Man who purchased three-bed house discovers he owns total faculty value thousands and thousands

The wrong type of contract is beleived to have caused the issue

A businessman was left stunned when he bought a house at auction – and had a free primary school thrown in for free. Sukhjit Bains purchased a three-bed home for £395,000 from Birmingham City Council but got more than he bargained for, when a paperwork mix-up made him the owner of a school.

The mix-up came about after his solicitor sent the wrong type of contract when he was finalising the paperwork to confirm purchase of the house which mistakenly included the school in Birmingham recently. Not only was the initial error not noticed, but the whole thing was then rubber-stamped by the council’s conveyancer who hadn’t noticed the error.

So as well as his semi-detached house, Mr Bains was also handed ownership of George Dixon Primary School and no one noticed until more than 10 years later when the bungling council had to call him and ask for the school back.

The incredible cock-up means that Mr Bains is entitled to evict the teachers and pupils and sell the site for millions or even demolish the school.

A legal expert who has examined papers related to the case told the Daily Mail : “I don’t think I’ve ever come across anything like this in 40 years. It’s the most incredible legal cock-up I can recall.”

Mr Bains, who runs a care provider firm called NH Care Ltd, is thought to have been unaware of the huge property bonus his company had been given when he bought the property at auction in 2013.

He, along with the company’s two other directors, only found out when the council contacted him to ask for it back last year.

The house which Mr Bains bought during the mishap is on Fountain Road in the suburb of Edgbaston, in Birmingham, and its rear garden backs on to playing fields at the school. It was originally built as a cottage for the school’s caretaker, which is how the mistake occurred.

The school and house are both registered under the same land registry number and the form which was used, a TR1, only transfers all of the property registered under a number, which caused the mix up.

The mistake came to light a decade later when the school considered applying for academy status. When the situation was put to Mr Bains he initially agreed to give the school back – but later stopped replying to the council and declined to sign paperwork sent to him.

It is believed parents of the children currently studying at George Dixon are believed to remain unaware of the incredible mistake which happened 13 years ago and only came to light recently and now a legal fight has begun between Mr Bains and the council.

Birmingham City Council, which infamously went bankrupt in 2023, say they have now initiated legal action to get ownership of the school back. The council says Mr Bains has not answered to phone calls, letters and their officers have been unable to track him down in person despite repeatedly turning up at his office.

Birmingham have now issued proceedings against Mr Bains’ company and Lloyds Bank, his lender, at the High Court in London, demanding the formal return of the school. They have also clarified that neither the school nor its playing fields could be sold without the consent of the Secretary of State.

It was then converted into a children’s home and used by the council in that capacity before it was finally closed and sold to Mr Bains in 2013.

Despite Mr Bains operating other care homes in Birmingham and Leicester, the house has remained empty and is now boarded up and is currently vacant.

A spokesman for Birmingham said: “The council is pursuing the appropriate legal process to rectify the position. As the matter is currently the subject of ongoing legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

A solicitor for Mr Bains pointed out that the 2013 property transfer was to his company NH Care Limited, and not to him as an individual.

Lloyds Bank has been contacted.