Union resistance foils eviction of Cliftonwood resident

An attempted eviction of a freelance musician in Cliftonwood has been called off after members of the public showed up to the property in support.

Housing association, LiveWest arranged for bailiffs to evict Steeve Maville after the freelance musician missed rent payments and went into rent arrears.

But members of housing union, Acorn, blocked all entrances to Steeve’s block of flats, leading to the eviction being called off.

Connor Macleod, a member of Acorn, told Bristol24/7 Steeve had been trying to negotiate a payment plan with his housing association.

Acorn members Connor Macleod and Ian Quaife, outside Steeve’s building – photo: Mia Vines Booth

“There is a disagreement between Steeve and the housing manager about how their rent arrears are being paid,” they said.

“(Steeve) ran up rent arrears during lockdown as a freelance worker. They have since been finding work, paying rent on time and paying back their rent arrears.

“However the building manager doesn’t like the speed at which they are being paid back, and has escalated things ridiculously to try and evict him and throw him out on the street which we are not going to let happen.

“We are calling for the landlord and the building manager to negotiate with our member.”

Connor said the building manager had arrived at the property and seemed startled by the gathering of people before leaving. Two LiveWest employees could also be seen around the corner of the property.

Acorn members said they hoped to be able to negotiate with the manager on Tuesday but this did not look likely.

Usually, if an eviction is unsuccessful, landlord must apply for a new one. So Steeve could be sent another notice of eviction in the future.

Members of Acorn have successfully blocked a number of evictions in recent years, including in Easton and Hillfields.

“The institution of bailiffs is a horrendous system,” said Connor.

“It is incredibly taxing, physically and mentally, for people who are under the thumb of these people. It is oftentimes violent. It is completely unfair and always targets the less well off in society.”

Ian Quaife, Steeve’s friend and Acorn member, told Bristol24/7 the ongoing situation had affected Steeve’s mental health.

“Steeve has got into difficulty with his rent because of Covid when he couldn’t find any work so got into rent arrears.

“He tried to negotiate with the landlord and the housing association to restructure and pay back his arrears. That’s failed and his landlords have taken a heavy hand and gone to the court.

“It’s really effected Steeve’s mental health. He is French with English as a second language. Its been difficult for him to navigate the legal system. He’s really struggled mentally.”

“There’s easy solutions to these things. The housing association could get to get together with Steeve and renegotiate a structured payback of the arrears.”

“Otherwise Steeve could be on the streets and homeless.”

James Reseigh, director of neighbourhoods for LiveWest, said: “We only ever apply for eviction as a last resort.

“In this case Maville has built up substantial arrears over a considerable period.

“We have worked with a number of agencies in the community who have tried to support him. Unfortunately, he has not engaged with us or taken up the additional offers of support to help him.

“We applied to the court for a possession order using discretionary grounds – this means that the judge is able to consider the full facts of the case and determine whether a possession order is appropriate.

“We have given Maville further time to make payments since the original court date in September 2022 and to engage with us. Unfortunately he continually chose not to do this.

“The case has subsequently been to court on seven occasions, on each occasion Maville has promised the judge that he would engage with us and make payments.

“He has not done this and the debt has continued to escalate.  At the latest hearing on August 3, the judge determined that the eviction should go ahead without further appeals.

“Eviction is always a last resort and, even at this stage, we would be very happy to engage with Maville if he makes regular rent payments.”

Main photo: Mia Vines Booth

Read next:

• Union resistance prevents ‘beloved’ community worker’s eviction
• Crowd turns out to thwart eviction of disabled man
• ‘Acorn is a community union that has landlords on the run’

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: