The final chapter looks set to play out in the story of Ramsey’s Bleak House.

It is understood that a sale of the eyesore property on Moorage Promenade to a developer is proceeding.

And the potential purchaser is planning to refurbish the building and convert it into flats.

Ramsey Town Commissioners served an improvement notice on the leaseholders in September in a move that was aimed at breaking the deadlock which had left the building to deteriorate.

One of the leaseholders is Jane Morris, who had been living alone in Bleak House without mains power or heating since her husband died in April last year.

It is understood that she is no longer living there.

The Commissioners have allowed to the end of December to enable the leaseholders to sell their interests to the developer.

It is understood the property is being sold by private treaty and the would-be buyer is also acquiring all the leaseholds.

If a sale fails to go through by then, the local authority will consider the need for any further legal action.

Commissioners’ clerk Peter Whiteway said: ’The Commissioners understand that the sale of the leasehold interests in the property Bleak House is proceeding and that the purchaser intends to renovate the building to create apartments.

’Notices which had been issued against the leaseholders in their individual capacities have been withdrawn to enable the sale process to proceed.

’The position will be reviewed at the end of December, when the Commissioners will also review the need to consider any further legal action.’ Mrs Morris blames her husband Michael’s death from a heart attack on the strain he was under in his long-running legal battle to save the eyesore seafront property from demolition.

The section 24 notice under the Building Control Act issued by the Commissioners required the leaseholders to improve the appearance of the former guesthouse, including tidying up the render, painting the walls and replacing windows.

Previous action to issue a section 24 notice was served on the owner of the building, a company of which Mrs Morris is a shareholder.

But following a court judgment on an unrelated legal case, the Commissioners were advised they could take action against the leaseholders.

Last year, it looked like an end to the decades-long dispute could be in sight after agreement in principle was reached between Mrs Morris and the other leaseholder to sell the building, free of the legal encumbrances that have thwarted progress for years.

It was recognised that the leaseholders did not have access to the finances needed to refurbish the building.

But that move came to nothing when the parties were unable to reach an agreement.