Birmingham council accidentally signed away a primary school worth millions in a £395,000 house sale

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 6 October 2026.

Birmingham City Council's conveyancer approved the wrong contract in 2013, giving care-home boss Sukhjit Bains legal title to George Dixon Primary School along with a three-bedroom semi he had purchased at auction for £395,000. Bains, 50, had no idea the mistake had occurred for more than a decade, only discovering the situation last year after the council reached out to him seeking the school's return. A legal expert who reviewed the documents described it as 'the most incredible legal cock-up I can recall' in 40 years of practice. The blunder came to light when the school looked into applying for academy status.

The wrong type of contract was submitted by Bains's solicitor and then countersigned by the council's own conveyancer, who failed to notice the mistake.

Bains is, in principle, legally entitled to evict the teachers and pupils of George Dixon Primary School and put the multi-million-pound site on the market.

The school sits next to the house — originally constructed as a caretaker's cottage — which is why both properties were captured in the same conveyancing paperwork.