A charity given less than three months to vacate its home at an arts centre believes the attempted eviction is unlawful.

Lawyers acting for Community Focus say the eviction notice served on them by the North Finchley artsdepot last week is not legally binding.

The arts charity was told last week it has until June 5 to leave the centre after artsdepot directors agreed a tenancy deal with private dance school the London Studio Centre (LSC).

The charity, which provides art classes and projects for people with physical and learning disabilities, plans to fight the eviction and has arranged a meeting with artsdepot chief executive Tracy Cooper on Monday.

Lawyers from DLA Piper today wrote to Ms Cooper demanding the artsdepot follows proper procedure and halts its eviction demands.

Community Focus director Tim Balogun said: “We want all our users, staff and funders to know that it is business as usual for Community Focus. 

“We don’t know how the issue with the artsdepot will be resolved, but we are here to stay and will continue to grow, helping more and more people.”

The charity’s chairman Tudor Spencer added: “It's a massive weight off my mind to know the eviction notice is unlawful.  Tracy Cooper didn't consult with us prior to giving notice and only offered an aggressively short notice period, which made the situation more stressful.

“For the last two years she has flatly refused to talk to us but has now agreed to meet and we are looking forward to working together to resolve this matter.  We all want a financially stable future for Artsdepot but need to find solution that is acceptable to all parties.”

The artsdepot chief executive has previously said the decision to evict Community Focus was a "difficult" one.

In a further statement, she said: "We weren’t able to consult Community Focus ahead of serving notice because the agreement with London Studio Centre was confidential.

"We’ve given Community Focus as much notice as we are able to and have said that we’ll do all we reasonably can to make this process as straightforward as possible for them.

"Giving Community Focus the option to stay would have meant that we couldn’t have had the partnership with LSC, which is vital to our continued existence. This partnership allows artsdepot to survive."