The landlord behind a last minute decision to issue a family in Ripon with a no fault eviction notice, days before they became unlawful, has has had the order confirmed by a court.
Linsey Reeves and her husband were served a Section 21 Eviction notice following a long battle to get issues in the flat, over the road from Holy Trinity Church, sorted.
The landlord did not have to provide a reason for their actions, but under the new Renters’ Rights Act as from May 1st 2026 that couldn’t happen any more.
The family’s three-bed flat is managed by Holy Trinity Properties Trust, which funds the religious work of the** Holy Trinity Church**.
It’s an independent organisation and it’s not run by church officers.
Linsey said she doesn’t know why her family were being evicted, but they had raised various issues with the maintenance of the Victorian property, including repeatedly asking for windows to be repaired.
The Property Ombudsman found in the family’s favour over an issue with them in May 2025.
The trust has said it was acting on the advice of the letting agents, Linley and Simpson in Ripon.
Robert Thew, chair of the Holy Trinity Properties Trust texted a brief statement toYorkMix back in June which read : “Holy Trinity Properties Trust is a small charitable trust which administers four adjoining flats in Ripon. It aims to let these at more affordable rates and it’s trustees are unpaid volunteers.
“In recent years an extensive programme of refurbishment of the flat has been undertaken and this work is ongoing.”
The family agree that some work has been done but many issues remain.
Robert Thew’s statement continued: “We are aware that there has been an amount of media interest in recent weeks but in order to respect the privacy of all our tenants we believe it would be unethical to comment any further or to provide information on individual tenancies.”
Also in June, he declined an opportunity to put the Trust’s case on YorkMix Radio. We have repeated that offer and asked if the trust wants to comment further but have not had a reply as yet.
Now Linsey and her family say they have a dilemma as they have been told to stay put until the last legal action or they risk making themselves intentionally homeless.
“It’s just heartbreaking to see what this is doing to our children more than anything else. No one has enough space to accommodate us. My husband’s family is from a different county, hours away, and obviously our son has lots of problems with travelling.
“So we can try and obviously visit certain family members, but obviously with autism in the household, my husband being autistic, they struggle with a lot of noise and the busyness of the period and being overwhelmed, and they need that safe space to run away to when it all gets a bit overwhelming.
“Everyone’s reaching out to us and offering to store a bit of furniture here and there. But at the end of the day, we’re not going to have a home. Our children don’t know where they’re going to be, and it’s just horrible. No child should be faced with this at all. Never mind at Christmas time”
The Section 21 was served just days before the law changed. Landlords can no longer issue “no-fault” eviction notices.
Lindsey told the YorkMix Radio Sunday Late Show (To be broadcast on 11th October at 10pm):
“We’re in a really strange situation at the moment, we’re doing everything we can to secure accommodation but we can’t find anything privately, and the council don’t have anything for us either. When it gets to the 13th of November (latest deadline) if we haven’t found accommodation, we can’t just leave and stay with family or friends on sofas or floors because we class then, as intentionally homeless, and the council will have no legal duties to support us.
“So we have to stay put and the trust then has to apply to the court to evict us, and they give you two weeks’ notice of a bailiff arriving, and then you have to legally be out of your property.
“So it’s horrible for us. We obviously want to be out. We want a home for our children. We want stability and security.
“It is just awful. We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”