A guest house where police broke up a party in breach Covid-19 regulations this month has been accused by tenants of operating without a hotel licence.

The family of seven who lived at Brightside in Flatts said they were ordered to leave after the guest house caught the attention of authorities.

But Michael Lightbourne, the owner of Brightside, said he was scheduled to renew his licence this month and that the guest house was not appropriate to accommodate a large family.

The couple, who asked not to be named, approached The Royal Gazette after they were told last week to leave their apartment at Brightside, where they had lived since February with their five children, after a hotel inspector visited.

They said Brightside came up for inspection after a group that rented one of its apartments held a birthday party on March 14 that was broken up by police.

Officers who investigated a noise complaint reported a gathering well in excess of the 25 people limit imposed as part of the battle against Covid-19.

The woman said: “If that party had not happened, he would never have asked us to leave.”

The couple said that two days after the event was broken up, they were told by their landlord it was “paramount” that they get new accommodation because their lodgings were up for inspection.

The couple, who work as house cleaners, are both on Financial Assistance, and have paid $800 a week for their accommodation at Brightside since the end of February.

They qualified for Financial Assistance in January after they lost work because of the pandemic.

The woman added: “Through it all, we’ve been looking for an apartment.”

The couple said they were told by the Bermuda Housing Corporation that no rooms were available because emergency housing was still under renovation.

They claimed the landlord switched off electricity to the room in a “strong arm” bid to force them out.

The woman added: “We’re not looking for a handout. We’re a family looking for a decent apartment for our kids.

“We have a lot of kids, but at the end of the day we take care of our children. They’re happy, they go to school and they’re all honour roll students.”

Mr Lightbourne insisted on Friday that the inspection was a routine procedure for relicensing.

He said that he had until the end of the month to get the licence renewed.

He added: “They came from being evicted somewhere else. I didn’t know it was so many – a total of seven people is too many to have living in there.

“I can’t have them occupying that space with my inspection coming up.

“It may be convenient for them, but it’s definitely not convenient for me. I tried to be sympathetic because they needed a place.

“If they can’t get a place to stay, Government needs to help them.”