FURIOUS homeowners attended an emergency public meeting last night to fight demands from their new “landlord”.

There was standing room only as 150 residents from the “racecourse estate” in Little Lever packed into Christ Church Methodist church hall, in Mytham Road.

Residents have been issued with demands for payment for six years’ worth of ground rent.

They are also being charged for retrospective planning consent for making alterations to their homes, such as building an extension or putting up a satellite dish.

Letters were sent to hundreds of people living on the large estate — regardless of whether they have already paid ground rent or received permission.

And the message at last night’s meeting was that residents should not hand over any cash if they have paid the balance.

Councillor Sean Hornby, who organised the meeting, said: “If you are in arrears and you know you are in arrears, please pay your ground rent up to date. If you are not in arrears, the advice is to do nothing.”

He explained the problems had started when a new company, Drake Hall Limited, acquired the ground rent element of their properties.

Bolton-based Landmark Collections Ltd are acting as agents, collecting the annual ground rent and checking for breaches to the leases.

At the meeting, Paul Richardson told residents he had been researching the director of both companies, Mark Hawthornthwaite.

He believed Mr Hawthornthwaite plans to buy ground rents worth £30 million this year and fears ground rents could be increased dramatically.

He said: “He isn’t spending all this money buying the freeholds to get £15 a year. He’s talking serious money, £30 million worth of ground rents is a lot of money.”

Residents reported being offered a 50 per cent discount to buy the freehold to their homes in January. Whereas freeholds can normally be purchased for 20 to 30 times the annual ground rent, they said it would have cost them 69 times their usual £15 rent.

Cllr Hornby read a statement from the Leasehold Advisory Service, which, he said, had offered to provide free legal advice for all the residents.

It suggested Landmark Collections could not claim residents had breached their lease for any alterations made to their properties before they took over the freehold.

Chris Peacock, senior case worker for Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South East, said: “Because they bought these properties with the extensions already there, there is an argument they should have known about them and can’t charge for breaches now.

“I am shocked by some of the things that have been said. Your deeds say you have to get permission for any major work, but I dispute that a satellite dish is a major work.”

One female resident said: “We are all waiting for the charges. How much is a conservatory? How much is a satellite dish?”

People living on the estate now hope to form a residents’ association to fight the charges being made by Landmark Collections.

Cllr Hornby said he would continue working with the Leasehold Advisory Service and contact Bolton Council’s solicitors to see if they can help.

He added: “People are very concerned and the best way to respond is collectively. This is the only way we can respond.”

It is understood that neither Mr Hawthornthwaite, nor a representative from either of his companies, attended the meeting.