A FAMILY of three ? including a mentally challenged woman suffering from a rare brain disease and a grandmother of nearly 80 ? face being evicted from their Pembroke home today.

The Dunlops have spent a four-figure sum in legal fees disputing a notice to quit they received last September from their landlady Judy Hendrickson.

But their efforts have proved to be in vain and now they stand to start the holiday weekend homeless.

Ms Hendrickson wants the tenants out in order to carry out renovations.

Ursula Dunlop, a cleaner, has lived in the rent-controlled apartment on Curving Avenue for 20 years and is the family's sole bread-winner. She lives there now with her 33-year-old daughter Ren?e, who suffers from a rare brain disease which has left her physically and mentally challenged.

Her 79-year-old mother Barbara Dunlop also lives in the $960-a-month apartment. She has breathing and walking difficulties as a result of treatment for cervical cancer several years ago.

On Wednesday, the Dunlops went to Supreme Court to ask for a reprieve from eviction. Yesterday, they were unable to find out the result of their appeal. Ursula Dunlop said she had been promised the decision if she called the court at 9 a.m. today ? two hours before the bailiffs are scheduled to visit them. And she added that she didn't know what the family would do if the eviction went ahead.

"There is nowhere for us to go," she said. "I'm not putting my daughter in St. Brendan's, I refuse to break up the family."

Ren?e Dunlop's condition has left her unable to speak and partially deaf. She is also physically challenged, having suffered a broken leg that did not set properly.

Shortly after Hurricane Fabian caused damage to the apartment's roof and ceiling last September, Ms Hendrickson served a notice to quit on the Dunlops, asking them to vacate by November 1 last year.

At the time, the apartment roof was leaking rainwater into two bedrooms and the living room of the property.

"The leaking was so so bad, we had to use buckets and even tarpaulins to catch the water," Ms Dunlop said.

"It was so bad, we couldn't live there and had to move into the Salvation Army hostel. For three months, there were no repairs done."

Ms Hendrickson informed the tenants she intended to carry out a major renovations "in order that the premises may be reinstated into a habitable condition".

Under the Rent Increases (Domestic Premises) Control Act 1978, the landlord's intention to carry out "renovations of a major character" is one of the reasons tenants can be asked to leave.

Renovations "of major character" are defined as not being able to reasonably be done while the tenants were still living in the property.

In addition Ms Hendrickson said the Dunlops would not be required to pay the September rent, as the apartment was not habitable at that time.

The Dunlops issued a counter notice to quit in October last year, arguing that the repairs needed to stop the roof leaking were not major enough to require them to move out.

In the meantime, some repair work was carried out on the leaking roof which, according to Ms Dunlop, did not entirely stop the leaking problem.

"There is no water coming through the ceiling of my mother's bedroom, but around Christmas there were heavy rains and there was water coming down from the ceiling in my daughter's room and the living room," she said.

In a sworn affidavit, Ms Dunlop said she had contacted a building contractor who looked at the work done on the roof. He advised her that the roof had been repaired with "roof patch" rather than cement. The "roof patch" had come unstuck and hence the leaking had resumed.

But when the case went to court on February 18, a misunderstanding between Ms Dunlop and Ms Hendrickson's lawyers meant the tenant was not represented in Magistrates' Court. In Ms Dunlop's absence, an order was made, giving the Dunlops until March 31 to get out.

Ms Dunlop and her lawyer Peter Farge applied for that order to be rescinded. But their application was turned down by Magistrate Ed King and the family have yet to be informed of Wednesday's ruling on their further attempt in Supreme Court to get a reprieve.

The warrant of eviction states that bailiffs will evict the Dunlops at 11 a.m. today.