A MAN who is fighting cancer may be made homeless after houses were built in the wrong place in Frogmore.

Martin Searle applied for the new homes, controlled by the Hastoe Group, with his girlfriend Megan Saunders and was told they could move in in June 2016.

He said: ‘A few weeks before we were due to move, we had a letter from Hastoe saying that there had been “issues on site” and they couldn’t hand over the keys.’

Martin says his date for moving in to the new property moved to the beginning of July, then to the end of August, then they were told that there were more problems and it would be September, then it would be October 27.

The night before they were due to move, October 26, having packed up the house into boxes and arranging for removal teams, carpet fitters and other trades, they received an email saying that they couldn’t be moved in.

‘All those trades lost out as we had booked them to work that day’, explained Martin. To add insult to the situation, Martin was diagnosed with cancer during this period, meaning he had to have chemotherapy treatment and was due to start another round over Christmas, but the uncertainty has taken its toll.

‘We have nowhere else to move to. We are supposed to be moving out of where we are at the end of the month, but we can’t afford to rent privately.

‘Technically, we will be homeless after January 31.’

The four houses at the rear of the development have been built on the wrong orientation and across a boundary.

A spokesman for Hastoe said: ‘The two planning submissions made to South Hams DC last year are yet to be decided – we are, however, confident of a positive outcome.

‘Hastoe cannot take handover of the units and move residents in until we have a planning permission. All of the residents are being updated weekly and had previously been advised to extend their current tenancies past the end of January.

‘As previously stated, we expect a positive outcome regarding the two planning submissions and remain in constant contact with our residents regarding the developments.’

South Hams Council have confirmed that the confirmation date for the retrospective planning application is Thursday, February 2.