Entire street in Weaverham handed eviction notices with two months to find new homes

ITV Granada Reports correspondent Anna Youssef met some of the residents facing eviction from their homes in Weaverham

An entire street of renters, some as old as 88, have been handed no-fault evictions by their non-profit landlord, forcing them to find a new home within two months.

At least 10 homes on Lake House Close in Weaverham, Cheshire, were handed eviction notices, after the owners of the properties found they were "not being used for its intended purpose".

Cedar Care Group, a "community interest company" that "does not trade for profit", said the properties are meant to be used as social/supported housing.

Residents on the street have said the news has had a "terrible impact" on the community, with eviction notices being handed to two 88-year-olds, a single parent who lost her fiancé, and the father of a three-year-old girl.

Alison Simpson, 56, lives next door to her 88-year-old mother Doreen. Both have been sent eviction notices and will have to find somewhere to live by 12 May.

Alison said: "We have no idea where we will go. I’m trying to put myself aside and worry about my mum.

"She’s so upset that she’s crying all the time. Neither of us are eating properly and we’re not sleeping properly.

"We both have bad hearts, and this could just push my mum too far."

Her mother Doreen Barker-Lamb, 88, has lived in her property for 11 years, and says the eviction notice felt like a "bomb" through the door.

She said: "It was like a bomb. It was as if there was nothing else there at all, only me sat there and it just wouldn't go in.

"I thought how can I get out, where can I go? It's just heart-stopping, it really is.

"I couldn't speak after that for ages. It's a horrible horrible sickness and it's still there now the sick feeling. And I have angina so it could of been worse than it was."

Doreen does not know what will happen if she is evicted, she said: "Where could I go? I can't have stairs, I have to have a downstairs toilet.

"There's nothing in the council, they've got nothing.

"I can't see properly out of one eye, I can see, but the eye doesn't move because I had a cancer removed from it. But I can't walk very well.

"I can toddle round to the shops and that's another thing, if I go somewhere else I'm not going to get anything like this near the doctors, near the shops that I can get to."

A few doors down, 88-year-old Alan moved to Lake House Close to be closer to his son, Jonathon.

Jonathon said: "I was there when the letter came through and - bearing in mind his health conditions - I wasn’t prepared to tell him at the time.

"I still haven’t told him because he suffers from heart failure, stage four kidney disease, he’s on 13 tablets a day to keep him going.

"The company states quite clearly on its website that it provides accommodation for the elderly, but on the other hand they are prepared to make the elderly effectively homeless. It doesn’t make the slightest sense."

Cedar Care Group acquired the properties in March 2023. The firm said it does "realise a few tenants are vulnerable considering their old age," and has asked for referral forms to be submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council to allow those residents to stay "under the supported housing provision."

Another resident, a single-mother called Sam, moved to Lake House Close with her three-year-old child after her fiancé passed away.

She said: “It’s disgusting and immoral the way people have been treated and by a social enterprise which has the word ‘care’ in its name. Completely uncaring is more accurate.”

Labour MP for Weaver Vale, Mike Amesbury, is calling for the Section 21 notices to be withdrawn.

Residents have also reported issues of damp and broken hot water systems that have not been repaired since Cedar Care Group took over the properties.

Letting agent Next Move 4 U said the landlord "has the right to have his property back" and that "it is his property, not theirs."

In a separate letter to residents the agent said: "Failure to comply with this notice will result in a possession order being issued and finally we may have to instruct bailiffs."

Julie Marsland, Managing Director of letting agent Next Move 4 U, said: "The landlord has the right to have his property back. It is his property, it’s not theirs.

"We do understand the stress a Section 21 notice can cause; it’s not something we delight in doing or want to do, but if the landlord needs his property back, the landlord should be able to get his property back.

"We do understand the vulnerability of quite a few of the people, but I’m not the old owner or the new landlord, we just run a letting agency in Worsley putting tenants in properties and selling properties.

"Obviously, we didn’t know when we gave the notices out, the situation of the tenants or how old they were. I know quite a few of them have been in touch with Cedar Care Group direct, and Cedar Care Group has responded to them and explained to them why they want possession of the property."

Mrs Marsland's husband, fellow director Alan Marsland, said: "The previous registered provider had put the wrong type of tenants in there.

"They should have been tenants that required some support from the local council. Technically, all the tenants in there are what would be termed as ‘private tenants'.

"These properties also require extensive works. I would suggest in the region of £35,000 a property. A couple of the properties are terrible places that have been let go to neglect, and you can’t do the work required while people are in there."

A Cheshire West and Chester Council spokesperson said: "These properties are not owned by the council and there are no council tenants living in this accommodation. As yet we haven’t been contacted by Cedar Care Group about these properties.

"The council expects that the landlord will manage the eviction process sensitively, taking account of any vulnerable people, and providing the necessary time and support for them to secure alternative accommodation.

In a situation where the tenants are at risk of homelessness within 56 days, the council has a duty to act and support tenants to secure suitable alternative accommodation.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “Our landmark Renters (Reform) bill is progressing through Parliament. It will deliver a fairer private rented sector for both responsible tenants and good-faith landlords.

“The Bill will abolish section 21 evictions – giving people more security in their homes and empowering them to challenge poor practices.”

A spokesperson for Cedar Care Group said: "As a CIC (Community Interest Company) it is Cedar Care Group's intention, as a social housing provider, to do good and to help those in need as identified by the local authority as requiring additional support.

"The properties are not full life homes. They are transitional; that is they must only be occupied by vulnerable individuals being helped in their journey back to social normality."The current and recent occupants of Lake House Close, who are actually classified as private tenants, do not and have not fallen into those local authority recognised social categories, and in offering them the properties, previous landlords were in breach of lease conditions. They should never have been living there. This is a matter of deep regret."Furthermore, in taking on the properties on Lake House Close, Weaverham, on March 6, 2023, it became apparent to Cedar Car Group CIC that those properties had been subject to a systemic lack of maintenance by previous landlords, prior to Cedar Care Group CIC's leases acquisition, making many of them unacceptable for habitation."We will be refurbishing and updating these properties, and if current residents are deemed to require support by the Local Authority, then they will be able to move back in and we will support them with their housing needs. The rents, which are local authority regulated, will not be increased following refurbishment."Part of our reason for being is to help transitional occupants to move on and up, whether it be facilitating rent or costs support, or actually finding their next home. We cannot and will not make people homeless and have been working with partners to ensure residents' future safeguarding. As such, we are and have been in conversation with the residents and are encouraging the local authority to work with us to resolve these issues as a matter of urgency."

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