Rowe v Vale of White Horse DC
The council built a sewage treatment plant serving some of its council houses and charged the running costs to the housing revenue account. The homes were later transferred to an RSL. The council kept the plant but was unsure of its power to continue to operate it. It was also unsure whether it could levy charges on those homeowners who had exercised the right to buy before the stock transfer but who had not contracted to pay sewage charges. In October 2000 it got legal advice that it could charge and in March 2001 sent out bills for up to six years' worth of unpaid charges.

The judge decided that the council had caused the homeowners to reasonably believe that they wouldn't be charged. A supplier could normally expect to recover the reasonable value of a service supplied, but here the service was delivered in circumstances where the consumers could not have been expected to know that they would be asked to pay. The charges for the period before March 2001 could not be recovered.

Source

Housing Today

Reference

This case shows the need to consider with care – before transfer – what ancillary offices, buildings and plant are not transferred and how their retention will be financed.