Ann and Alan Keen in the firing line after "main" home revelations (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Ann and Alan Keen in the firing line after "main" home revelations

3:42pm Thursday 25th June 2009

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Pressure was today mounting on under-fire MPs the Keens to resign after reports their “empty” constituency home could be reposessed hit national headlines.

Residents demanded a face-to-face explanation from the pair after Hounslow Council asked the couple to explain why the house - their designated “main” home - had not been occupied for more than six months.

But the couple, dubbed Mr and Mrs Expenses, told the Hounslow and Brentford Times they were “desperate” to get back into their Brentford home.

They claim a dispute with builders is forcing them to live at their £750,000 “second home” on the river Thames and pledged to move back to their constituency home in two months.

Snaps of the house show an overgrown garden and boarded up windows, meanwhile their South Bank waterside flat has its own swimming pool, hot tub, gym and concierge service.

Pressure was growing today for the couple to stand down.

Isleworth Councillor Paul Fisher, from the Community Group party, said: "I think they should go, the sooner the better."

Stuart Parrott, of Justin Close, Brentford, who is campaigning for the couple to quit, said: "I wish they would have the courage to stand up in front of their constituents in Feltham and Heston and Brentford and Isleworth and explain each of their claims."

Councillor Andrew Dakers, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Brentford and Isleworth, agreed it could be a “resigning matter”.

He said: “Clearly it (the Brentford house) couldn’t be their main home for six months or so that the work was going on.

“We need to know whether they changed the status there. If they didn’t, that could be a resigning matter because clearly they were drawing expenses over that period that they shouldn’t have.”

Commons rules state an MP's second home should be where he or she spends the least nights.

But Mr Keen, MP for Feltham and Heston, said the Commons fees office agreed their building problems were a “special circumstance”, and he and his wife, MP for Brentford and Isleworth, had not considered “flipping” the status of their two homes.

In a joint statement the couple said: "It is categorically untrue to say that our home is an empty dwelling as made clear by the relevant legislation. It is currently in the process of being substantially renovated, entirely at our own expense.

"The property is not subject to an empty dwelling management order. The letter we have received from Hounslow Council is clear that owners undertaking renovation work on their homes are not under threat of repossession.

"Our representatives are in the process of speaking Hounslow Council with the details of our renovation work. As soon as this work is completed, we will be back living at home in Brentford, where we have lived for the past 22 years."

The couple submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Conservative-led council to find out how the “personal issue” of their Brentford home was leaked to the media.

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