Derby eviction flat tenants 'not going anywhere'

Tenant Alison Breslin (front centre) and Linda Reeves (right) said residents in the flats were like family

Tenants of a block of flats who have been served an eviction notice have said they will refuse to move.

The residents in Mackworth, Derby, have been told to leave so the building can be re-developed and sold.

Tenant Linda Reeves, 66, said fellow tenants were like her family. "I just don't want to move," she said.

Building owner Enabling Homes said they need to financially "move on" the property, but will help tenants find new homes, and pay for moving costs.

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The company wants to develop the nine flats for people with learning or physical disabilities and then sell the building.

Neighbours living nearby came out in the rain to show their support, with one saying the building's owners were "absolutely disgraceful"

On Monday, neighbours living nearby and a local councillor came out in the street to show their support to the residents.

Tenant Alison Breslin said it was "overwhelming" to see. "I'd like to thank them all," she said.

She added: "I'm not going anywhere. If they want to take it to court, we'll fight it still.

"It's a family. I love it and I don't want to move anywhere. I really don't."

Labour councillor Paul Pegg, from Derby City Council, said: "I will fight it all the way. I will fight it until the day the bailiffs and the police come to turn these people out."

Paul O'Rourke, owner of Enabling Homes, said they want to help rehome everyone, and do it "in the most sensitive and caring way possible"

The residents have been sent a Section 21 notice, which asks them to leave by 10 October.

Paul O'Rourke, owner and managing director of Enabling Homes, said: "The letter is the prescribed way to enter into consultation with tenants, but that being said it doesn't mean we have to evict anybody when that date arrives."

He said they bought the building two years ago and sent eviction notices at the time but because people "felt so offended", they put it off.

However, he said they now "need to develop our building, it is what we do as a business".

Mr O'Rouke added: "I'm very, very sorry for the distress it might cause."