Elderly residents have accused a council of “bullying” them by trying to make them pay as much as £13,700 to reach their own houses.

And now Shepway District Council is threatening to block the access altogether unless the dispute is resolved.

Three couples and a widow living in Green Lane, Hythe, use two bridges over a dyke to get to their four bungalows.

This means crossing over council-owned land, which had a charge of just over £1 a year for all four households under a 1950s lease but, now that lease has expired Shepway is trying to charge each household £500 a year rent or a one-off payment of £13,700 for permanent access.

One resident, Sue Page, 61, said: “I would call this bullying and intimidation. You don’t dare to even go out because you wonder even if the bridge will be lifted when we come back.

“It is a nightmare, it has cause us sleepless nights.”

Most of the residents, aged from their 60s to 80s, have health problems such as disability from industrial injury, osteoarthritis and heart condition. One is a cancer survivor.

The four homes, plus a fifth, had been under a 50-year lease, from January 1957, to have access through the land, owned by the then Hythe Borough Council, for a guinea (£1.05) a year between them. That would be a rent of 21p each per year in modern decimal currency but Shepway became landowners after replacing the borough council in 1974 and the lease expired in January 2007.

The fifth household bought a permanent right of access from the council for £12,500 in 2011.

In April 2014 Shepway wrote to the remaining householders saying it wanted to charge them. The high price demanded was based on soaring land prices since the 1950s and following advice from chartered surveyors.

But the sums expected have yo-yoed.

The independent surveyors recommended a charge of £13,300 each in October 2013.

That April (2014) the council had asked for £25,000 each, plus £250 council costs, but that sum was reduced to £13,330 by December 2014 after protests from the residents.

By last April the council agreed to bring the permanent charge down to £12,500, but then last month pushed up the figure to £13,700.

Finally in a letter to Mr Lawrence on December 9 the council said: “SDC has a legislative duty to gain best value for any disposal of SDC land.

“Unless we do not hear from you in a positive manner within the next seven days SDC will consider its options, which may include looking at ceasing access to your clients’ properties.”

Shepway council’s behaviour has been “disgraceful,” and “profiteering” says a professional land valuer.

Tim Lawrence, of Lawrence and Co, working for the householders, said the council had no right to charge so much.

In a letter to Mrs Page last March, Mr Lawrence, from the Hythe High Street firm of chartered surveyors, said it was “disgraceful” that Shepway had asked for £25,000 the previous April explaining: “This was six months after an independent (and separate) firm had advised the council of a figure of £13,330.”

He wrote to the residents: “Nether the sum proposed of £13,330 nor £500 per annum are considered either fair or reasonable.

“These figures are just disproportionate.

“Since Shepway District Council is no longer responsible for controlling the ditch (that would now be done by the Environment Agency) perhaps instead of pursuing a policy of profiteering without result it would be better to reach agreement with the owners of all the properties concerned with more affordable terms.

“I consider that a reasonable sum for a permanent easement [use of someone else’s land] in each case would be £1,000, plus the council’s reasonable costs.”

Shepway officers, in correspondence to Mrs Page, have rejected Mr Lawrence’s comments.

They told her that she, having bought her bungalow in spring 2006, should have been aware that new arrangements would have to be made once the 1957 lease expired. The charges would have to reflect present prices.

The council said there was no explanation to justify a charge of just £1,000.

Cllr Philip Martin, Shepway cabinet member for property management, said: “This matter has been ongoing for some time now and the council is trying in earnest to come up with a resolution.

"The owners at Green Lane were granted the right to construct and use bridges over the council’s land by way of a lease from 1957. The lease term came to an end in 2007 leaving the owners without formal access rights across the council’s land.

“It is standard procedure when a lease runs out that the land or rights to use that land are revalued to ensure that the council is obtaining best value for all of its residents.

“The council followed procedure and obtained a valuation from an independent surveyor and three options were put to the householders.

“These options were a one-off charge for a permanent right of way across the land of £13,300, a £500 annual lease or if these options were unaffordable putting a charge on the property.

“Shepway council has also offered on several occasions to take this matter to third party arbitration which has been declined by Mr Lawrence.

“The council does not typically grant rights over its land for less than market value and has a duty to its local taxpayers to seek best value.”