Woman disputes council payout for demolished garage

A tree fell on to three private garages in Loughborough in December 2024

A woman whose garage was demolished by a council without permission has said an offer of compensation is not enough.

Annette Holliday said her garage in Tuckers Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, was initially unharmed when a tree fell across three neighbouring garages in December 2024, but the tree was then dropped on to her roof during work to remove it.

Her garage was found to be contaminated with asbestos and the buildings were declared unsafe and demolished by Charnwood Borough Council, which mistakenly believed it owned them.

It has since offered Ms Holliday about £4,500 in compensation, but she said the sum was not enough to rebuild the garage and replace its contents.

Ms Holliday is concerned the compensation on offer will not buy the kind of garage she had before

Ms Holliday said: "I get it, asbestos is dangerous. I understand that, but my roof was repairable before [the garage] was demolished.

"All I want back is what I had, so I am concerned that with the £4,500 - and this is also saying goodbye to all my stuff that was in there - my tools, everything.

"I'm just concerned I'll end up with some kind of prefab garage that's nothing like what I had and will also devalue my house."

The council has apologised and offered Ms Holliday £4,426 compensation, which comprised £2,518 for a replacement garage, £2,348 for the belongings inside and £1,000 for inconvenience and distress.

But it deducted £540 from the total for removing the asbestos, and a further £900 as the roof on her previous garage had been damaged "by a third party" that was removing the fallen tree.

A hole was left in Ms Holliday's garage roof during work to remove the fallen tree

A council spokesperson said: "We have advised Mrs Holliday that it may be appropriate to seek further advice about taking any possible action against any third parties responsible for the initial damage.

"Mrs Holliday can choose to reject the offer and move the process to a stage 2 complaint and ultimately the ombudsman."

Ms Holliday told the BBC she had tried to track down who was responsible for the fallen tree that caused the damage, but has been unable to find those responsible. She is now considering her options.

She added: "I would like the council to just put back the garages that they've taken away."

Ms Holliday said she was told by the council that it had now put an approval process in place so any demolition had to be formally approved by a senior manager before it could proceed.