of a bill of up to £44,000 for repairs to his home.
Hosken is one of a growing number of leaseholders being hit with enormous bills from local authorities for their estates. Emma Clarke, a neighbour on the Taverner and Peckett Square estate in Islington, got a bill about the same size as the deposit she put down on her one-bedroom flat last May. Another neighbour, who lives in a three-bed flat, faces a bill of up to £61,000.
