A charity worker has been forced to live in a tent by a squatter who took over her house while she was abroad helping homeless people. Suzy Butler and her son are camping in a friend’s garden after the 32-year-old’s former tenant allegedly refused to leave when they returned from Peru.
Ms Butler even required a police escort to get the tent from the home she has owned for five years – because of Carmen Nobre’s ‘squatter’s rights’. ‘I cannot believe my son and I are homeless while this woman is squatting in our house and there is nothing we can do about it,’ said Ms Butler.
‘She told me she had lost a lot of money on the stock exchange and she could not pay rent and would not be leaving. I spend my life helping people who have been made homeless but never thought it would happen to me.’
Ms Butler let the home to Ms Nobre on a short-term agreement in February, before leaving for two months with four-year-old son Bruno. She said the battle for the property in Hove, East Sussex, had cost her £1,000 in legal fees and the council and police had been unable to help. Ms Nobre, who lives at the house with her daughter, has now been given two weeks to leave – but she could remain for months if the matter goes to court.
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