Derrick Bensted said he was "managing very well" in his half

Derrick Bensted was ordered in July 2004 to move out of half of Stag Cottage in Whitstable, Kent, because of a dispute over a lease.

He inherited the home unaware previous owners had rented half of it from the Whitstable Oyster and Fishery Company.

The firm applied to make the other half into a house but has scrapped the idea.

After being asked to move Mr Bensted vowed to remain in his house and bailiffs had to erect a wall in August 2004 to split the building in two, taking away his kitchen and bedroom and half his living room.

'Not a priority'

Previous owners had paid rent to the firm for the section it owned, but when Mr Bensted inherited the house in the 1990s he said he was unaware of the arrangement and did not pay.

The oyster company's development manager James Green said the firm had withdrawn its application to transform its half of the building after councillors were recommended to turn the application down.

He said: "It was never really our intention to convert it in the near future, it's not really a priority for us.

"If we can't use our half residentially it raises issues of whether he can use his half residentially."