A SINGLE mother has been handed an eviction notice after the organisation that houses her decided to sell up.

The Bournemouth Churches Housing Association, which owns a number of properties in and around Winchester, provided Medda Hope and her young daughter with a house on Fraser Road, Kings Worthy in May 2018.

However, without warning, the BCHA tried to kick them out with a section 21 no-fault eviction notice in June so it could put the property on the market.

On top of this, Medda and her daughter, who the BCHA moved into the house from Bournemouth, have had issues with the house throughout their time there, which she says were never resolved in spite of her numerous complaints.

READ MORE: Chronicle comment: 'Asset stripping' by church housing provider

The BCHA offices in Bournemouth (Image: Google) Medda, originally from Malawi, said: “We didn’t have hot water for three years and my daughter’s bedroom didn’t have heating for a while. Workers came, but they didn’t fix the problems – they just left.”

She spoke to a BCHA manager, Esther Godber, who reassured her, telling her she was owed compensation for what happened.

But, as Medda said: “Instead they gave us the eviction notice.”

This comes as the BCHA carries out a campaign of “asset stripping” in Winchester.

The charitable organisation has sold at least four properties worth over £2 million in the city so far, which were originally bought by Winchester-based charity Keystone to combat issues with homelessness decades ago.

Keystone had originally sought out a merger with the BCHA after having struggled to survive as a smaller enterprise for years.

However, in what has been described as “an appalling breach of faith”, the BCHA has opted to start shutting up shop in Winchester in order to focus its energies elsewhere.

SEE ALSO: Letter: 'I have to wonder why they let this happen'

In response to Medda’s plight, the BCHA said: "A review of the properties in BCHA's ownership within the Winchester City Council area has been carried out and the strategic decision of selling these properties was made earlier this year. 

"This decision was based solely on BCHA's future direction which involves reducing our geographical spread of properties.  It was not informed by localised issues raised by our customers.  Any issues raised from our customer in this instance were resolved and supported separately. 

 “BCHA remain committed to the wellbeing of our customers and are working with Winchester City Council to ensure the transition to new accommodation for our customers is as smooth as possible."