An enraged couple were fined £38,000 by a council in an e-mail mix up and threatened jail if they didn’t cough up the funds.
Ruth Pitt from West Sussex was first granted planning permission for her self-build home at the end of 2020.
But after she failed to spot an e-mail her local council – telling her she needed to inform them of when her build began – they ordered her to pay £38,000.
On the same week that her husband was diagnosed with dementia, Mrs Pitt was threatened with time behind bars if she didn’t hand over the funds.
The charge was a community infrastructure levy – which is usually used for huge housing developments.
The CIL is more usually applied to major house building projects to help councils pay for the extra public services required for new homes.
She told the BBC: ‘I actually couldn’t believe it when I opened the email. It made me feel physically sick.
‘We were already under pressure to keep our project under budget and then we get this huge demand out of the blue with very draconian measures to collect it.
‘If I’d committed some sort of serious crime or had a misdemeanour, I could appeal against that but I cannot appeal against the CIL – they will not allow an appeal.’
Ruth Pitt and her husband (pictured) from West Sussex were fined £38,000 by a council in an e-mail mix up and threatened jail if they didn’t cough up the funds
The charge was a community infrastructure levy – which is usually used for huge housing developments after beginning construction on their self-build home
Steve and Caroline Dally also feared they may have to sell their home after being hit by a £70,000 charge from Wavereley Borough Council after winning planning permission for an extension
The distressed wife said she was never given her money back by Horsham council, who maintain they were acting in line with the law.
West Berkshire council leader, Jeff Brooks, revealed his authority had previously reimbursed constituents wrongly charged a CIL levy.
The council boss told the publication he have approached Horsham District Council leader Martin Boffey and offered to show him how they reimbursed people.
Horsham District Council told the publication: ‘We can’t comment on individual cases but its important to recognise the council must consider any CIL matters in accordance with national legislation.
‘There are areas of the legislation where the council has no discretion to make a different decision if due process wasn’t followed.’
MailOnline has approached Horsham District Council for comment.
It comes shortly after Steve and Caroline Daily were hit with the bill when they unwittingly failed to fill in one of the forms required for their planning application.
The couple say they have been ‘traumatised’ buy their five-year fight to overturn the charge and will probably have to sell their home in Godalming, Surrey, to pay it off.
‘There’s no way that a retired person trying to do a small home improvement can find seventy grand,’ Mr Dally told BBC Radio Surrey.
‘It’s traumatic. You lose sleep and end up crying your eyes out. What can you do about it?’
Mr Dally, 65, won planning permission to demolish and replace the existing extension on their four-bedroom house in 2019.
But when he tried to amend the application for a slightly different design, Waverley Borough Council hit them with a £70,000 Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
Their council later offered to carry out a ‘discretionary review’ of every incident where property owners were ordered to pay a CIL.
