Tenant hit by eviction notice after house row

A LADY and laird have been ordered to carry out thousands of pounds worth of repairs to damp-riddled cottages on their Scottish estate.

Christine De La Rue and her son, Henry Liddell-Grainger, were shamed by their tenants, who were forced to complain to a government housing tribunal about the state of the properties.

They were taken to the Private Rented Housing Panel (PRHP) by Lisa Wright and Alex Whitehead after their pleas for the work on their homes on the 6,000 acre Ayton Castle estate in Berwickshire, were ignored for months.

Following a hearing in nearby Eyemouth, repairing standard enforcement orders were imposed, giving Liddell-Grainger and De La Rue six weeks to carry out the repairs or face the possibility of prosecution.

The landlords were furious they had been reported to the Glasgow-based panel and issued Miss Whitehead with an eviction notice shortly after she highlighted a catalogue of faults with her two-bedroom cottage.

Liddell-Grainger's estate factor, Doug Niven, told the hearing the landlord intended to sell a few properties, which was why Miss Whitehead had been served with the eviction notice.

However, the women believe they face the prospect of being homeless as revenge for raising their grievances with the panel, which was established by the Scottish Government under the Housing Scotland Act 2006 to give private tenants a means of forcing landlords to do necessary repairs to rented houses.

They believe their predicament shows a flaw in the new legislation as tenants on short, assured tenancies are not protected from landlords issuing eviction notices if they dare highlight the poor condition of their properties.

The panel's orders gave a deadline of 16 May for the work to be done. If they are ignored, the PRHP would inform the local authority which has the power to carry out the work and charge it to the landlord.