THE family of a 93-year-old grandmother who died from a heart attack after being wrongly charged £50,000 for repair work on her Brentwood flat have won an important legal ruling against Newham Council.
A tribunal decided that repairs to Florrie Bourne's home on the Eastham Estate were not necessary.
Her son, Roy Bourne, 65, believes she died from stress after receiving a bill for the work in January 2010, which he claims should have been closer to £10,000.
He added that his fight for justice would not stop while other leaseholders on the estate face similar problems with the council.
Mr Bourne, who lives in Leigh-on-Sea, said: "This is just the start of our fight for justice. Newham Council has been treating this estate like a cash cow. It is full of residents who have been paying their rents and service charges duly on time but the council has been putting nothing in and taking everything out.
"If we give up the fight, there are a lot of people who are going to suffer the same way as we have. How do you morally let that happen?"
Mrs Bourne was charged £50,000 for repairs to her flat roof and preferred to sell off sentimental jewellery rather than leave her family with a debt.
However, the Leasehold Tribunal Service has now catalogued a series of miscalculations from the council and noted that repairs to the roof, which could have lasted another 40 years, were not needed at all.
Other residents of the estate have also been hit with crippling bills.
Florrie's neighbour, Rebecca Taylor, blames these charges for the strain that led to the break-up of her relationship with Robert Court.
Ms Taylor, a 31-year-old teacher, said: "We were first-time buyers. We bought this flat because we thought it was affordable but the pressures of so much debt led to our break-up.
"It's been very hard and this report has shown we should never have gone through this stress in the first place.
"The worst thing is we have no redress and there is no democratic accountability – we cannot vote for the Mayor of Newham."
Another Newham leaseholder, Carlos Serpa, who has successfully reduced his £25,000 bill to £7,500 in a separate tribunal, urged other leaseholders to fight the authority.
He said: "It costs a few hundred pounds and it takes a bit of work to get the paperwork in order but it's worth it.
"Even though we were successful in getting our bills reduced, I'm not going to pay a penny until the job is done properly.
"There is loads wrong and I am still not happy with what Newham did."
For other leaseholders, however, the extra work in fighting the case is not worth it.
David Kitt, 76, and his wife Christine, 70, received a bill for £13,000 and have almost paid it off.
"For me it's not worth it but I am sure that is what Newham want," he said.
MP Eric Pickles, who has been fighting Newham Council on behalf of leaseholders, said: "They are nice flats but residents here are facing charges that you would expect to find at the more luxurious end of Park Lane in Mayfair.
"Within a short walking distance there are flats maintained by Brentwood Borough Council whose residents are facing bills of less than £5,000.
"The reason for that is those flats have been looked after properly under a programme of rolling maintenance.
"What we have with Newham is a neglectful and absentee landlord which has placed extortionate bills on the heads of my constituents."
A spokesman for Newham Council said: "We are currently reviewing the judgement from the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal and once we've looked closely at the information provided, we will determine what action to take next.
"The works were carried out by a previous management organisation as part of the Government's Decent Homes programme.
"We will continue to do everything we can to improve living conditions for both tenants and leaseholders."
