Tenant tackles eviction bid
A STEURHOF Estate resident who succeeded her parents and grandparents as continuous tenants in the same council-owned house over four decades, has been slapped with an eviction notice for occupying the house illegally.
Instead she called on the City to withdraw its court order and allow her to buy the house.
Reluctant to be named, the third generation tenant gave her details to the Cape Times and said: “I have lived in this house since my birth in 1982.” She added that her sons had also lived there from birth.
The woman is among eight Steurhof families to have received eviction notices since 2014. Her father lived the house from the 1970s until his death in 2007. Since her mother’s death in 2011 she has unsuccessfully tried to buy the house from the City.
Instead, the Sheriff of the Court gave her a notice to appear in Court on June 14 for unlawfully occupying the house. Concerned Council house homeowner in the area Alexis Serra said the City “is engaging in unfair evictions”.
She blamed the evictions on Mayor Patricia de Lille and the City’s “inept and flawed housing system, which is rife with maladministration, leaving it wide open to corruption”.
De Lille’s spokesperson, Zara Nicholson, said: “All cases have been thoroughly investigated and are being dealt with in terms of the City’s Unlawful Occupation Policy.”
The City had been in contact with the original tenants for a number of years, conducting inspections at the various properties to confirm tenancy as far back as 2007.