A mum-of-five battling stage-four cancer says she is trapped in a “nightmare” legal fight to evict a tenant from her former family home – delaying a house sale she hopes will fund life-saving treatment abroad.
Kelly Eastland, 43, from Margate, needs £60,000 to pay for pioneering therapy in Germany, but says a long-running court battle has left her unable to access the money tied up in her two-bed Cliftonville property.
She says the tenant has racked up more than £15,000 in rent arrears and allowed the house to be overrun with dogs, with an independent surveyor reporting at least 10 being kept in the terraced home and “pungent smells of dogs, urine and faeces”.
“We thought we could just sell the property and then go and get treatment,” said Kelly, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2023.
“It shocks me that someone can be so heartless. It’s caused a huge amount of stress, and obviously that hasn’t helped the cancer as well.”
The Eastlands moved out of the home in April 2023 after outgrowing it, having welcomed their sixth child.
They began renting it for £900 a month to a man they had met while walking their dogs, who moved in on a 12-month tenancy.
Initially, things ran smoothly, but in January this year, the kitchen ceiling in the basement flat beneath the property collapsed.
A builder sent to investigate found multiple dogs were being kept upstairs – more than the four the tenant had declared – and suspected dog urine had reportedly soaked through the bathroom floor above, causing the damage.
The couple’s insurance claim was rejected on the grounds that “fouling by animals” was not covered under accidental damage, forcing the landlord of the basement flat to claim on his insurance.
A commercial property adjuster told the Eastlands “the damage to the bathroom is caused by the dogs and their urine damaged the kitchen below”.
By then, Kelly had been fighting cancer for seven months. With the disease spreading and alternative treatment options being explored abroad, the couple told the tenant in March 2024 they intended to sell the property and asked him to leave.
They arranged viewings and quickly accepted a £125,000 offer – well below the house’s valuation – in the hope of a fast sale.
They then served the tenant with a Section 8 notice – a formal legal document used to start the process of eviction on specific grounds – arguing he had allowed the property’s condition to deteriorate.
Although they say they gave the tenant three months to find alternative accommodation, it is claimed he stopped responding to their correspondence and refused access to surveyors.
They went to court in December and were granted a possession order, giving the tenant 14 days to vacate.
But after discovering he had not given them his real name, the order was ruled invalid and was dismissed by the court in February.
A second Section 8 notice was served, this time also citing non-payment of rent.
At a hearing in May, the case was complicated further when the tenant filed a counter-claim, alleging the landlords had failed to deal with multiple maintenance issues.
He claimed he had spent £5,000 fixing the bathroom floor, paid £1,200 to replace a bay window, and was living with a faulty boiler, leaking roof and no heating upstairs.
In response, the court ordered an independent survey of the property, which was carried out in early July.
The report revealed the house was overrun with dogs, with at least 10 animals inside.
One large dog “charged” at the door of a bedroom, and another was described as “overly aggressive”.
“In my opinion, there are too many dogs for the size of the dwelling and external spaces,” the surveyor wrote.
“There appear to be issues with control of the dogs and the ability of the tenants to look after the number of dogs present.”
He said he could not confirm if the roof leak was ongoing but noted staining on walls and ceilings consistent with water damage caused by a leak.
He said he was provided no evidence to support the tenant’s claim that the Eastlands had refused to repair the bathroom, and that the bay window appeared not to be a new unit.
The boiler was found to be “operational”, but due to the number of dogs, the surveyor was unable to access upstairs rooms to check whether the radiators worked.
“There was one dog in the front bedroom which was overly aggressive, and I did not feel the tenants had control of this particular dog,” he added.
He also described more dogs downstairs and at least six upstairs, with four kept in cages.
He noted the “pungent smell of dogs, urine and faeces” and “widespread damage and dirt ingrained to the walls, floors and woodwork” linked to the keeping of so many dogs, concluding the extent of the damage “would constitute a breach of the tenancy on the tenant’s part”.
The Eastlands hope the surveyor’s findings – along with the arrears – will be enough to secure another possession order at a hearing scheduled for next month.
But with Kelly’s cancer now spreading to her lymph nodes and bones, she fears time is running out.
Even if a new possession order is granted, the couple worry it could be weeks before they are able to reclaim the house.
“Even if we win the possession order in September, we then have to wait another two weeks,” Kelly said.
“If he doesn’t move out, then we have to apply for bailiffs.”
After the original buyer pulled out, a company has agreed to take the house in its current state for £103,000 – £85,000 below its valuation.
With £70,000 left on their mortgage, the Eastlands say even the proceeds from the sale will not cover the £60,000 cost of treatment.
So Kelly, who has already undergone chemotherapy and twice caught sepsis, has now launched a GoFundMe appeal in the hope of raising the remaining funds.
“I worry the cancer might get too advanced,” she said.
“The type of breast cancer it is – inflammatory – spreads quite quickly.
Fifteen years of my life I put into that house. That was my retirement – now I’ve got nothing…
“We never thought we’d be in this position. That’s where my daughters were brought home from the hospital. That was our family home. It holds memories.
“Fifteen years of my life I put into that house. That was my retirement – now I’ve got nothing.”
KentOnline has attempted to contact the tenant and his solicitor for comment but has not received a response.
