Sex therapist loses latest round of legal battle with aristocratic landlords trying to evict her
A sexologist embroiled in a legal battle with her aristocratic landlords has lost her latest case after taking over their historic home of more than 50 animals.
Lady Patricia Ramshaw, 54, has been denied a refund of her rent and a judge has dismissed her claim of harassment against the aristocratic Cator family over her rent at their 300-year-old family home.
The dispute has been called the UK’s most posh eviction squabble, with lingering effects of moldy walls, dozens of animals – and claims they were being spied on from a church steeple.
Lady Ramshaw first moved into the old house in Ranworth, Norfolk in the winter of 2021, but found no central heating, causing her to ‘freeze’ despite being fitted with oil radiators.
She then took the wealthy landowning family to court for a rent refund of £28,538 after claiming the house was unfit to live in without a mandatory energy efficiency rating.
Sexologist and artist Lady Patricia Ramshaw, 54, has been foiled in her rent-back bid
Someone is at the door: a huge white horse was among Lady Ramshaw’s animals
Jane Cator (pictured) was called to testify at an earlier hearing, alleging that Lady Ramshaw had breached her lease by bringing animals ‘in huge proportions’ onto the land
The property is estimated to be worth around £1.5 million, based on comparable sized homes in the region.
Landlord Sam Cator alleged that Lady Ramshaw violated the terms of her lease by moving in with more than 50 animals, including three Great Danes, two horses, 12 sheep, two pigs, a goat, ducks and chickens.
The animals are believed to have destroyed the Cator family’s historic orchard on the grounds of the seven-acre estate, after Lady Ramshaw allowed them to graze under the trees during the 2022 summer heat wave.
And in the latest twist of this row, the self-proclaimed Lady Ramshaw, who still lives in the property, was denied her rent repayment by Judge Stephen Evans.
Lady Patricia Ramshaw had claimed she was forced to live in freezing temperatures in her Grade II listed tenement in Ranworth, Norfolk
Lady Ramshaw keeps four dogs, including three Great Danes, on the beautiful Norfolk estate
He also criticized the two sides for taking the dispute to a tribunal – suggesting that the matter should be dealt with civilly.
He wrote: ‘The whole matter revolves around the respective civil rights of the parties, which are suitable for a completely different forum.
“These procedures provide a salutary lesson to those prospective landlords and tenants who begin by entering into a lease without defining the scope of the demise and without agreeing on all relevant terms of the lease before accepting occupancy.”
Lady Ramshaw, who works as a sex therapist, was given the title by an ex-boyfriend as part of a burlesque act where she was known as ‘Lady Pea’.
The Cators have repaid her a £13,000 heating bill she incurred in the property over the first Christmas, plus £4,500 in rent.
Lady Ramshaw has horses, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks and four Great Danes named Jager, Nova, Lola, Yogi living in her house
Lady Ramshaw opposes a bid from her landlord to evict her from her Grade II listed rental amid allegations that her 50 animals were doing ‘damage’ to the property
The two sides negotiated her early termination of her lease, and Lady Ramshaw said she would leave that summer in 2022, having gathered her animals from various stalls on the land to move in the same week in June.
However, the Cators then reneged on the agreement to terminate her lease early with a rent refund after coming into contact with an ex-partner of Ramshaw’s, whom she described as abusive.
Although Judge Evans denied Ramshaw’s right to a rent refund, he did acknowledge that the Cator family had changed a deal with Lady Ramshaw after she spoke to her ex-partner.
He wrote: ‘It is a pity for the applicant [Lady Ramshaw] that the contact had the effect of causing the respondent [Sam Cator] to change the terms of his offer of surrender.”
After the hearing, Lady Ramshaw said she did not consider the verdict a defeat as it had brought the case into the public domain.
Lady Ramshaw keeps four dogs, including three Great Danes, two horses, two pigs, a goat, several ducks and chickens and a flock of sheep
Lady Ramshaw keeps 20 animals, including four dogs, on her sprawling Norfolk estate
She said: “The rent payment hearing has been very successful for me because I have seen the shameful truth of what happened.
“I am very grateful to the judge for revealing such terrible things.”
Earlier she talked about the problems she had faced since she moved here.
She added: ‘Over Christmas I had pneumonia from the cold here for weeks.
‘I didn’t know there was no central heating when I moved here.
‘I visited the house beforehand, it was beautiful and described as ‘cozy and warm’.
“The week I moved in, I froze. My head was pounding from the cold.
‘The week I moved in, I tried to agree with the landlord where the animals would go.
“We had a meeting about the heating, and from December they tried to evict me. I had paid a year’s rent in advance.’
The judge’s report included allegations made at the hearing that Jane Cator, mother of landlord Sam Cator, had spied on Lady Ramshaw from a nearby church steeple and moved her animals.
However, the judge ruled that Mrs Cator’s explanations for climbing the tower – that it was not to spy on Lady Ramshaw and that she was a church janitor – was ‘completely plausible’.
The report reads: ‘We believe Ms. Cator when she said she looked at the property – but not specifically at the applicant – on all occasions she went up the tower.’
The judge also rejected claims that the Cator family’s staff had taken photographs of Lady Ramshaw.
The judge wrote: “We are not satisfied that the defendant or its agents personally photographed the applicant, as opposed to her animals or the damage they caused.”
As of April 2023, Lady Ramshaw still lives in the property, which she says she cannot afford to leave without a rent refund.
A possession order has been issued against her by the district courts, but she is trying to set it aside.
The Cators declined to comment.