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AFTER almost 55 years living in the house in Pewsey where she was born Angelina Britten fears she and her son Gary will be asked to leave.

Her landlords Sarsen Housing Association have told her they cannot legally let her continue the tenancy of her mother Gaby Britten who died on Monday.

The last hope for Miss Britten to stay in her home is if Sarsen agrees to bend the rules and let her remain.

Miss Britten, 54, was born at 16 Slater Road that her parents had moved into when it was new, shortly before her birth.

It was a council house and until 1975 they paid their rent to the Pewsey Rural District Council and then to Kennet District Council.

Sarsen has since taken over the social housing responsibility from Kennet and Mrs Britten was paying £82 a week for the three-bedroom house.

Originally her father Jim, who died in 1922, was the tenant and Mrs Britten became the successor tenant. Sarsen told the Gazette that the law permitted only one succession so Miss Britten was not legally entitled to have her name on the rent book.

A Sarsen spokeswoman said: "The law states that succession cannot pass twice."

Miss Bitten, however, said she believed Sarsen could make the tenancy over to her or install her technically as a new tenant if they wished.

Constituency MP Michael Ancram said he had previously written to Sarsen on behalf of Miss Britten and been told that succession could only happen once by law.

However the MP said he would be taking up the issue again and hoped Sarsen would find a way of allowing Miss Britten and her son Gary, 27, to remain in their home.

Mr Ancram said: "I will certainly be arguing with them that on a humanitarian basis Miss Britten should be allowed to take over the tenancy."

The Sarsen spokeswoman said the association was desperately short of three bedroom homes especially in the Pewsey area. She said: "We have a duty to make sure we house the right sized families in the right sized homes."

She added that Miss Britten and her son would not be evicted but would be re-homed.

Gary Britten said he and his mother had been told previously by Sarsen that they would be split up and found separate places to live in.

Miss Britten said: "I have spent all my life caring for people. I spent 31 years working with people with learning difficulties, including at the old Pewsey Hospital.

"Since then I have had to care for my mother who had Alzheimer's."

She said her parents had never been able to afford to buy the house but had paid its value many times in the rent they had paid over the years.

11:57am Thursday 31st January 2008

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