Our road was bought for £1 - now owner wants to charge us thousands

Residents on an estate in East Sussex are facing charges of thousands of pounds after being told their sheds and home extensions could breach rules set in the 1960s and 1970s.

More than a dozen homeowners received letters in August telling them they needed retrospective permission for alterations under the terms of restrictive covenants on their homes.

The letters were from a firm called Asset Invest Ltd, which bought the title to the land beneath the roads on the former Percy Bilton estate in Bexhill in 2023 for a sum of £1.

Asset Invest Ltd said it was trying to "provide a pragmatic and proportionate route to regularisation, where required".

Stuart Cowley-Wenham, who has lived on the estate for 17 years, said he initially thought the letter was a scam.

After contacting Asset Invest Ltd, the company quoted him £7,750 to give retrospective permission for external fencing, alterations to internal walls and an annexe, and a replacement conservatory, which were granted planning permission in 2006.

"The annexe was built for my partner's parents who had disabilities and we look after rescue dogs, so we had six-foot fencing done but in the title deeds it says that it should be chain link fencing," Cowley-Wenham said.

He claimed the company offered to "knock off a couple of grand" if he could prove the conservatory had permission.

"You feel angry because you've already got planning permission from the council, you've already done everything you should do," he said.

Kathy Bernard, who has lived on the estate for 10 years, also received the initial letter from Asset Invest Ltd, in relation to an extension she had built on her home.

She said she was "very angry and very frightened" and had worried that "they could come in and demolish the extension" which she described as "heartbreaking".

She said others had been quoted figures in the region of £11,500 to remove the covenants completely.

"We don't want to move but my husband is a lot older than me," she said, adding if her husband were to go into a care home she may need to sell her home.

"The last thing I want is my husband in a care home, me at my lowest ebb and [the company] coming after me for £11,500," she said.

The land previously belonged to a national housebuilder, Percy Bilton.

A Land Registry document shows it was transferred to Asset Invest Ltd from a company called Bilton Land Limited, along with 86 other titles, on 10 August 2023 for £1 plus VAT.

The title comes with the right to enforce restrictive covenants in residents' deeds, such as requiring permission to put up a shed.

Restrictive covenants are a relatively common way for a developer to try to preserve the character of an estate.

Asset Invest Ltd's website describes it as specialising in land investments across the UK.

The company's registered director, Fraser Karlsen, told the BBC it had sent the letters to Bexhill residents after receiving enquiries through its website.

He said the firm's involvement "has been entirely in response to being approached by relevant parties, including prospective purchasers, sellers, mortgage lenders, conveyancers, and solicitors".

He said the company did not "actively operate in this area unless requested to do so".

"Any contact with residents has therefore been solely to address matters raised during ongoing transactions, with the aim of reducing the risk of disruption to property sales," he added.

Karlsen said "any financial figures discussed are based on a formal valuation process" in accordance with industry standard guidance set out by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Bernard was not in the process of selling her property when she received her letter and the BBC has been told of nine others who also received letters who were not selling their homes.

The company is registered to a shared office address in London.

Its most recent published accounts, from November 2025, showed it as a dormant company with net assets of £1, although its status is now listed as active.

Karlsen told the BBC the firm was "in the process of addressing administrative matters with HMRC and Companies House" and steps were being taken "to rectify the historical classification of the company as dormant".

Dr Kieran Mullan, the MP for Bexhill and Battle, is working with the residents and will meet with Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook later this month to discuss the issue.

He said covenants had a place but there was a risk that companies "have people over a barrel" and could "exploit that".

The Bexhill residents are now seeking legal advice.

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