NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

An elderly woman who was told her home would be ‘yours until the day you die’ is now being evicted by her church landlord.

Anne Allsop, 85, has lived in the cottage next to the Presbyterian Church in Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire, for 27 years.

But she was shocked to receive a legal eviction notice telling her she had two months to pack her bags – even though she’s done nothing wrong.

Anne, who has never missed a payment, can’t afford to rent anywhere else in the seaside village, where holiday homes have pushed up prices.

‘I’m sure there are lots of properties out there to let,’ she said. ‘But not one for me. I can’t pay £800-£1,000 a month, there’s no way.

‘I was told, “It’s yours until the day you die.” I’m still waiting to die. I feel bloody mad. I’m very angry. I’m mostly angry by the fact they haven’t told me themselves and they still haven’t told me.

‘I was given a two month notice and I couldn’t believe it. Think about all the things I have accumulated over the last 27 years, two months is nothing.’

Her son Stephen admitted it is ‘100 per cent legal’ but added: ‘Morally, it’s incredibly callous – and even more so considering it’s coming from a church.’

Anne added: ‘Not one person from the church has come to see me or see how I am doing.

‘For all the years that I paid the rent on the dot every month, I kept the garden tidy and then nothing.

‘My son and granddaughter are working hard to find something for me, but they can’t.

‘A lot of houses here are holiday lets, and when they do hear of somewhere for me and look at it, they find that it is a flat two storeys up or it’s a house with stairs in it. I can’t do stairs.’

Anne is staying put for now while she waits for Pembrokeshire County Council to help her find a property.

Stephen added: ‘We were told that the church wanted to put the properties on the market and sell them and there’s nothing they could do about it.’

A church spokesman said: ‘It is of great concern to us that the current housing situation in Wales is in crisis.

‘In this particular situation, unfortunately, the church needed to sell the two houses and notice was served in accordance with the law.

‘As a church we are delighted that we are from time to time able to sell property to housing associations to provide affordable homes.’

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