A LANDLADY has staged a protest against a tenant who is refusing to move out of her flat, despite having been given notice that her lease had expired.

Ann Morley owns the apartment in Mill Lane, Woodford Green, which has been rented for the last year by Donna Wood.

The fixed-term lease ran out on May 18, but Mrs Morley claims that Ms Wood has refused to move out of the flat, where Mrs Morley's mother used to live before she died last April.

In her frustration, Mrs Morley staged a protest today (June 2) outside the flat, along with her friend Joan Walker, with placards calling for greater legal rights for landlords.

Mrs Morley, 56, said: “My solicitors gave her two months notice back in March that the lease was due to expire.

“She then asked for more time and we agreed that she could stay until June 1. Her brother confirmed with me that she would leave then, and she agreed to it over email.

“She said she wasn't ready to move and that she had a daughter and she has rights.

“I told her that the moving date was not negotiable and that I had a man with a van ready to move my furniture in. But she refused to move and she's still living there.

“If it were to go to court it could take eight weeks for me to get her out. But I'm staging this protest because I think I should have landlord's rights.

“The really upsetting because I've done everything right. I've given her notice through my solicitor and given her extra time when she asked for it. And now it's going to cost me hundreds of pounds and take weeks and weeks to go through the courts.

“I've had to move back over from Ireland where I was living and I've having to rent short-term up in the Midlands and come down to sort this out.

“The law is just all wrong, the wrong way round. I just want my flat back.”

The Guardian tried to call Ms Wood but her mobile phone was turned off.