Norwich City Council owes sums of up to £350 to more than 8,000 households after it emerged it had been wrongfully retaining a fee from Anglian Water.

The authority collects water charges from tenants on behalf of the company as part of rent payments and, until recently, received a commission for doing so.

Nearly a decade ago, it was ruled in the High Court that councils collecting water charges were buying and reselling, rather than acting as an "agent" that can be paid a commission to collect rates.

The legal precedent means that councils with such an arrangement will have to pay money back to tenants.

Norwich City Council collects payments on behalf of Anglian Water (Image: Adrian Judd) In Norwich, the council has identified 8,000 current tenants who are owed a cut of £1.7m it has collected from Anglian Water since 2013, with payments ranging from 9p to £350.

There is an "unknown" number of former tenants who are also owed money.

The council has stressed that it does........

© Norwich Evening News