A recently elected Tory district councillor allegedly owes multiple landlords tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid rent.

The Epping Forest Guardian has seen legal documents which detail debts totalling more than £50,000 owed by Cllr Deborah Barlow to three Chigwell-based landlords between 2016 – 2021.

All three claim any attempt to recoup the debts through the courts has proved impossible, with Cllr Barlow managing to evade bailiffs.

Cllr Barlow, a parish councillor since 2016, was recently elected as a Conservative district councillor for Grange Hill on May 6.

One landlord, Gillian Abrams, says she rented her home of 20 years to Cllr Barlow when she had to move to Scotland to care for her ill and blind mother.

The agreed rent for the property in Dickens Rise, Chigwell, was £1,550 per month – Cllr Barlow moved in in January 2016.

“She paid the deposit and first three months’ rent, then she missed the next payment but insisted that she had paid it, at which time I didn’t know there was a problem, so I thought she was telling the truth and there was some mix up with the bank,” Gillian explained.

However, after paying two more months’ rent, payments stopped entirely.

In August 2016 Gillian, at the time owed £4,650, turned to the courts where Cllr Barlow paid £3,000 to prevent the eviction.

Following the case, no further rent was paid, and again Gillian took her to court for debts of £9,732 in April 2017.

Gillian alleges no payment has ever been made and her actual losses including legal fees are much higher.

She further alleges Deborah left her house in a “dreadful dirty and damaged state” fleeing bailiffs.

“She left in a hurry as I paid for the high court bailiffs to evict her,” Gillian said. “She moved her possessions into storage but left loads of rubbish in the house. The things she left also revealed the luxury lifestyle she had been living. The packaging from top designer brands of clothes and luxury goods were abandoned in the loft.

“It certainly appeared that she had plenty of money to spend, but not on the rent."

Gillian Abrams says Cllr Barlow left her home a mess with designer brand packaging strewn across the floors.

Gillian Abrams says Cllr Barlow left her home a mess with designer brand packaging strewn across the floors.

Gillian Abrams says Cllr Barlow left her home a mess with designer brand packaging strewn across the floors.

Gillian Abrams says Cllr Barlow left her home a mess with designer brand packaging strewn across the floors.

Gillian is not the only person to make such claims against Cllr Barlow.

James Morley claims his mother – who was at the times 90 years old – lost £7,527 when she rented her home to the councillor to help pay for her own care needs in 2015.

“She moved into my mother’s property when my mum moved to an old peoples’ home. We wanted the rent coming in to pay for the home. Obviously getting ripped off let us with an economic hole that we had to fill,” Mr Morley said.

Despite securing court orders for payment in April 2016, Mr Morley alleges he has not received any payment.

He also alleges the Epping Forest Conservative group has failed to act, despite being aware of the issue.

Mr Morley said: “The Epping Forest Conservative Party’s response over this matter has been pretty disgusting. I know that in broad terms this is a personal matter, but councillors in an elected office are supposed to follow the Nolan Principles.

“When we provided bundles of documents to the group, they said it was a ‘private matter’ and then effectively promoted her from parish councillor to be a nominee for the district council.”

The Conservative Party has not responded to request for comment.

The Epping Forest Guardian has also seen documentation from a further landlord, Mr Noor Ali, who in February of 2021 secured a court judgement order for the repayment of more than £32,000 in unpaid rent and loans.

Cllr Deborah Barlow has also been contacted for comment but has not responded.

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