TENANTS in a quiet village street were horrified when they picked up the local paper and discovered their homes being advertised for sale.
The advert promised potential buyers that the terraced cottages would soon be vacant.
Residents of Stormont Road, Scone, Perthshire, yesterday condemned their millionaire landlord, Mr Morris Leslie, and claimed that he had put their homes on the market with no warning.
Now the tenants fear they will be forced to move from their close-knit community unless a buyer comes forward who agrees to let them stay on.
Angry tenants, some elderly and disabled, vowed yesterday that they will not go without a struggle.
Nine of the residents have only six-month assured tenancies, which offer little legal recourse if the landlord wants them to leave.
Ms Fiona Nisbet, 28, who has lived in one of the 12 houses since July last year with her three children, said the sale was a disgrace.
She added: ''He has advertised our houses without bothering to write to any of his tenants. We thought they would be sold as rented houses, but now they are to be sold off as private homes and we will have to move on.
''They are trying to pull the wool over our eyes.''
The houses overlooking Scone Park were built in the 1930s to provide accommodation for staff at nearby Perth airport, but have been rented to private tenants for the last five years.
On March 3 the houses were bought, along with Perth Aerodrome, by local tycoon Mr Leslie for almost #3m.
After the purchase, members of Stormont Road Residents' Association wrote to the new owner to find out what would happen to the houses.
Ms Nisbet, whose children are aged seven, five, and 15 months, said: ''We were assured nobody would have to move out.''
But less than a month later the residents read in a local paper that their homes were to be sold by Mr Leslie - and would soon be empty.
Ms Nisbet added: ''We are being put out so they can sell the houses for twice the price.
''But we were given the impression that we would not be moved out.''
The property advert quoted a ''guiding price'' of between #37-40,000 for the homes let on short-term agreements, stating two of the houses already were empty and another seven would be ''vacant soon''. The other houses, on long-term leases, are for sale at #20,000.
Mrs Helen Williamson, who has lived in Stormont Road for four years, said Mr Leslie was breaking up a community by selling the houses.
Mrs Williamson, whose husband works in Nigeria, said she would be scared to move away.
She added: ''When I heard of the advert I was shocked, but then it turned into sheer bloody anger.
''We all want to stay here as we feel secure. I would not feel as safe anywhere else.''
But Halliday and Company, agents for the 12 houses and the aerodrome, insisted that the tenants had all been informed their contracts would not be renewed.
A spokesman for Mr Leslie said his plant hire and commercial property company Morris Leslie Ltd, based in nearby Errol, had always intended to sell the houses.
Spokesman Mike McWill-iams said: ''The residents have always been told the houses are for sale, and can buy them if they wish.''
The tenants now hope their local authority will buy all the houses, but fear the worse.
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