A WOMAN is locked in battle with Worcestershire County Council over a £92,000 repair bill for a collapsed retaining wall outside a home she is buying for her 83-year-old mum.

Caroline Overton, of Malvern, is in the process of buying her elderly mum, who currently lives in Bristol, a home close to hers.

Having had an offer for the ideal new home on West Malvern Road accepted last May, a pavement retaining wall collapsed a couple of weeks later.

Mrs Overton said the current owners were told by their solicitors and insurance providers that as the pavement retaining wall belonged to the council, it should pay for the repairs.

“The legal department from the council disagreed and this was the start of the dispute,” she explained.

“As we loved this house and cannot find anything else in Malvern that is correct for our needs we agreed to wait and have been doing so ever since.”

In January, Mrs Overton said the council did repair the wall, “because the pavement missing was a public safety issue, which they have a duty of care to”.

However, she said they then asked the homeowners to pay the hefty repair bill because, despite what solicitors and insurers say, “they still do not believe they own the wall”.

Mrs Overton has been told she may be liable for the bill if she goes ahead with the purchase, despite the repairs having been completed prior to her owning the property.

Her attempts to secure a letter from the council’s legal team assuring that if they purchased the house they would not have to foot the repair bill have fallen on deaf ears, she claims.

She said: “This dispute has put a lot of strain and cost on [the current owners], my 83-year-old mother, ourselves and the people trying to purchase my mum's house in Bristol.”

The sale was due to be completed on Tuesday (April 3), with the rest of the process having been completed.

Mrs Overton said she has two adopted children, aged eight and four, and her home does not have the space to accommodate another person.

However, her mum is “desperately lonely”, her husband having died last January, and Mrs Overton says her travelling to Bristol twice a week to see her is not sustainable in the long term.

“My mum's health is not as good as it was, and I would really like to be able to look after her on a daily basis rather than her living over 60 miles away,” she added.

A council spokesperson said: "We are speaking to the homeowner about this matter. We hope to find a resolution soon that everyone is happy with. As this is a legal matter, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."