Edinburgh ex-serviceman and family facing eviction so Ministry of Defence can sell their house

John Collins, 55, served in the Army for 27 years. And when he left in 2019 he and his wife Helen were given the option to rent the house in the city's Dreghorn area, which they had first moved into in January 2004.

"They told us we would be able to stay here for the rest of our lives," said Mr Collins. "We have been good tenants, never missed a payment and never caused any drama. Then we got this letter out of the blue in November saying we could be moved out."

Labour MP Scott Arthur at the Dreghorn estate. He says “People who have served our country should not be getting evicted by the MoD.”

Mr Collins now works at nearby Braidburn special school and the couple have five daughters, the youngest eight years old.

They are not the only ones affected by the eviction threat. The MoD is seeking vacant possession of 38 properties on the estate.

Mrs Collins, 45, who is a child-minder and works from the house, said it had caused everyone a lot of worry and stress.

"It's always on your mind, hanging over your head and you can't sleep for worrying.

"The letter said we would be contacted in summer 2025, but we don't know whether that's going to be an eviction or an update or what.

"We've emailed lots of people but we can't get answers from anybody. We've just been left in limbo."

And she is worried about her child-minding business. "If we had to move away, I'd have to build up my clientele again. We've been here so long we're part of the community.

“But there's a housing crisis in Edinburgh and the price of a deposit to rent around here has more than doubled. And with the cost of living crisis we need two incomes.

"We've invested money in this house because we thought we were staying here long-term. We were told 'Treat it like a council house, it's yours, the month's notice in your contract is just a formality’.

'"We've taken up the carpets and put floorboards down, we've painted it, we've put a lot of money into it. We've put roots down and we really want to stay here. We would be quite willing to be sitting tenants for anybody."

Edinburgh South West Labour MP Scott Arthur has taken up their case and is due to meet MoD Veterans and People Minister Al Carns soon.

Dr Arthur said: "This is traditionally a military residential area were the MoD has been progressively selling some of the properties, most commonly to the council to be converted to council homes.

"I don't think the MoD should be evicting veterans of the armed services. Part of the challenge is that if the council were to buy it, the council tends only to want to buy empty properties, but I don't think the council should be in a position whereby it's almost encouraging veterans to lose their homes.

"I get that the MoD's core business not being a private landlord. But if they are going to be selling these houses I think they should look at selling them with the people still living in them.

“People who have served our country should not be getting evicted by the MoD.”

The MoD said it was required to sell the houses under Treasury guidelines and it had written to all the tenants in November 2024 to reassure them that, although the properties were to be sold, they would not be required to vacate their homes before the summer of 2025.

It was planned to hold a virtual meeting in the next few weeks to confirm the intention to gain vacant possession of the 38 properties, setting out an indicative timeline and answering any questions the residents may have.

An MOD spokesperson said: “These properties are no longer required for Defence use, and as such were sub-let as a temporary measure.

“Civilian tenants renting homes that are not required for service personnel sign-up to two months’ notice to vacate. Sub-lets are always offered on a short-term basis only and cannot be considered as an alternate source of social housing.”

The city council, which has so far bought 40 houses from the MoD at Dreghorn, said it had not had any discussions with the MOD about the acquisition of further homes on the estate.