Ellie Haigh’s home in County Durham was petrol-bombed while she slept inside, leaving it uninhabitable – yet she is still being made to pay council tax on it
A young woman’s County Durham home was petrol-bombed while she was asleep inside, leaving it uninhabitable.
Ellie Haigh, 26, woke to find her three-bedroom Newton Aycliffe home on fire after a brick and a petrol bomb were thrown into her living room. The accounts manager said the attack, which caused more than £50,000 in fire and smoke damage, was the result of mistaken identity.
Ellie said: “I went to bed really early because I was going to the gym in morning. I’d been asleep for an hour, and I woke up to the sound of men’s voices near the house at around 8pm. I looked out the window, and I saw neighbour I recognised walking towards the house.
“I ran down and I was stood in the doorway, and I had tunnel vision. The whole street were stood there shouting at me telling me to get out the house saying it was going to blow. I looked to my left, and the window was smashed through, and the house was on fire.”
The attack took place on the evening of March 5. Police have since closed the case after failing to charge anyone in connection with the incident.
Ellie said: “I had a chat with the police officer, and they did a joint investigation with the fire service. The insurance has written everything off. The kitchen wasn’t on fire, but the smoke damage has ruined everything.
“All my clothes have to be disposed of. Carpets ripped up. The guys who came to visit have said without it burning it down it’s bad as it could possibly be because of the smoke damage.”
She is now waiting for insurers to begin rebuilding work, which she said could take six months, explaining that three independent companies must assess the damage before the insurers select one to carry out the repairs.
“The house is really sentimental – it was my grandma’s,” she said. “I bought the house off my mum, and I spent the last year renovating and then this happened. I’d renovated the house and had two tenants due to move in in March before this happened. My partner and I were due to move into another house we were going to renovate.”
Despite being unable to live in the property, Ellie is still paying council tax. She claims Durham County Council declined her request for exceptional circumstances due to her high salary and removed her 25% single-occupancy discount because the property is empty.
Ellie said: “I was under the impression that when things like this happen, the council would support you. I’ve written to the valuation office, and I’ve appealed it about five times and they said they can’t remove it for uninhabitable properties.
“If the roof isn’t watertight then you can get an exemption, but because it is I can’t get it, even though everything else is broken. I’ve written to my MP; councillors and they all can’t believe it. I’ve had an email from the police saying legally I can’t live in the property as it’s unsafe, but the council don’t care. We just never expected to be paying two mortgages and two sets of bills, but now we are.”
Victoria Murray, Durham County Council’s head of transactional and customer services, said: “We fully appreciate the difficult position Ms Haigh has found herself in and sympathise entirely with her situation.
“While we are not able to comment on individual cases, we understand Ms Haigh has contacted the Valuation Office Agency to see if she can be exempt from paying council tax on the property due to its condition.
“We have also advised Ms Haigh to contact her insurance company as her policy may cover her council tax liability. We will continue to work closely with Ms Haigh and support her as best we can.”
