³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

This week on Inside Out South, Joe Crowley visits the Sussex pensioner who has broken back into her £2 million repossessed home.

Rosalie Reeves-Fisher was evicted in January after her home in West Sussex was repossessed by the mortgage company. But she forced her way in a week later and has been squatting in the eight bedroom house ever since.

The 71-year-old won a dramatic reprieve last week when the Cheshire Mortgage Corporation abandoned its third attempt to evict her.

On Wednesday 25 February, Inside Out South, at 7.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One, will show how Miss Reeves-Fisher was about to be carried out of the building when the bailiffs were told to abandon the eviction.

"I just pray I can stay in my own home," she said. "I just want to be with my animals and be allowed to work in my garden."

She claims she was a victim of reckless lending when Cheshire allowed her to borrow a million pounds in 2005. The mortgage was more than 30 times her annual income and the interest payments alone were four times her earnings. In addition to the 14 per cent interest rate, the mortgage company also charged a £50,000 fee to renew the loan each year.

"I don't know anything about these things," she said. "I really don't. I am not trying to put an act on or anything."

Miss Reeves-Fisher was persuaded to take out the loan by property developer Sheila Mason, who has since disappeared without accounting for the money.

Ms Mason, who was a joint borrower on the self-certification mortgage, listed her income as a million pounds. But an accompanying note made it clear that she had not earned anything in the previous two years.

Ms Mason wanted the money to demolish the existing buildings at Woodlawn, a site she owned on the upmarket St George's Hill estate in Surrey. She then planned to build a £40million mansion on the site. But the site has never been cleared and Woodlawn has now been repossessed by the bank.

Elmbridge Borough Council, which gave planning permission for the luxury home, and Miss Reeves-Fisher have both hired private detectives to try and trace Sheila Mason, but they have been unable to find her.

She can, however, still be contacted by mobile phone. When the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ spoke to her, Ms Mason refused to say what had happened to the money or where she was now living.

"Rosalie hasn't helped herself during this whole procedure and I have been painted as the bad person and I am not," she said. "At the moment, I don't have a penny. Rosalie made a decision to go into business and sadly it hasn't worked out."

Ms Mason said she had documents which vindicated her, but she wasn't prepared to show them to Inside Out.

The Cheshire Mortgage Corporation says it insisted that both women took independent legal advice before taking the short-term business loan.

"A Declaration of Income and Affordability was completed which along with a detailed business plan supported the repayment of the loan within a 9-month period. Within this original term all monthly repayments were made in line with the agreement.

"The company has remained sympathetic to the clients and has agreed to keep the facilities in place for a considerable period beyond the original loan term in order to facilitate a resolution between Mrs Reeves-Fisher and Mrs Mason.

"It is our wish to continue to work with Mrs Reeves-Fisher and her representatives to arrive at a sensible conclusion."

Inside Out South, Wednesday 25 February, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One, 7.30pm

HB