A campaigner against the “bedroom tax” is one of the first people threatened with eviction from a council home – just weeks after officials promised they would intervene if anybody faced losing their property due to the controversial policy.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s Green administration was the first local authority in England to approve a “no eviction”

policy to those pushed into debt by the Government policy.

Politicians voted through the decision earlier this month after a plea from Maureen Pilbeam, who has lived in a three-bed house in Selmeston Place, Brighton, for nearly 30 years.

But, just weeks later, the mum of five, received a letter warning her she owed £176.78 in unpaid rent.

The local authority said it was just following its legal obligation to warn tenants when they were building up rent.

But Ms Pilbeam, who has only been spared eviction temporarily after her daughter borrowed the money, said her home has become “like a noose around her neck”.

Ms Pilbeam, who is in her 50s, said: “I have always worked but then my life fell apart. My husband left and I lost my job and nowI rely on benefits to survive.

“With gas and electric [as well as the rent], it’s just impossible to live.

“I have sold everything I own, that’s how I have survived.

“It’s not about the money though; this is the place that I call home. It’s full of memories and where I raisedmychildren.”

Ms Pilbeam, who receives £71 a week in jobseekers’ allowance, now has to find £23.07 a week extra to stay in her property.

She said: “I do not know what is going to happen long term.

“I feel like I have no future.

I’m just living day to day.”

A council spokesman said: “We have a legal obligation to warn tenants of the consequences of not paying rent and this letter is part of the multiple efforts we already make to work with tenants to avoid building up debts and facing eviction.

“The letter sent out is part of the process that enables us to work with tenants to explore all options including the feasibility of transferring to a more suitable property to avoid any benefit reductions.”

When asked why the tenant had been told there was no such policy, a council spokesman said: “We can only apologise and assure tenants that we’re doing everything to make our staff aware of the support options for tenants affected by the government’s welfare reforms.”