A GRIEVING mum is facing homelessness after a housing association gave her an eviction notice to leave her home which has been in her family for more than 40 years.

Lisa Melville was shocked to be sent a letter from Aster during the same week of her mother’s funeral, informing her that she had four weeks to move out of their much-loved home in Batchelors Barn Road, Andover

The 47-year-old mother-of-one has been living in the three-bedroom house with her partner, Barry Donnington, and her mother before she died in August.

Lisa has been informed the tenancy would not be passed onto her and she is now only eligible for a one-bedroom home, despite her 14-year-old daughter living with her every weekend and throughout the school holidays.

Lisa, who works as a housekeeper for the Ministry of Defence, moved into the house with her family when in 1977, and it has remained in her family ever since.

She said: “They won’t let me see out the tenancy. I haven’t had time to grieve for my mum because I have had to sort all of this out. Mum’s funeral on the Monday and they mailed me a letter on the Thursday, giving me four weeks to get out.”

Lisa said: “It was quite a scary letter to receive because it says if you are not going, we will take you to court and I was freaking out. I didn’t realise this would happen, I thought I would just take on the tenancy.”

Since then, Lisa has been given an extension of six months’ notice, but is still worried that she won’t be re-housed by Test Valley Borough Council before the deadline, as she has gone to the bottom of the waiting list.

Lisa has asked if she can buy the house from Aster, but has been told this isn’t possible, because the tenancy agreement cannot be passed on to her.

Barry is questioning why Aster will not allow them to see the tenancy agreement, which he believes will show they have a right to buy the property.

“The right to buy would still be allowed for Lisa’s mother, that would be in the contract,” he said.

“It was a joint ownership before so when Lisa’s step-father died her mother would have inherited the tenancy, there wouldn’t have been a succession.”

He added: “We need more than one bedroom, because Lisa’s daughter is here at weekends and during the holidays and she can’t share a bedroom with us.”

The right to inherit a tenancy when the tenant dies is called succession, however this can only happen once.

Lisa has been told by Aster that when her step-father died 19 years’ ago, the tenancy passed to her mother, meaning another succession can’t happen.

However, Lisa believes that the tenancy was a joint contract in both her mother and step-father’s names, meaning there would not have been a succession when he died.

A spokesman for Aster said: “We’re sorry that Mrs Melville is going through a difficult time. Unfortunately, succession rights are set out by law and as the maximum succession rights for this property have already been given, legally we aren’t able to transfer the tenancy into Miss Melville’s name or grant permission for Miss Melville to buy the property.

“The local council is responsible for allocating homes to people from a waiting list that they hold, based on need. We have advised Miss Melville to speak with the council to discuss her individual circumstances. We do understand how challenging it must be for Miss Melville at the moment and have extended the four weeks’ notice period we normally ask for, to six months to allow Miss Melville more time to find a home that meets her needs.”