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78-year-old social housing tenant evicted for hoarding habit (18 November 2014)

Date: 18/11/2014
Duncan Lewis, Housing Solicitors, 78-year-old social housing tenant evicted for hoarding habit

A social housing tenant who hoarded refuse and was “aggressive” towards housing officers has been evicted by North Hertfordshire Homes (NHH) after fifty years of living at his property.

Online publisher 24 Dash.com reports that 78-year-old Wilf James collected rubbish to such an extent that it posed a fire hazard at his Letchworth home. It is alleged he was also “aggressive” towards NHH’s staff.

Mr James had made efforts to clear the refuse from his home but because of his aggressive behaviour, NHH decided to evict him from the property.

On Friday (14/11/14) at Stevenage District Court, a judge ruled that he must leave the property – and dissolved an order that had suspended the eviction.

NHH’s legal representative said:

“It is not just a problem of hoarding, but the threatening and aggressive behaviour of Mr James to our staff.

“He has posted numerous statements on his website in which he threatened to kill our staff and employees from social services.

“He has also said he can understand why people go on shooting sprees.”

Mr James claims, however, that the housing provider had hired an electrician to “find faults” in the wiring of the property. He claims that on 25 July 2013, four people arrived at his home and demanded to see the electrical wiring.

“They were sent there to deliberately find fault, but there is nothing wrong with the system,” Mr James alleged.

Director of operations at NHH, Victoria Hisgrove, said the housing provider had “persistently” tried to help Mr James manage his tenancy, but he was not able to work with NHH.

“This is a very sad situation and we will continue to work with the agencies supporting him,” she said.

Duncan Lewis Housing Solicitors

Duncan Lewis housing solicitors are one of the UK’s leading providers of Legal Aid services and can advise social housing tenants on a wide range of housing matters, including:

• Disrepair
• Housing Benefit
• Housing possession
• Landlord &Tenant disputes
• Local Authority housing
• Nuisance neighbours
• Unlawful or malicious eviction.

For expert legal advice on housing law and social housing disputes, call Duncan Lewis housing solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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