Garage ‘Invasion’ Sparks Fury for Elderly Evicted Tenant

Published on: 24 Jun, 2026
Updated on: 24 Jun, 2026

Ms Walsh’s garage, blocked off due to the presence of asbestos-containing materials.

By Isabelle Trubshaw

A 71-year-old tenant locked in an 11-month eviction dispute with West Horsley Place Trust, said she was left “horrified” after discovering several of her belongings in a nearby skip and others scattered across her garage, which contained asbestos materials, following a clearance of the site.

Contractors from Uptegral Ltd carried out the clearance on June 9 after being instructed by the Trust to remove all of Ms Baschea Walsh’s belongings from the garage ahead of an asbestos remediation process.

This followed an ‘Airsafe’ survey conducted nearly 11 months before, which identified the presence of asbestos in the damaged roof and loose sheets of the garage and recommended their removal.

The elderly tenant said she first became aware of the clearance after noticing one of her belongings in a nearby skip after the work was already underway.

“I was absolutely horrified, so I then approached the skip and saw several items of mine in there”, she said. “I became very, very angry and upset and told [the workers] to stop doing it and empty the skip of my belongings.”

A photo Ms Walsh claims shows her belongings from her garage in a nearby skip.

Ms Walsh said she was only directly informed about the nature of the clearance later that day, when a member of staff hand-delivered a letter from the Trust’s director, Ilona Harris.

The letter stated that all her “fabric” belongings would be placed into a container ahead of asbestos de-contamination, while “non-fabric” items, which could not be cleaned, would be put into the skip.

The inside of Ms Walsh’s garage

However, the tenant later found both “fabric” and “non-fabric” belongings in the skip, including an antique carpet and metal antique breadbasket.

While the letter promised to “keep disruption to the minimum”, Ms Walsh described her garage as looking like it had been “burgled”.

“Things that had been at one end were at another end- things have just been literally rummaged through. No plan. No organisation – just ransacked” she said.

Ms Walsh also alleged that she was given conflicting information about whether the items, which had placed into the container, had already been cleaned of asbestos.

“I was told they had been cleaned of asbestos, but I could see for myself that nothing had been cleaned” she said and claimed an ex-gardener and another tenant – Steve Whistlecroft were also misinformed. “Eventually they agreed that things in fact hadn’t actually been cleaned,” she added.

On June 20, Ms Walsh reported that asbestos specialists had arrived on the site to take care of the belongings located in the container.

When approached for comment, both The Trust and Uptegral Ltd failed to respond about the clearance.

Ms Walsh has said that she has already reported the incident to the Health and Safety Executive, raising concerns about asbestos safety measures during the clearance, including the absence of personal protective equipment worn by the contractors.

The inside of Ms Walsh’s garage

The Health and Safety Executive did not comment directly on the incident when approached. However, their online guidance emphasises the need for risk assessments and control measures to be carried out before permitting employees to enter any building where asbestos materials are present.

The pensioner has also said that she intends to report the matter to the police, describing the damage to her belongings as a “crime”.

She said, “I can see that some of my property has been damaged by the destruction and invasion of my property.”

Ms Walsh was first denied access to her garage in November 2025, two weeks after receiving her first eviction notice. While the garage was never part of Ms Walsh’s tenancy agreement, for 20 years she has had full and free access to the site.

This coincidental timing has made the tenant suspicious: “Why would anyone, in their right mind, give someone notice to leave and then barricade their belongings from them two weeks later?”

She added, “A container could have been brought in a year ago and all of this stress could have been avoided.”

The pensioner has said that the situations has taken a big toll on her physical and mental health.

“I am in total disbelief that this person thinks it’s perfectly ok to bully an old lady – she’s making me more unwell by the day. I’ve lost 7kg in weight,” she said. “I’ve been bullied, harassed – totally broken my tenancy agreement which states I have the right to live here peacefully.”

Since her first eviction notice, the tenant has received five further notices, four of which she said were issued “simultaneously” in April.

Ms Walsh described this timing as “harassment” explaining, “They all came just days before the new Renters Rights Act came in. [All] identical. One in the post., one hand delivered by [Trust director] Ilona Harris, who filmed herself delivering it through the letterbox. One posted ‘Special D’. One delivered by the handyman.”

Ms Harris has not commented on these claims.

The property has recently appeared in an upcoming listing on Airbnb, stating that it is preparing for short-term rental, “Just waiting for the current occupier to vacate, and get the house cleaned”.