Telford homeowners furious over Taylor Wimpey maintenance bill
Angry residents picketed a meeting of a housebuilder who they claim did not inform them they would have to pay a charge to maintain their road.
People living on Sankey Drive in Hadley, Telford, said they knew nothing about the charge until they were hit with a legal bill from agents Mainstay.
They have vowed to fight the bill and picketed a consultation session on a new development set to be built off Golf Links Lane by Taylor Wimpey.
Taylor Wimpey said it was not involved with any of the legal proceedings – but said the homes were sold on the understanding a service charge would have to be paid to maintain communal spaces.
Protester Tracey Thatcher, who has received a bill for £871.36, said: "You buy the house but the developers keep hold of the land outside and charge you to maintain it.
"They didn't tell us about the covenant when we bought our Taylor Wimpey houses. First some of us knew was when a bill for hundreds of pounds dropped through our door a year after we moved in.
"We didn't know what it was, it was from some maintenance agent we'd never heard of called Mainstay. They said they owned the land now and we had to pay.
"We've helped start a website called HorNet, homeownersrights.org, and we're joining with groups all over the country who have the same problem with this unfair extra tax."
Fellow Sankey Drive resident Karmjeet Rai said: "Sometimes the street lighting in our road works, sometimes it doesn't. People park anywhere because it's a private estate.
"We don't know how much the maintenance bill will be each year. The maintenance company can charge what it likes."
Neighbour Sam Burdett said they were now calling for the road to be adopted by the local council, following the consultation meeting held at the Red Lion in Wellington on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Taylor Wimpey said: "This charge was clearly specified during the conveyancing process, and purchasers were also advised that this service charge could vary over time. Residents are also free to collectively change their management company if this is their wish."
Gill Rawlings, spokeswoman for Mainstay Group, urged residents to pay the charges, which they said were "in line with their title deeds".
