Missionary order is booting pensioner off the farm he was born on
A Catholic missionary order is booting a pensioner off the farm he was born on and out of the one residence he has ever recognized.
Plankey Mill Farm in Northumberland has been farmed by Walter Renwick’s household for 3 generations. However, the landowners – The Jesuits in Britain – have served Walter, 68, with an eviction discover.
The Jesuits in Britain, a Catholic missionary order of clergymen and brothers, say that the lease for the farm was legally held by Walter’s father. They say that after Mr Rewnick Snr’s dying, they prolong the lease to permit Walter time to discover a new residence.
The final lease extension ran out in 2021 and the Jesuits have been granted a court docket order to have Walter evicted by baillifs.
Walter advised The Newcastle Chronicle: “They are coming on July 11 to change all the household locks. If I’m in the house, I’m getting chucked out the house.
“I assumed I had accomplished all the things proper, paid all the things off however they’re decided they’re going to promote the property.
“It has broken a proud man. Years ago I feared nobody but now when there is a knock at my door, and it sounds pathetic, I’m out the back door and hiding in a barn like a stupid little kid and petrified.
“What has occurred to me? I’ve stopped going to the outlets now. I really feel like I’m not proper.
“I was born here. It is like a tree with roots.
“There isn’t any happiness now. Happiness is gone.
“I get up and do what I have to do. I haven’t had a smile on my face for ages. What are they doing to me?
“They have eaten away at my physique, they’ve chip, chip, chipped. I imply some days I might simply keep in mattress and never rise up and that isn’t me, I labored day and evening on the farm. It is just not due to my well being as a result of I can tempo myself round my well being.”
“I’ve been right here 68 years. it was in my father’s title earlier than I bought it and his father’s earlier than I bought it so we now have been right here fairly a very long time. It is a 3 era farm.”
A spokesman for The Jesuits in Britain said: “The Jesuits in Britain can verify that they’ve utilized for a possession order on the Plankey Mill property, which is owned by them.
“This step has become necessary after repeated and fruitless attempts to persuade the son of the original leaseholder to leave the property fifteen years after his father’s death.
“An unique lease was held legally by this individual’s father, however like related properties throughout the UK, there have been no clauses within the lease for his kids to inherit the rental contract when he died.
“Nevertheless, the Jesuits have agreed to several lease extensions totalling thirteen years up until April 2021, in order to give the illegal occupier time to find a new home.
“In addition, the Jesuits provided to financially remunerate him, to help him in his transfer, if he left the property by November 2022. Since the final lease extension concluded in April 2021, this individual has been in unlawful possession of the property.
“Many of those denouncing the repossession have based their objections on the fact that the son of the leaseholder has been running a paid-for campsite on fields adjacent to the property.
“This campsite was by no means allowed below the phrases of the lease, and didn’t have planning permission from the native authority. However, the Jesuits have by no means taken motion on this level.
“Over a number of years, the Jesuits have received complaints from both the local council and the National Trust (who own an adjacent property) about the unsocial behaviour of several campers, especially during the pandemic in 2020.”
A spokeswoman for Northumberland County Council mentioned they acquired a grievance in 2020 concerning an unauthorised campsite on Plankey Mill Farm. She added: “During the investigation, it was discovered that the campsite had been in operation for more than 10 years and is therefore immune from planning enforcement action.”