The borough council is acting against a court judgement in demanding money from the owners of ex-council houses who sell them for re-development, a home-owner claimed this week.

Victor Gregory, who owns a former council property in Borehamwood, is challenging the council's policy of seeking cash when it is asked to alter the covenant on a property it once owned.

Two years ago a law lord at the Court of Appeal ruled that a different council had acted unlawfully in demanding money from a former tenant who sought its consent for re-development.

Hertsmere Borough Council this week said that it had sought legal advice after the court decision, and had decided to continue negotiating payments for altering covenants.

Mr Gregory, of Gateshead Road, said: "I think it is a disgraceful state of affairs considering that a decision has been reached in the Court of Appeal."

His complaints relate to the council's policy towards covenants it holds on properties which were sold under Right to Buy legislation to be used only as single dwellings.

If the owner of such a property wants to re-develop the site or sell it for re-development, they must ask the council to release or modify the covenant.

Mr Gregory is concerned that, with so much development taking place in Borehamwood, many home-owners could be affected by the council's policy.

Last year the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions told him he could use the Court of Appeal's decision to mount a challenge if he decided to sell his home to a developer and the council asked him for a share of the sale value.

One home-owner, Len Cork, was asked by the council and Ridgehill Housing Association to pay £45,000 for the release of the covenant on his Borehamwood home in 1998.

He refused and was subsequently asked to pay £25,000, which he did, despite the fact that this was ten per cent of total amount he got from the sale.

Mr Cork said: "I felt like I had been robbed these are public bodies and I could not believe that they would do this."

He was later advised that, because he bought the house before the Right to Buy legislation in 1985, the Court of Appeal's ruling did not apply in his case.

A council spokesperson said: "The council looks at each case on its merits and examines the proposals for each particular premises."

Ridgehill Housing Association last week confirmed that, through the council, it would seek a share of any money made from the sale of any of its former properties to a developer.