A GRANDMOTHER is to be evicted from a nursing home after refusing to move into a flat her family say was infested with rats and cockroaches.

Following a period in hospital last year, Myrtle Foote, 81, was deemed medically fit to leave Albany Nursing Home in Leyton last month and move into sheltered housing.

The first flat was rejected because she would have had to share a bathroom with male and female residents of all ages.

Mrs Foote and her son Fitzgerald Dean then viewed a second flat in Lime Court, Walthamstow, shortly before Christmas and found evidence of what they believed to be rat and cockroach droppings.

The shower controls were also bizarrely placed on a wall outside the shower cubicle in the bathroom.

Mrs Foote’s daughter Sharon Martin, 46, of Larkshall Crescent, Highams Park, was assured that the problems would be solved.

But days later Mrs Foote received a visit from a housing officer, who informed her that she would be making herself homeless if she did not sign a tenancy agreement for the flat as she had turned down ‘suitable accommodation’.

Her family say she felt compelled to sign the agreement, but Mrs Martin then discovered none of the work had been carried out during a visit to the flat.

When Mrs Martin returned the keys to the council, she was informed that her mother would be charged rent for four weeks, the length of the required notice period.

Mrs Martin said: “That same night my mum was admitted into hospital because she said the whole thing made her quite ill and very stressed.

“Is this any way to treat an old woman who has worked in this country since she came here in 1962 and has never accepted handouts and receives no form of benefits apart from her pension?”

A council spokesman said a pest control officer had been instructed to visit Mrs Foote’s property and they had offered to adapt her house.

He added she has been told she would not be liable for rent until January 10, due to the Christmas break, and she would not be asked to leave Albany House until she was fully recovered.

Cllr Angie Bean, cabinet member for health, adults and older people, told the Guardian: “Throughout this process we have done our best to keep Ms Foote and her family fully informed and involved.

“While we will never pressure anyone into moving to a property they do not want and will do our utmost to match them to a property that matches both their wants and needs, we must also make clear the fact that, if a suitable property is declined, we are unable to provide any further offers.”