ANYONE who wants to put their mark on a new house by giving it a name will be charged £50 under district council plans.

Currently, the service of changing a house name is given free of charge, but the council says this is unfair on the taxpayer and estimates it could raise £8,000 a year under the new plans.

Home owners in Epping are divided on the issue.

Doreen Green, 75, of Hartland Road, whose house is named White Lodge, said: “It seems a bit mean to charge. I can understand if you want to make your mark on the place.

“The house was White Lodge when we arrived. It was a greyish house when we moved in and it’s a creamy colour now, so I think it must have been White Lodge for a long time.”

Derek Jefcoate, 81, of Kendal Avenue, said: “I don’t see why they should charge unless it’s to check that there’s not another house of the same name in the area.”

He named his house Badgers when it was built 28 years ago, after the character from the book Wind in the Willows.

“I used to read it to my son as a bed-time story,” he added. “When it came to naming it, we asked him what he thought and he said we should call it Toad Hall.

“I wasn’t sure, so we went with Badgers.”

Kenneth Hall, 81, also of Kendal Avenue, said he was less fond of his home’s name, Kippen, and had tried to change it to a number when he moved in, but the council refused.

“It’s the name of a village in Scotland where the mother of the woman who lived here before was born,” he said. “I’m always having to send maps to people so they can find it.

“It gets called Kipper or Kitten quite often.”

The council’s cabinet is due to decide whether to introduce the charges at its next meeting on Monday (September 12).

In the meeting’s agenda, the council says the charge would cover administration costs to the council for consulting the emergency services, Royal Mail and town council about the name change and changing its own records.

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