A woman set to be evicted from a building earmarked for a controversial development claims she is being made "homeless" by the move.

Janice Shales says she is being forced out of the rented home near Dover she has lived in for 18 years, along with 16 other households uprooted by developers.

The 63-year-old is facing the exit door in just under two weeks after failing to fight an eviction notice.

She is one of just three residents remaining at Bayhill Close in St Margaret's Bay, after the building was snapped up by Bayhill Developments Ltd.

The Grade-II listed structure, which was bought from the Bay Trust in June 2020, was built as the Coastguard Cottages in 1884, and converted into nine houses and one studio flat in 1981.

However, new plans will see the building changed and refurbished, with an extension at the back and a new apartment building where the current car park is.

A stretch of grass meadow will be tarmacked over to become a new car park, with the new apartments being put up for sale.

The controversial plans were passed at the second time of asking by Dover District Council in March, despite almost 50 objections.

Ms Shales, who previously worked as an architecture tutor at UCA Canterbury, says she is now facing the prospect of having nowhere to stay when bailiffs arrive on October 27.

"The first we knew about the sale was when I found the new owners walking onto the property in the middle of Covid," she said.

"We then got an eviction notice through the door in March 2021, and I have been trying to fight it ever since.

"It has been extremely stressful, and I have been battling with ill health that has put me in hospital for major surgery twice.

"At the same time, I lost my mother after a lengthy illness and have been supporting my father, who is in his 90s, with severe health problems of his own."

A number of the families at the cottages have now moved on, but Ms Shales says she has been unable to find anything suitable.

"I have been trying to find somewhere in the village but there is nothing available," she explained.

"I don't have enough for a mortgage or deposit, and so many landlords want a year's rent in advance these days – I can't afford that after my ill health.

"I have tried to go through the council but there are no available properties. As soon as anything becomes available there is a scramble to bid on it.

'I am being made homeless... and I feel abandoned'

"The bailiffs are coming in two weeks and I just have absolutely no idea what to do or where I can go. I feel very, very vulnerable."

The developer offered the former tutor £2,000 – an offer it says it was under no obligation to make – but she has said this will not be enough.

"That figure, as kind as it may seem, will barely cover removals for me," she said.

"I have an art collection, books, and all of the possessions you would expect after almost 20 years in one place. That will be gone in a blink and I will be left with nothing.

"I am being made homeless in the name of profit, and I feel abandoned."

A spokesman for Tersons, which represents Bayhill Developments, said: "The building was in poor condition, suffering from decades of neglect.

"It was always the company's intention to secure planning for extension and substantial refurbishment to ensure the long-term future of the buildings and then offer refurbished units for sale.

"Notice of intention to redevelop was given to all residents some 20 months ago and notices requiring possession were subsequently sent to all tenants with Assured Shorthold tenancies.

"All left before the six-month notice period expired in October 2021, except Ms Shales.

"An application was therefore made to the court for a possession order, which was granted in July this year.

"We have had various contacts with Ms Shales over the 20-month period, have offered to assist in finding alternative accommodation for her and BH have made an ex-gratia offer to her of £2,000 to assist her with relocation expenses - a goodwill gesture we have not previously experienced from a landlord having incurred the costs of possession proceedings."