A recently bereaved pensioner is being forced to move from her home and has been left “absolutely petrified” after a housing association threatened to evict her from the property she’s lived in for over 30 years.
Grandmother Maureen Brum, 79, was sent an email in November 2024 by Notting Hill Genesis, giving her notice to quit the family home in Feltham and rejecting her application for discretionary tenancy – despite her providing ample evidence that it is her much-loved home.
Her daughter Lisa has now launched a petition and garnered the support of her MP and local councillor, with 48,000 people signing in support of Ms Brum, who has been described as a “local icon” within the west London community.
While the housing group has now offered Ms Brum a discretionary tenancy, it is only if she downsizes and moves to a different unknown location, which her family say will prove “devastating” for her.
“What they don’t seem to understand is that this isn’t just a house, it’s her home,” her daughter Lisa said. “She’s lived there for 30 years. If they move her, she will go back to her home. She will try to put her key in the door, and when it doesn’t work, she will be frightened and confused.”
In 1993, the Brum family moved to the three-bedroom property operated by NHG, then known as Notting Hill Housing, with Lisa and her brother Jay remaining there throughout their teenage years.
Sadly, their father died in 2007 of bladder cancer and with Jay suffering with his mental health, they placed the tenancy in his name in order to ensure that he would be able to remain there in the event of his mother’s death.
However, Jay sadly passed away in 2021. A grieving Ms Brum completed the necessary paperwork within a matter of weeks to apply for tenancy succession, so she could live there with her grandson.
“The grounds are pretty simple – you prove that you’ve lived there and your relation to the person who was a tenant,” her daughter Lisa said. Despite dealing with her grief, Ms Brum supplied the relevant information but failed to hear anything back from NHG for the following three years.
Soon after she received an email regarding a kitchen floor repair last October, she was sent an email with a notice to quit, which is similar to an eviction notice and is used for periodic tenancies when the landlord wants the tenant to vacate.
Describing the communication as “awful”, Lisa said that the company requested proof of residence for 2022, 2023, and 2024, which Ms Brum supplied, but this was again rejected with NHG telling them that they had failed to provide evidence for the 12 months before Jay died.
“Not once in the email had they asked to see documentation from 2020-2021, they asked for it after they’d denied her the discretionary tenancy. The amount of documentation we’ve had to send is ridiculous, we’ve had to jump through every hoop.”
Among the documentation she has provided are bills and GP letters that are dated from 2009 onwards, and include bills from 2014 and 2017 that are in Ms Brum’s name.
“The issue we’ve faced is that it’s been really difficult to get documentation from three years ago, as the majority of companies only go back 24 months. I’ve had to put in FOI requests to Affinity Water and to the local borough council.”
For Ms Brum the possibility of losing her home, which contains precious memories of her late husband and son, has been devastating. A local character in Feltham, she has run her shop Not Just Nets on Staines Road for over 30 years, working six days a week producing curtains.
“Mum is really upset about this, it’s completely knocked her for six. She won’t go to the front door, she’s unsure if someone is going to get her out of her house,” Lisa said.
“She’s so worried, she’s absolutely petrified of losing her home. She’s lost her husband, she’s lost her son, she’s suffered so much loss that to lose her home would be the end of her.
“She was frail after Jay died but since this has happened, she has become more and more frail. She still works hard, how many other people know a 79-year-old working every day in her shop? She’s a local icon, everyone knows who she is.”
Following contact with both her local councillor and The Independent, Notting Hill Genesis has offered her a discretionary tenancy in a new location, with her family vowing to “fight until the end”.
“I think it’s a flawed system, this could happen to anybody. Maybe they need to relook at that policy and what they can do to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
A Notting Hill Genesis spokesperson said: “We apologise to Maureen and her family for the time it has taken to reach a resolution on this matter.
“There are strong regulations around the succession of social homes to ensure the right home goes to the right household. In this case the tenancy only allowed for one succession, which took place in 2008 when Maureen’s son took over the property.
“We understand Maureen’s preference to remain in the home she already occupies, however we also need to take into consideration other families across London, many of whom are currently living in overcrowded conditions or temporary housing.
“For these families, the chance to move into a three-bedroom home would be life-changing. We want to support Maureen and have taken the discretionary decision to offer her a new tenancy.
“We are now working with her and her family to find a suitable alternative home that is an appropriate size and meets her needs. Once that is found, we will fund a professional service to pack up her belongings safely and securely and move them to the new home.”
