They ignored a petition with 36 thousand signatures. They also ignored calls from politicians and members of the religious community to allow then to carry on living in their flat.
Now the Holy Trinity Properties Trust have started court action to remove a vulnerable family from one of their properties in Ripon.
It all started when Linsey Reeves and her husband were served a no fault eviction notice just days before they were outlawed.
Section 21 Evictions, which was where a landlord did not have to provide a reason for their actions, were ended by the new Renters’ Rights Act from May 1st 2026.
Their 3 bed flat is managed by Holy Trinity Properties Trust, which funds the religious work of the Holy Trinity Church opposite. It’s an independent organisation and it’s not run by church officers. The trust has said it was acting on the advice of the letting agents, Linley and Simpson in Ripon.
Linsey Reeves 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 had also found in the family’s favour over an issue with the letting agency in May 2025.
The family has nowhere to go, housing officers at North Yorkshire Council told them to stay put and let the trust take legal action to get a court order to evict them. That has now happened and it was served on the family yesterday (Thursday 23 July)
John Richmond, a Freeman of the City, former mayor and recipient of the British Empire Medal for services to the community in the Queen’s 2021 New Year’s Honours, was behind the petition. He hoped it would lead to pressure on the church and the trust to think again. But they wouldn’t budge.
Lindsey has been talking again to YorkMix Radio: and you can hear the interview in full on the Sunday Late Show (Sunday 26 July 10pm)
“We received court papers that notified us that the Holy Trinity Properties Trust had started proceedings via an accelerated process. So I think they’re hoping it’ll be quite a quick process for possession of the property. We’ve been given 14 days to submit a defence to the court, and then they will move to give an eviction date for us.
“It generally means that there isn’t an in-person hearing. So if the Section 21 was served correctly, and the start of our tenancy began with everything in place, such as your deposit going into a protection scheme, it means it is all valid, and they will just basically rule on the paperwork that’s in front of them rather than any hearing.
“We’re currently speaking with various solicitors that are investigating the whole case for us to see if there’re routes that we can challenge it with. But it’s not looking great.
“There’s nothing available anywhere. (To move to) There’s still nothing on the private market at all. The council still can’t find us any emergency temporary accommodation anywhere.
“The homeless hostel’s still full, so they said they’re going to have to look at sending us out of the area (out of the Ripon area to another part of North Yorkshire) which would mean probably having to pull the children out of schools, and we’re obviously not sure with our autistic son because he can’t be moved from his specialist setting that he’s at. So it’s really scary at the moment.”
YorkMix Radio has in the past offered Robert Thew, chair of Holy Trinity Properties Trust, which owns the apartment block, a chance to put their side of the story but he didn’t want to be interviewed. He said when the story broke: “Decisions about individual tenancies are taken acting on the advice of the letting agents Linley and Simpson.”
Linley and Simpson does not comment on individual tenancies.
