100-year-old grandmother 'evicted from home for being too noisy'

Evelyn Heller has two weeks to vacate her apartment after 'frequent disruptive arguments with her daughter'

Alexandra Sims
Monday 04 April 2016 16:38 BST
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The apartment complex on Deep Canyon Road, Palm Springs, from which Ms Heller is reportedly being evicted from
The apartment complex on Deep Canyon Road, Palm Springs, from which Ms Heller is reportedly being evicted from

A 100-year-old grandmother has been evicted from her home after her landlord claimed she was “too noisy”.

Evelyn Heller has been given two weeks to vacate her apartment following a brief trial at Palm Springs court house on Friday.

Deep Canyon Desert LLC, the company that manages Ms Heller’s apartment, said they evicted the elderly woman because she often had loud, disruptive verbal arguments with her daughter.

According to the Desert Sun reports, Ms Heller was also accused of keeping the apartment in a “deplorable condition”.

The real estate company said it had threatened to evict Ms Heller, Palm Desert, California, on two previous occasions, but went through with court proceedings after there was allegedly no improvement in her behaviour.

The centenarian represented herself during the eviction trial, where she reportedly had to be lent a pair of glasses in order to read the court documents properly.

Ms Heller told Riverside County Judge Charles Haines she did not know where she would live in the event of her eviction. “I have four grandsons, but I don’t want to be dependent on them,” she reportedly told the court. “I can’t be a burden to my family. They don’t have room for me. That happens in life.”

Judge Haines gave Ms Heller two weeks to vacate her apartment and ordered her to pay $616 (£430) in disputed rent. The elderly woman will also have to pay $800 (£560) in legal fees.

William Windham, the lawyer representing Ms Heller’s landlord, told the Desert Sun: “I’ve evicted people off their death beds and regretted every second of the trial.

“But my job is unfortunately to set my feeling aside and do what my clients ask me to do.”

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