FLAT owners who normally pay Bournemouth council between £200 to £250 a year to maintain their blocks were horrified when £2,000 bills arrived on their doormats.

Gardener Danny Vinton, 55, who has owned a former local authority property at Verney Road, East Howe, for 17 years said: “The bills came like a bolt out of the blue, there was no warning whatsoever.

“To say we were shocked is an understatement.”

When the father-of-two, who shares his two-bedroom flat with his 25-year-old daughter Victoria, rang the council he was told he could pay the bill in instalments of £200 a month.

“My work is seasonal and finding that sort of money isn’t easy.

“I know one local resident who is planning to sell up because she can’t afford to pay her bill and another who has had to put her wedding plans on hold.

“An elderly couple have told me it will use up their entire life savings.

“The thing that really annoys us is that the people in the same blocks who haven’t bought their own homes are only facing a £5 a week increase in their rent and they’ve just had new kitchens installed.

“It doesn’t seem fair, particularly because no work has been carried out yet.”

Mr Vinton said he had been told that the “massive” bill would fund exterior painting and work to former coal sheds.

He said: “All the sheds need is a lick of paint and new doors; I can’t see how the council will need to spend thousands of pounds on them.

“We’ve been told that if we don’t pay up by April 20, 2013 we will face legal action.

“It just doesn’t seem right and will mean that I won’t be able to go on holiday or even afford a night out.”

Charity worker Sarah Norris said: “I’ve been on a pay freeze for forever and I’ve suddenly got to find £2,000.

“Why do we pay a maintenance charge when they haven’t done any maintenance?

“I had put the place up for sale anyway. If I get people coming to buy it and they see the maintenance is £2,000 a year, they’re going to say ‘no’.

“I can pay £20 a month. I can’t pay £200.”

Bournemouth council’s housing customer services manager Paul Freeman said leaseholders had been consulted and the planned works included external painting of the whole flat blocks.

He added: “Flat blocks which do not have internal communal facilities or communal gardens traditionally have much lower annual service charges that those blocks with such amenities.

“In years when major works are not carried out service charges are likely to revert to the normal cost that the leaseholders are used to.”