Row between lettings agency and tenant leads to high-profile eviction

A tenant at the centre of a much-publicised argument with a Brighton lettings agency over the condition of his rented property is claiming to have been made homeless. Jim Haughey, a young renter living in the seaside town, had complained to managing agent King & Chasemore about the poor state of his rented property’s garden after moving in. Pictures he took show dilapidated garden furniture and bird droppings. After several emails between the two parties over a two-month period, he has told local media that the problems were not sorted out and that a subsequent Section 21 notice served on him by his landlord has the hallmarks of a ‘revenge eviction’. ACORN, the local renters’ union organisation, claims the eviction notice came just a day after his final complaint about the property and that this has lead “both Jim and ACORN to believe that his eviction must be in line with the complaints he’d been issuing”, its website says. Sit-in protest But police were called when members of ACORN staged a sit-in at the lettings agency’s branch and several staff claimed to be intimidated by the protestors. “The eviction came after a back and forth of emails requesting repairs and…