02 March 2024 , 11:28
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Four families who have lived in their homes for years face eviction - including a nan who cared for her daughter before she died of cancer.
On one road in Seaforth, Merseyside four separate households received eviction notices from the same landlord - a private housing company called Jonorra. They have been given just 53 days to find new homes. Pat, a long-time resident of the road, moved there to care for her daughter who sadly died of cancer. Now she's bringing up her grandchild in the same house filled with memories, Liverpool Echo reports.
"The landlord knows my daughter passed away, they know I'm looking after my grandchild," she said. "I told them the house holds a lot of memories. It's where I have all my visions of the last days of my daughter. It's cruel what they're doing. They have no compassion."
She broke down in tears crying when recalling trying to explain to her grandchild what is happening, adding: "I couldn't say where we would go. I don't want to raise a child in a hotel." Bill Mitchell, 65, received his eviction letter last week. He has been living in the same house for the past 25 years with his wife Pamela, 63, and their son.
He spends hours tending to his garden that can be seen from their back window. The rest of his time is taken by looking after his wife and son, both of whom have severe mental health issues and physical disabilities. He said: "My wife is in a right state. I've broken down in tears a couple of times. I was speaking to my sister about it and I just had a panic attack. We don't know what we're gonna do."
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Bill, 65 and his neighbour, Michelle, 50 are just some of the neighbours facing eviction (No credit)After receiving the eviction notice, Mr. Mitchell reached out to his landlord immediately. But, he didn't get any more information than what was printed on the letter. He stated: "They didn't even have the decency to knock on the door and tell me. They know what each of us are going through, but they simply don't care."
Landlords can kick out tenants with just two months' notice without giving a reason, which is called a Section 21 eviction. The issue for many families is the lack of available and affordable housing to move to. Last month, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said he would stop landlords from evicting tenants for no reason before the end of this year. To date, nothing is confirmed so uncertainty continues.
Barry and his partner Michelle live down the street with their two children. They both suffer from anxiety, but are happy where they live and say their kids love it. Barry said: "It really is lovely to live around here. We felt safe and secure in the house, the kids feel safe and secure, but that's all been thrown out the window."
Michelle is finding it difficult, however. She shared: "I feel like this situation is going to kill one of us. I'm getting palpitations and I'm having panic attacks. I thought I was going to die last night." She said her daughter just kept saying 'don't cry mummy, don't cry mummy' when the eviction notice came through.
Landlords Jonnora stated they had nothing more to add apart from what's written in the eviction notice given to the four families. In a written statement, they explained: "We realise this will come as a shock to you and we wished to explain why it is occurring.
Bill Mitchell in the garden at his home on Eltham Avenue.(Pic Andrew Teebay). (Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)"We had hoped that the new legislation which is being proposed would give us the flexibility to be able to sell the property if the need arose, it appears that the proposed legislation will not provide this security for us. We envisage that other parts of the new proposed legislation will be very hard to comply with.
"The minimum energy performance of a property for rent is due to be at grade C, having attempted to comply to this with a couple of properties, we realise this would almost be impossible for us to achieve and for it to be viable financially for us to continue to let property legally."
Under the new laws, from 2025, homes that have an EPC rating below 'C' cannot house new tenants. Currently, the minimum threshold is an 'E' rating. A landlord may legally continue to rent a property until 2028, providing it's to an existing tenant - even if the property falls below the new EPC 'C' minimum threshold in 2025. In terms of ratings for Bill's house, he said the current rating is E. The Mirror has contacted Jonorra for comment.