Always read the small print: The extraordinary case of the bungling council that sold a run down semi for £395k… and threw in a school worth millions by mistake when the solicitor ‘signed the wrong form’
A conveyancing error meant that when Sukhjit Bains’s company bought a house from Birmingham City Council for £395,000 in 2013, the sale documents also transferred ownership of George Dixon Primary School. The mistake matters because the school serves hundreds of children and the council has had to take legal action to recover the site.
The house was once the school caretaker’s cottage, and its garden backs on to the school’s playing fields. The error came to light when the school considered becoming an academy; Bains initially agreed to return it but later did not sign the paperwork, according to the council. Birmingham has brought proceedings against his company and Lloyds Bank, while saying the school and fields cannot be sold without the Secretary of State’s consent.
- A £395,000 house sale accidentally included a primary school.
- The school has 324 pupils.
- Birmingham City Council is seeking its return through the High Court.
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In 2013, Birmingham City Council sold a house to a property company owned by Sukhjit Bains for £395,000. Due to an error in the conveyancing documents—the legal paperwork that transfers property ownership—the sale also transferred ownership of George Dixon Primary School. The house had been the school caretaker's cottage and its garden backs onto the school's playing fields.
The school continues to serve hundreds of children. The error only came to light when the school considered converting to academy status. Under UK law, state schools cannot be sold without the Secretary of State's permission, making the transfer unlawful.
When the error emerged, Bains agreed to return the school but later did not complete the necessary paperwork. The council has consequently brought legal proceedings to recover the school, naming both Bains's company and Lloyds Bank as defendants.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The fundamental principle is that contracts are binding and legally transferable assets cannot be unilaterally reclaimed based on one party's mistake. If the conveyancing documents transferred the school, that transfer was valid—the buyer is not responsible for the council's solicitor's error. Expecting someone to surrender property of substantial value because of another party's negligence undermines contract certainty and property rights.
The case against
A school serving hundreds of children is not an ordinary commercial asset; common sense and good faith must apply where the error is obvious and the buyer himself initially agreed to return it. His refusal to later execute the return documents represents opportunistic exploitation of an administrative mistake. The law recognises that strict contractual formalism divorced from fairness produces unjust outcomes, particularly when essential public services are at stake.