Tenants receive eviction notices after rogue landlord’s banning order

Eviction notices were dropped through the letterboxes of Naomi Knapp’s tenants on a recent evening.

The Section 21 notices affect at least ten properties across mostly south Bristol, largely occupied by students and young professionals, including the author of this article.

If these evictions are to proceed, at least 30 people will find themselves homeless in our city, where rents are now the second highest in the UK.

Knapp was fined £22,000 by Bristol City Council in 2021 for offences covering fire safety issues and poor upkeep of communal areas.

She received a banning order for eight offences in August 2022, which prohibits her from letting housing, engaging in letting agency work, and engaging in property management work.

Knapp was given six months to sort out the management of her existing tenants and since then has outsourced management of her existing tenancies to two property management companies.

Knapp was granted permission to appeal six of the eight grounds of her banning order, making her the first appellant against an order under the Housing & Planning Act 2016 to be heard by the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). All six counts of appeal were denied.

A news release published on the Bristol City Council website on May 31 said that “any tenant who rents from Ms Knapp does not need to do anything at this point – the Banning Order does not change a renter’s legal rights and does not necessarily mean they will need to leave their properties”.

Convicted rogue landlord Naomi Knapp let out 29 properties across Bristol – photo: Martin Booth

On July 1, my 12-month contract expired. Two of my former flatmates moved out, and two new tenants moved in.

Instead of being issued a new contract, presumably due to the banning order, we were given a deed of assignment, whereby a tenancy is legally transferred from one person to another.

We were given assurances that this was a formality and that we would not have to move out at short notice.

Before signing the deed of assignment and moving into Knapp’s property, one of my flatmates spent a year moving between short term lets in Bristol, being unable to find anywhere long term to rent.

She said: “I’ve been denied housing for not having a home address, and on the basis of my gender identity. All any of us want is a stable place to live.”

Rebecca and her flatmates have lived at another of Knapp’s properties for just over a year.

“Me and my housemate are finishing our third year at university and the stress of moving during our last year is very worrying,” Rebecca told Bristol24/7.

“On top of our dissertations, numerous exams and coursework due, finding another property and moving during this time seems near impossible if we are to keep on top of our studies. This will impact our education greatly.”

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Read more: Rogue landlord fined £22k loses appeal to overturn her ban

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Yvette Giudetti of Next Home Solutions – one of the two property management companies Knapp’s properties have been outsourced to – said: “I think it’s awful having to give people notice when they are in the midst of studies, the facts are that trying to find alternative accommodation is going to be difficult or near impossible at this time when Bristol has such a bad housing crisis.”

In a tweet, Green councillor for Windmill Hill, Ed Plowden, said: “@bristolgreen councillors looking into this and how many affected. I’m not expert in this area but I (was) led to believe that the banning order could and should also have included a management order to allow @bristolcouncil to manage the properties. It appears this did not happen.”

Another of Knapp’s tenants added: “Upon receiving this notice I could understand the reasonings for our landlord to be reprimanded.

“However, even though I feel as though we are doing the right thing to seek help from authorities it’s leaving me feeling hopeless as to what my options are.”

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “This rogue landlord has been banned, by the courts, from letting properties after repeatedly failing to meet the required standards.

“Our officers previously tried to work with them for many, many years to improve the condition and the management practices of their properties without success.

“We were therefore forced to take action to tackle this rogue landlord, who rented out properties in poor condition, with fire safety issues, to protect people renting in the city.

“The council has not issued any eviction notices to these tenants. There are options available to the rogue landlord that do not involve evicting tenants, but we unfortunately have no control over the course of action that this rogue landlord takes to comply with the banning order.

“We sympathise with the tenants being evicted by this rogue landlord. Council officers have provided advice to tenants who have been in contact with us, including signposting them to available legal advice.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Water pours into flat after landlord refuses to fix leak
• Former cabinet member calls for boundary expansion to help solve housing crisis
• Major city centre housing development could have no affordable housing

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