A council has been blasted for its incredulous and “absolutely outrageous” behaviour to prevent the eviction of up to 80 tenants, caused by its own pig-headed actions in driving through the mass eviction.

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Bristol’s Labour council started off this chain of events when being granted a banning order against a landlord who to comply with the order must now evict between 60 to 80 tenants by December 1st.

The Bristol authority has now been slammed  by a Green Party councillor for not using a Special Interim Management Order and by doing so would have prevented the calamitous mass eviction.

The Special Interim Management Order would in essence give the council the power to manage both the properties and tenants (by re-housing them) and in charge of selling off the landlord’s portfolio.

The Green’s councillor, Barry Parsons, told the  Bristol Live news website: “The rent would be paid to whoever the council appointed, and that money used to fix repairs and maintain the properties. It’s a fairly simple process, and is a power that councils have that was specifically designed for situations like this. It would remain in place until either she sold the properties to another landlord with the rental agreement in place, or the tenant found somewhere else and moved out."

The banning order was described by Parson as “a massive own goal” which was issued by the council in 2022 and was confirmed against an appeal held earlier in the year.

The council of course has told Bristol Live that it is not at fault or responsible for the oncoming evictions.

Bristol Live journalists have now seen the council’s emails to the landlord’s lettings agents  which categorically shows it demanding that all tenancies must end by December 1st, failure to do so could result in the landlord having to face a prison sentence. 

Landlord Naomi Knapp, who owns 29 properties in Bristol of which 18 required licencing issued was found guilty of eight banning order offences down to extremely badly managed HMOs and is on the government's rogue landlord database.

In 2022 Knapp was issued with a banning order by the First Tier Property Tribunal due to missing and badly installed fire doors along with ceilings and walls in urgent need of proper maintenance. Other major issues with some properties were rubbish strewn gardens and damaged fixtures and fittings in communal areas. 

The landlord was allowed to appeal on six grounds which were dismissed.