Barry mother ‘terrified’ at impending court action
| By MARCUS STEAD
A MOTHER-Of-TWO from Barry who is facing court action by Vale of Glamorgan Council to remove her from the home where she has lived for the last 28 years has spoken of the devastating toll the ordeal has taken on her mental health.
Leanne Everest, 46, moved into the house in Devon Avenue with her mother Diane and grandmother Dorothy in 1994, and her two children, Caitlyn, 21, and Louis, 19, have lived at the property for their entire lives.
Ms Everest is a former nursery nurse who is not in work due to severe anxiety and depression, and shortly after her mother died from pancreatic cancer in February last year at the age of 75, Vale of Glamorgan Council informed her she needed to move because the rules only allowed for one succession per tenancy.
The tenancy had already been passed over when Diane’s mother Dorothy died. Ms Everest insists she has no problem with moving to another council house and has unsuccessfully bid on 13 council properties since her mother’s death.
She rejected a house offered to her by the council in Powis View, Cadoxton due to concerns about crime levels in the neighbourhood and the distance from Barry town centre.
The family does not qualify for the council’s highest priority group for rehousing because they are not in temporary accommodation.
The council has launched legal action to evict Ms Everest and her children from the property, and she says she has received documents saying she and her children must each pay £656.50 when the case goes to court, which begins with a hearing at Cardiff Civil Justice Centre tomorrow, 13th January.
Ms Everest told the press: “I am terrified. I feel like a criminal when I’m not. I really don’t think I’m strong enough mentally to go through with this court case.
“I can’t even begin to say how bad it would be if I have to pay those costs. I only get Universal Credit. “I literally have no spare money at all. My kids are totally confused by it. They’re both just trying to get their way through university.
“It’s heartbreaking that the council are taking my kids to court. I’m crying most days over it.”
A council spokesman said the authority was ‘keenly aware’ of Ms Everest’s situation and was ‘doing all it can to offer a suitable housing solution’.
Ms Everest said she did not know what kind of temporary accommodation the family would be in if they lost the court case: “If we lose the court case we’re homeless. The council said it will find us somewhere temporary because it can’t put us on the streets.
“I’ve not heard a word about what kind of accommodation it will be. It could be anywhere in Vale of Glamorgan and we’ve got to take it, which I find terrifying,” she said.
The day before the court hearing, Ms Everest took to Twitter where she outlined the toll the ordeal had taken on her mental health. She tweeted: “Urgent referral just put in to crisis team …awaiting call from Doctor. Can someone please end this hell I’m going through …I need a break and I need one now !!!”
Two hours later, she tweeted: “So I was feeling calmer last night Today overwhelmed and scared but then the council had to break my heart even more #heartless which has resulted in a F2F [face to face] meeting with the mental health crisis team at a local hospital. Well done @VOGCouncil you have now broken me completely!”
Ms Everest may have legal grounds to remain in her current home under the Rental Homes (Wales) Act 2016.
Section 76 of the Act outlines conditions where a person can remain in a council property if it was the person’s main home at the time of the contract holder’s death.
If Ms Everest was a carer for her late mother during her illness, Section 77 outlines possible grounds for her to take over the tenancy.
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What a desperately sad, cruel story. I hope compassion is shown to this woman struggling to cope through no fault of her own.