AN ELDERLY woman has slammed Redbridge Council as “utterly disgusting” for charging her more than £200 after she fixed her leaky home.

Maisie Graham, 78, of Harpenden Road, Aldersbrook, spent £5,000 replacing her roof as it had a serious leak.

The mum-of-one then received a letter from Redbridge Council saying that as she lived in a conservation area she should have sought permission before work started.

A planning officer inspected the new tiled roof and gave it the all clear – but then days later Mrs Graham received a bill for £229.29.

She said: “At first they said that I should have bought a slate roof but I said I couldn't afford one and there are lots of houses with red tile roofs on my street.

“The man came around and said it was all OK but then a fine arrived as I had not asked permission in the first place.”

And Mrs Graham, who lives alone with her faithful dog Anny, said she was already at the breadline from the initial expense.

She added: “After I paid for the roof I only had £12.20 in my bank account and had to borrow money from a friend to live.

“I had been saving up for years for a holiday for years but that's not going to happen now.

“I think it's utterly disgusting that the council should charge me for getting my roof fixed even though there's nothing wrong with it.”

A Redbridge Council spokesman said: "Redbridge Council has not fined Mrs Graham but has asked her to apply for retrospective consent under building regulations

"After the Council discovered the work had been completed without consent we wrote to Mrs Graham on April 14, having no reply we wrote again on May 18 and June 11 and arranged to visit the property. "We visited the site on 18 June and assessed the works which we found required consent under building regulations. "The officer who visited explained this to Mrs Graham and left her with a form for retrospective consent explaining that this type of application costs £228.69 to process. "Had Mrs Graham applied for this consent before the work had taken place then the charge would have been £219.16."