A FAMILY facing eviction last weekend received an eleventh-hour reprieve from the Supreme Court.

The Dunlops ? 79-year-old grandmother Barbara, mother Ursula and mentally challenged daughter Ren?e ? faced being thrown out of their Pembroke home, because their landlady Judy Hendrickson wanted to make major renovations to the property, as we reported in last week's .

The eviction order was for 11 a.m. last Friday, but just 40 minutes before the bailiffs were due to arrive, the family received the news they had been hoping for.

"It was about 10.20 a.m. and I was in the tub when they called," Ursula Dunlop said. "They gave me a court order saying we had an extension."

The family had appealed the eviction order in Supreme Court two days earlier, but did not hear the result until what they thought would be the final hour of their 20 years in the apartment on Curving Avenue.

"They still came round at 11 a.m. ? there was a bailiff, a police officer and a locksmith ? but when I showed them the order they eventually left," Ms Dunlop added.

The extension will allow the family's case to be heard by an Appeals Committee this afternoon.

Ms Hendrickson served the original notice to quit on the Dunlops last September, asking them to vacate by November 1. Her grounds for moving them out that renovations "of a major character" needed to be carried out.

At the time, the apartment roof was leaking into two bedrooms and the living room because of damage from Hurricane Fabian.

The Dunlops issued a counter notice to quit inside two weeks, arguing that the renovations needed were not sufficiently major to require them to vacate the rent-controlled property.

The case went to Magistrates' Court on February 18 this year, but a misunderstanding between Ms Dunlop and Ms Hendrickson's lawyers meant the tenant was not represented. In her absence, the court issued an order for the family to get out by March 31.

And the Dunlops' application for that order to be rescinded was originally turned down by Magistrate Ed King, but thanks to their latest extension, the family will get a chance to have their say today.