A WEST Somerset woman searching for somewhere to live after being subjected to a no-fault eviction has gone full circle with the offer of a house share in the property in which she was born.

Last month, Pam Leach lost the home in Porlock she had been renting for four years but found a temporary reprieve when a neighbour offered her a holiday cottage which was not booked for four weeks.

Now, Ms Leach has had to vacate the cottage with her three cats and was offered a room in the National Trust-owned house in nearby Allerford in which she was born 70 years ago.

Ms Leach said: “It is a kind of house share and I am very grateful to the couple who live here for letting me stay for a while.

“It is only temporary but it gives me a bit of a breather while I look for somewhere bigger.

“It is a bit strange knowing I was born in this house. I have gone full circle. There is a box room here which may have had my crib in it.

“I did not know much about it because I was a baby and my mum and dad moved to another house in the village when I was 10 months old.”

Ms Leach’s case made headlines when it was revealed she was losing her rented home before the Government brings in legislation to ban no-fault evictions, which have increased across the country ahead of the new law coming into force.

Her predicament was made worse because of a lack of affordable properties in Porlock and elsewhere on Exmoor due to so many being bought as second homes or Airbnb holiday lets.

West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, who has been involved in helping Ms Leach, has supported Government proposals for rented housing sector regulations to restrict a proliferation of short-term holiday lets in rural communities.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said as well as the impact on people such as Ms Leach, the number of holiday lets also made it difficult for businesses to recruit staff who were unable to find anywhere local to live.

The Government has also introduced a Renters (Reform) Bill to stop ‘no fault evictions’, which is expected to become law by the autumn of this year.

Exmoor’s newly-created Local Community Network (LCN) of parish councils and local agencies has made the Airbnb and second homes issue one of its top priorities to try to tackle.

• Anybody who may know of a rental property available in West Somerset which might suit Ms Leach can contact the Free Press to be put in touch with her.