Tory leader hears of pensioner's plight

IPSWICH pensioner Patricia Bagley's plight has been raised with the leader of the opposition, Michael Howard.

Ipswich Conservative hopeful Paul West has written to Mr Howard, sending details of Miss Bagley's battle to remain in her home of 53 years after her mother died.

Miss Bagley was told by Ipswich council that she would have to leave her Turner Road home because the tenancy had already been transferred once within the family and couldn't be transferred again.

Mr West has written to Mr Howard highlighting what he sees as an anomaly in housing law which says a tenancy cannot be transferred within a family more than once.

The tenancy was transferred to Miss Bagley's mother May when her father Len died a few years ago.

When Mrs Bagley died in August the council wrote to say it could not be transferred again – and the letter arrived on Miss Bagley's doorstep just four days after her mother's death.

Now the case has been taken up by new council housing spokeswoman Liz Harsant who has asked for a review of the rule on tenancy transfers.

She said: "We are aware that there may be cases where it is inappropriate to transfer tenancies, but there needs to be an element of common sense.

"There needs to be safeguards against a situation where a family member moves back to the house just before the death of their parent in the hope of claiming the tenancy.

"This was patently not the situation in Miss Bagley's case – she has lived in the house for 53 years and it should be possible for the council to recognise that."

The case is now being reviewed and Mrs Harsant hoped that eventually a satisfactory outcome could be reached.

Do you think Miss Bagley should stay in her home? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk