CHARLOTTE'S FLAT MATING

SINGER Charlotte Church is moving into a new flat with DJ boyfriend Steve Johnson.

The couple are looking for a property to rent in the heart of Cardiff close to where Steve lives with his father.

Charlotte, 16 - said to be worth pounds 15 million - and 18-year- old Steve hope to move in before Christmas.

They have been shown details of several properties but favour an exclusive waterfront flat in a block called Landmark Place.

A two-bedroom apartment with a view both over the city and over the water costs pounds 800 a month.

The move comes just a week after the singer sacked her mother as her manager.

Charlotte - this year's winner of Rear of the Year - had already angered her parents by moving out of the Welsh family home.

Friends say she has been virtually living with Steve but they have now decided to take the big step of getting their own place.

Last night a family source said: "Because of her commitments preparing for an American tour they have asked a relative to view various flats for them. Hopefully they will have settled on somewhere definite ready to move in when she returns from the US.

"Charlotte absolutely adores Steve and he is besotted by her. They really are in love.

"Her parents fear he's leading her astray but most of the time they don't do anything wild, just hang out at his dad's home together."

The teenage soprano fired her mother Maria as manager last week after a series of bitter rows - mainly over Steve.

They culminated in an instruction to her record label, Sony, that Charlotte no longer wants her mother involved in any aspect of her career.

Charlotte later defended her decision and said that she and her mother were still close.

Next Saturday the singer will talk to chat show host Michael Parkinson about her stormy relationship with her mother - and her close one with Steve.

The singer's money is managed by Charlotte Church Ltd, of which her mother and stepfather James, 38, are both directors. It is being held in trust and she will not be able to get at it until she is 21.

Charlotte built her success on her demure image and her "Voice of an Angel" after appearing on a TV talent show as an 11-year- old singing Andrew Lloyd Webber's aria Pie Jesu.

But in recent times she has grown from a sweet little girl to rebellious teenager.

To her mother's dismay, she started dating 18-year-old Johnson, whom she met through a mutual friend, nine months ago.

They kissed at her 16th birthday party in a Cardiff nightclub in February and began dating two weeks later. She describes him as her "bit of rough".

Recently a pounds 40,000 BMW with a personalised number plate has appeared outside the house - believed to be a gift from Charlotte.

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