Disgruntled homeowners are facing the threat of having their backyards demolished after discovering they have been unknowingly encroaching on council property for over three decades.

Residents of Doncaster Grove in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, have been given an ultimatum by the local authority: either purchase or lease the land they assumed was part of their gardens, or risk having it reclaimed by the council.

Now, in a bid to retain what they believed was theirs, these homeowners are shelling out significant sums, with some being asked to pay up to £14,000 to secure ownership of their beloved green spaces.

The Erewash Borough Council asserts that 34 properties with expansive gardens are unlawfully extending into a strip of land it owns, which is adjacent to a branch of the River Erewash and two nature reserves.

This piece of land was acquired by the council in 1995 for the nominal fee of £1 from Broxtowe Borough Council, and at that time, residents were offered the option to lease the land.

However, many of the current homeowners claim they were unaware of this arrangement when they purchased their properties, believing that the spacious gardens were part of the deal.

Now homeowners say over half of their garden is at risk of being reclaimed – despite lovingly tending to their gardens for decades, including adding patios, workshops, greenhouses, sheds and fruit trees.

Some claim they have been told to erect a fence half way down their gardens in order to give the council ‘their land back’ – or face a hefty bill or having them bulldozed.

The area below the red line shows the sections of the gardens at the centre of the dispute

David Woodhouse is one of many unaware of the ownership rule and purchased his two-bedroom detached house in 2009

A view of an anonymous resident’s garden which they will lose if they don’t buy or rent the land

David Woodhouse is one of many unaware of the ownership rule and purchased his two-bedroom detached house in 2009.

He has now blasted the ‘spiteful’ council for trying to reclaim the land after never being informed about the garden rent.

The 52-year-old said: ‘We didn’t know about this when we bought the house and I believed it was my land.

‘The deeds are tiny and not to scale but because you pay solicitors to do searches and land searches, nothing came up on our end.

‘It’s the first property I ever bought – when you’re buying your house you just expect solicitors to search and highlight that along with any other concerns.

‘Now they want me to pay £140sqm initially. My land is about 100sqm, so about £14,000.

‘All along I’ve said come back to us with a realistic price and we’d look into this.

‘But they have ignored us and not addressed reasonably any questions we’ve put to them.

‘It’s the council’s fault and the solicitors but as its flood land they couldn’t even do anything with it.

‘There’s a disused sewers that runs through this land. You can’t build on it, it’s flood land. By taking it off of us, it’s just spiteful.

‘They’re saying they’re going to take it off of us and leave that land doing nothing.

‘It’s pretty much a whole half of my garden. I wanted to put a little patio area and get a new shed but I won’t be paying for it at the moment with this going on.’

Residents are now having to fork out thousands of pounds to buy back the greenspaces they thought they already owned – with some facing costs of as much as £14,000

Mr Woodhouse has now blasted the ‘spiteful’ council for trying to reclaim the land after never being informed about the garden rent

David said the land was home to various animals and claims the National Wildlife Unit has said it would be a crime to work on the site without surveys.

He added: ‘As far as I know, the National Wildlife Unit have said it would be a crime without surveys being conducted for anyone to remove the hedgerows, trees and borders.

‘So the council are asking us to break the law in telling us to remove our borders.’

The council has offered residents the chance to purchase the land, but many say they can’t afford the extortionate costs which could rack up to over £10,000 for some people.

A rental payment was also offered at nearly £70 a month, but most say they would struggle to meet the costs.

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said she feels like she was being treated like ‘a criminal’ over her own back garden.

She said: ‘I didn’t realise I didn’t own this garden until the council came knocking on the door saying they want to look at my garden.

‘Then I got stung with an £8,000 bill. They have now halved it to £4,000 but that’s still ridiculous.

‘They said it was £100sqm and these gardens are quite big. Their argument is that people have built on them so the land is valuable.

‘I’ve lived here since 2019. It wasn’t picked up on the solicitors’ searches. When you look around a house you assume you’re buying all of it.

‘The way they’ve treated is, it’s like we’re criminals.

‘There was a suggestion we could buy pieces of land from our neighbours, which would create anarchy.

‘I don’t really want to give back this land that I’ve done a lot of work to.

‘It was around £70 a month for rental, that’s like your water bill.

‘I don’t want to pay £4,000 for something I’ve already bought.’

Another resident said he’d owned his home for 26 years but only heard about the land claim in 2023.

He said: ‘I moved in here around January 2000 and I never knew anything about it until about two years ago.

‘The council said they want the bottom half of the garden. It’s about half of the garden.

‘I’m not paying anything, I’ve been here 26 years. I’m ignoring them.

‘The last letter I got is saying they want me to put a fence up half way across my garden and give the land back.

‘I’m not going to be giving anything back.

‘There’s no way they could physically get to it to knock anything down. There’s trees 50 or 60ft high at the bottom of some of the gardens. It’s all established.

‘My attitude is I’ve been here all these years. If they want the fence up they can do it themselves. Why should I pay? It’ll just be wasteland.’

A view of another anonymous residentss garden which they could lose under the council’s orders

Reform councillor Jodie Brown, of Derbyshire County Council, said Erewash Borough Council has treated the residents ‘disgustingly’

Reform councillor Jodie Brown, of Derbyshire County Council, said: ‘I’m trying to get some justification on the price and why they even want the land back.

‘It has no use or purpose to them. It seems like a chance to gain some cash back.

‘They can’t do anything with the land, there’s no access to it. It can’t be built on or used for arable. They’ve got no use for this land. It couldn’t even be used as an allotment.

‘They’ve just treated these residents disgustingly, they haven’t communicated nearly as well as they should.

‘The highest quality farm land is valued around £27 a sqm, they want almost double the best farm land in the country.

‘They’re pirates.’

A spokesperson for Erewash Borough Council said: ‘Erewash Borough Council must manage public assets responsibly to ensure value for all taxpayers.

‘To support Doncaster Grove residents, we have offered flexible options to make their land use official. This includes purchasing at heavily discounted rates, reflecting flood risks and restricted use as well as staged payments, or licensing agreements.

‘We have engaged directly with householders to ensure transparency. Some residents have already accepted these fair terms and are proceeding. There is no obligation to participate; the choice to put their use of the land on a legal footing remains entirely with them.’