Right-to-buy fiasco
Council sells father 2-bed flat thinking it was a one-bed – then demands: Pay £360k or be evicted
IT IS the dream of most homeowners to discover that their property has doubled in value.
But not when the cause is the seller changing their mind about the price two years later – and demanding £360,000 more.
That is the fate of Anthony Zomparelli, 54, who had jumped at the chance to buy his council flat in 2014.
The father of four had lived in it as a tenant for 13 years when Islington council in north London valued it at £340,000.
Because of his long-term tenancy, he qualified for a discount of £102,700 under the Right to Buy scheme. So he got a mortgage for £237,300 and bought the flat.
But in 2016 the council wrote to him saying the flat had been wrongly valued because officials thought it had one bedroom, rather than two. He was told he should in fact have been charged £700,000 – more than twice the original valuation.
Now the council is taking him to court to get the extra money or kick him out and repossess the second Mr Zomparelli and third-floor said the property. lease the council signed with him in 2014 clearly displayed floor plans showing both ‘Bedroom 1’ and ‘Bedroom 2’. He added the ‘extra’ bedroom is a cramped 10ft by 6ft boxroom that could not justify doubling the price. He said last night: ‘I would never have bought the property if I knew it was going to cost £700,000. ‘I have no idea how they can justify asking for that much more money. It has always been a twobed flat, never a one bed. ‘It’s madness. They have doubled the price of a property based on a boxroom. How can they expect me to afford to pay? They’ve clearly made a massive mistake and it’s no fault of my own.’ He added: ‘It has ruined my life. It has caused me depression and I’ve had to go to the doctors. ‘It has put a massive strain on my relationship with friends and family. I’ve been in la-la land since I got the first letter.’ Mr Zomparelli said the council had plenty of time to get its figures right as he began the process of purchasing his flat under Right to Buy legislation in August 2013, when the council made its initial valuation. The sale was not completed until December 2014.
The security guard, who lives in the duplex flat alone, switched from paying £550 a month rent to £1,800 a month mortgage.
He said he was happy to do so as ‘I wanted to get on the property ladder for my children’.
Then in 2016 he received the letter from the council that began, with extreme understatement: ‘We understand this letter may cause you some distress.’
It went on to say the original price had been reached through a ‘desktop’ valuation based on inaccurate ‘computerised records’. It further claimed Mr Zomparelli
‘It has ruined my life’
had been ‘ unjustly enriched’ by the supposed council mistake.
But Mr Zomparelli said an independent surveyor had been sent to look at the flat before the sale and points to his 125-year lease, seen by the Daily Mail, which shows the small second bedroom on floor plans in forms signed by an ‘authorised officer’ of Islington council.
He fears that even if he wins the legal case brought by the council to Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court, he will face ruinous legal fees of more than £60,000.
A spokesman for Islington council said: ‘As legal proceedings are ongoing, we’re not currently able to provide a statement.’