Grieving family's fury over insensitive demand

Kelly Chinery, 27, lost her 10- month battle against cervical cancer on October 16 leaving her children, aged nine, six and three, her sister and their parents heartbroken.

But less than two weeks after the sudden death, the family claimed 1066 Housing Association told them to return the keys to the property on Parsons Close within days asking: "What could you possibly have in there that would take this long to remove?"

Sister Emma Sharman said: "We were distraught. We had just lost a daughter, sister, mother and were being hassled to empty her home of three years. It would have been difficult anyway, but to have to do it in three days, less than one week after her funeral, caused untold unnecessary grief. I am disgusted by the way they have behaved."

Kelly's funeral was held at Hastings Crematorium on October 27 but on October 29, just under two weeks since she died, her mum Pat Curtis claimed she received a call from the association asking when the house would be empty.

Mrs Curtis, of Parsons Close, said: "They said the tenancy finished on October 31 and they needed the keys by November 1. I said that was impossible because I hadn't even been into the house yet. I then offered to pay two more weeks rent but they said it would be inconvenient to set up a new account in a new name for a few weeks. They told me the keys had to be returned within the week."

Ms Sharman said: "My mum phoned me afterwards in tears she was so upset. We felt pressured to empty Kelly's house, which we did by the end of the week. But there was no time to sort through her belongings so most of it had to be thrown out. How can they say they were sympathetic? They were on the phone to us two days after her funeral."

In response to a letter Ms Sharman sent to the Observer, Mike Thompson, neighbourhood director at 1066 Housing Association said: "The contents of the letter from Ms Sharman are completely inaccurate.

"When we learned of the sad death on October 18 we expressed our condolences to the next of kin and an agreement was made with the next of kin to hand the keys in.

"At no time was pressure put on the family to hand the keys in earlier. Staff were very sympathetic and the keys were not finally collected until this Wednesday. 1066 always endeavours to be as sympathetic as possible in times of bereavement and have worked closely with the next of kin to ensure enough time was allowed to vacate the property."