“We haven’t slept since receiving the eviction notice,” Paulo Redal says. The 43-year-old and his wife, Ana, will lose both their home and their livelihood in the space of a few months.
“This hasn’t just ruined our Christmas – it has ruined our whole life,” he adds while holding back tears.
Redal and his wife run the cafe at Vive Living in Childers Street, Deptford. They will lose their flat in April, but have been told they must shut down the cafe by the end of the year.
They are among the more than 150 residents at the apartment complex in southeast London who are facing eviction after they were served with notices just weeks before Christmas, as first revealed by The Independent.
Some, like Redal, have already been served with a Section 21 notice, known as a “no-fault eviction”, under which tenants can be removed from rented housing when a fixed-term tenancy ends or during a rolling tenancy.
Others have been told to expect a notice in due course, and once served with the document, residents will only have a few months to find somewhere else to live.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do – we’re going to lose both our home and our jobs,” Redal tells The Independent. “Without our jobs, we have nothing.
“It’s not a big business and we don’t want to be rich – it’s just enough to cover rent and expenses. We live well, but that’s all going to go now.”
The couple have lived in the UK for more than 15 years but feel they have no other choice but to return to Portugal.
A letter sent to residents of Vive Living, seen by The Independent, informed them that due to the “upcoming refurbishment of the building”, all apartments must be vacated.
No residents have reported serious defects in the building, which was completed in 2017, and no planning applications to make substantial changes to the building have been submitted to Lewisham Council, a local councillor said.
The building contains 83 apartments, with a two-bedroom flat costing around £2,000 a month. Vive Living’s website boasts that all apartments have access to co-working spaces, a cinema, a cafe and a roof terrace.
A spokesperson for landlords Aitch Group said they are working with residents to assist with relocation. However, some residents claim that no such support has been offered to them.
Marilize Sage, a 45-year-old digital collaboration expert who has lived in her flat for seven years, tells The Independent: “All we got was a lawyer’s letter and one meeting with our building manager. That’s all we’ve had from them so far.”
Sage, who suffers from bipolar disorder, adds that she is fearful of what the eviction might do to her mental health.
She says: “It starts with anxiety, and then that has the potential to shift into a manic episode, which could shift into a psychotic episode. Once it starts, it could be for months on end. I’m just scared of going back to that place in my head, and I’m scared I’m not going to have anywhere to live.
“I need to have reassurance that I have a roof over my head and that I have food to eat. And now they are taking away my home base.”
Aimee Smith, a 39-year-old secondary school teacher, recalls her excitement after moving into her flat five years ago.
“We were really excited that we found somewhere that was so affordable. And it was the first time I was moving in with my partner. It felt like a bit of a dream.”
She planned on keeping the flat until around 2027 – and perhaps even starting a family there with her partner, Nick.
Smith had no inkling that she would be evicted, and even claims that the landlord chased her to sign her renewed contract just last week. When the evictions began on Thursday, she initially felt calm.
“To be honest, I felt quite smug to start with, because it just seemed to be the first floor,” she says. “And then it just felt like dominos falling. One person, then another person, then another person. It felt like a bad Netflix series, that sense of dread.”
Smith said that she fears falling short in her work as a teacher, which is “very challenging”.
She adds: “To be honest, that Friday, I probably shouldn’t have gone in to school. I didn’t want to let the kids down. I didn’t want to let school down. But I was an absolute mess.”
Campaigners have previously warned that landlords across the country are rushing to force out tenants as Labour’s ban on no-fault evictions looms. Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have promised to outlaw Section 21 evictions, with the ban expected to be implemented by next summer.
A spokesperson for Aitch Group said: “Aitch Group have issued a Section 21 notice to tenants at the Vive Living development in Deptford to facilitate the refurbishment of the building.
“The tenants have been given two months’ notice, as a minimum, in accordance with their tenancy agreements. We are working with residents to assist them with their relocations.”
