Published: Thursday, 24th January, 2008 12:30
Who grassed on disabled man?
By Lauren Campbell
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A DISABLED Kilwinning man was almost evicted from his home for not cutting his grass.
Stewart Robertson, 47, lives in Fergushill Road with his wife Linda, 42, and is unable to cut his grass because after contracting MRSA in his knee he has great difficulty walking.
Linda doesn’t keep well either and can’t cut grass because she suffers from severe hay fever so when Stewart received a letter from the council saying he had to cut his grass he tried to tell them this.
However the letters continued to arrive and a man even arrived from the council and sneaked into the garden to take photos of the grass.
The nail in the coffin though was when Stewart received a court summons saying he could be evicted.
He said: “I can hardly walk now so I wasn’t able to cut my grass during the summer and now I’m being taken to court for not cutting it. I went into the council and gave them a letter but then someone came and sneaked into my garden and started taking photos. I got a warning letter so I handed in another letter to the council from my GP and I asked them to cut my grass but they said it would cost me £50 per hour and my garden is big and I can’t afford that.”
Worried that he was about to be evicted from his home, Stewart contacted his local councillor Margaret McDougall who has since rectified the matter meaning Stewart no longer has to go to court.
He has had to fork out £90 to get a landscaper to cut his grass though.
However the council claim that when a person takes tenancy they are in charge of the garden.
Tom Orr, corporate director (Property Services) at North Ayrshire Council, said: “The tenant has a responsibility to maintain, or have someone maintain, the garden. Eviction is a last resort when all other persuasive means have been exhausted and the tenant has continued to fail to adhere to their conditions.”
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