ELDERLY flat dwellers claim a property deal has shattered their confidence in council landlords.

Four homes in Davenport Avenue, Nantwich were sold by the borough authority after the major structural repairs they needed were ruled too expensive to tackle.

The occupants, including a couple in their 70s who had bought their flats, were moved out and the windows boarded up.

Their neighbours recall the occupants went reluctantly, most were extremely upset but believed that subsidence had made the flats unsafe and that a move was necessary.

That was what most of the other flat dwellers believed too.

But just weeks after they left their homes the four properties were sold, re-decorated and two were re-occupied.

"We all know that no structural work was carried out. It was just a coat of paint job. Now we want to know why the council allowed this to happen and we want assurances that our homes are not going to go the same way," said feisty pensioner Mrs Alice Sharpes.

At the age of 78 and partially sighted she insists she would never leave her flat.

"I have spent hundreds of pounds making it comfortable and adding features that help me with my sight problems. This is a very pleasant road to live in and everyone feels the same. But we are all worried that we and our homes could go the same way as the four that have been sold. Most of us are elderly and we are living on a knife edge," she added.

A letter sent by the housing department has not really eased the anxiety, she claimed.

"It doesn't put my mind at rest. I don't trust them," she said.

The residents concerns have been supported by local councillor Joyce Stockton.

She is also demanding to know how homes initially ruled as "structurally unsound" could be sold off "cheaply" and so quickly re-tenanted without the necessary work completed.

"I have seen a copy of the letters the residents have received and I don't think these explain things enough. They really need some assurance that they are safe and sound in their homes. And they deserve the explanation they are demanding about how the flats could be so quickly re-tenanted without the extensive structural repairs felt necessary by the council being carried out," she added.

Assistant Head of Housing, April Higson confirmed that the four flats had been sold on the open market. It was council policy to sell any property with structural defects that would need more than £10,000 to put right.

"These flats were in need of structural repairs, but they were not unsafe through subsidence and we have made this quite clear to the other tenants. The work we felt necessary might not have been carried out, but private landlords are not subject to the same high standards as councils, " she said.

"The amount needed for repairing each flat was well in access of the limit set by the council. The council tenants were re-located and the owner/occupiers bought a new home. We have sent letters to the other residents assuring them that their homes are perfectly safe and not suffering from subsidence. I am quite happy that those letters stated the position quite clearly," she added.

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