Deca Sharif cries out as she gets eviction notice shortly after husband’s death

A London widow and mother of three, Deca Sharif has told the pathetic story of how her kids watched their dad drop dead in the hallway on May 5 and she got an eviction notice weeks after.

Deca said the sad occurrence had turned upside down the lives of her children aged 9, 13 and 16.

According to her, the children were on a walk with their father when he complained about intense chest pains.

Moments after returning home he suffered a heart attack and died on the landing of their Edmonton flat.

Due to the grief of his sudden passing, Deca decided to move into her mother’s nearby home, reported MyLondon.

“My kids couldn’t take it,” she said. “I told the council we need to be moved because my kids are unable to go through this every day. Instead, we were issued an eviction notice.”

She battled with Enfield Council to be moved into a new home but, according to her, she was ignored and instead issued a Section 21 eviction notice in early July.

The council told MyLondon earlier this year it no longer had a duty to house her family as her tenancy is classed as being under the private sector. Despite the notice, Deca told MyLondon she refuses to make her family homeless.

She moved back into their flat in Cheshire House, Edmonton four weeks ago because her mother’s two-bedroom flat was too cramped, and are now waiting for bailiffs to evict them at any moment.

“This has been so stressful,” Deca told MyLondon. “The council is telling us to go private, but I can’t afford this. We’ll end up homeless or in awful temporary accommodation.

“I explained to a case worker my kids’ dad passed away and he said ‘any way we won’t speak about that’.

“It was ridiculous and I refused to speak to them anymore. I’m giving up hope. But I felt if I fell apart, what would happen to my kids?”

Deca is attempting to get onto the Enfield Council housing register to find another permanent home in the area. The family was previously in temporary accommodation, but in 2014 was transferred to Housing Gateway, an Enfield Council-owned housing association which formed in the same year.

Enfield Council is going through the process of decanting and evicting households across two Edmonton estates – Cheshire House and Shropshire House – after plans to demolish both 17-storey blocks were approved in May 2023.

This follows a gas leak in November 2022 and all electricity being momentarily cut off in February 2023 due to fears of a gas explosion. Since then neither Cheshire House nor Shropshire House, meaning residents were regularly left with expensive electricity bills of about £50 per day.

Private leaseholders are currently being bought out by the council and council tenants moved elsewhere. But Deca and other residents in temporary accommodation or similar arrangements claim they are being made homeless without the offer of alternative housing.

She tells MyLondon: “I’m trying to get on the council housing register. The council is telling me to go private as it’s the only way of earning enough points to get housed.

“How can I afford this? I’m on Universal Credit and I can’t work at the moment so I can take care of my children.”

Enfield Council confirmed to MyLondon that all remaining tenants in Cheshire House and Shropshire House have been served Section 21 eviction notices ahead of their upcoming demolition.