Squalid conditions continue at Queen’s Court despite council action
“We’re now into a semi-regular routine every few weeks of getting our masks out, putting our gloves on, buying mould remover and spraying down rooms in the flat to try to get rid of all the black mould.”
This is now normal life for a resident of Queen’s Court, a historic art-deco block of flats in Clifton, where renters of around 80 flats are living in squalid conditions.
Speaking to the Cable on condition of anonymity due to fear of eviction, this tenant says they’ve had enough of the damp and mould, lack of repairs and poor communication from the building managers City Estates London.
“It’s an incredible shame because it’s a beautiful art deco building and I feel they’re slowly destroying it through negligence.”
The poor conditions in the building continue despite years of lobbying by local councillors, an investigation by the Cable two years ago that exposed the state of disrepair in the building, and enforcement action by Bristol City Council. And meanwhile the building managers and millionaire landlords continue to profit from Queen’s Court every year.
Tenants decided to take matters into their own hands in February when dozens were slapped with the second rent increase in as many years. They have since set up a union, sent a list of demands to City Estates, and shown local councillors nearly 100 photos of damp and black mould, leaking drain pipes, broken doors, holes in walls, leaking ceilings, and rotting floorboards.
And now six tenants who have demanded improvements before agreeing to any rent increase are facing eviction threats from City Estates. In one email seen by the Cable, the building managers said the tenant would have one month to find somewhere else to live, otherwise they would start possession proceedings.
Two years since the Cable last reported on Queen’s Court, have there been any improvements at all? And what is going to be done to force the building owners to take action?
‘Bodge job after bodge job’
The Cable has seen photos of severe damp and mould, and water leaking down walls and from ceilings, but tenants were too scared for these photos to be shared publicly in case of retaliation from City Estates.
“It’s the only place I’ve lived in where I’ve seen a mushroom effectively attack someone,” one tenant tells the Cable. “One of our old housemates went to spray a large mushroom that had appeared and it responded by blasting spores into their face.”
Other issues in the building include the lifts often being broken, and a lack of communication around fire alarm tests, which on multiple occasions have led to a fleet of fire engines being called out. In January this year, residents were without water for around 48 hours and had to investigate themselves what was happening because they’d heard nothing from City Estates.
“We love living in the area and have turned it into a proper home for ourselves, but it’s endlessly frustrating,” says one tenant. ”I’ve never had to deal with an agency like City Estates where it’s so hard to get them to fix your problems without some kind of outside threat, whether it’s from the council, or pressure from local councillors, MPs, or the press.”
A new maintenance reporting system was set up in 2023, but multiple residents said this had rarely led to repairs being done more quickly. “A lot of the time you will report issues and won’t hear either anything for a very long time, if at all,” one adds. “With some of the mould issues, it was months.”
Tenants have reported that when action is finally taken, the mould is often painted over or even in some cases covered with a wooden frame and plasterboard. The building does have a handyman, who can only do so much.
“You have people like City Estates, where every single thing must be done with the cheapest price in mind,” one tenant says. “It strikes me as a stupid logic because you do a bodge job and then within a few months you have to redo that bodge job. That is one of the most incredibly frustrating things.”
It’s time to get organised
In January, the combination of these longstanding problems in the building and around half of the flats being handed a rent increase was the final straw.
After receiving an email from City Estates announcing a rent hike, one tenant decided to start knocking on doors to find out if their neighbours were in the same situation, and within a few days, about 35 flats had signed up to a union.
“People are living in cold, mouldy flats, they’re scared to talk to their landlords,” the organiser tells the Cable. “They don’t think there’s any protection out there for them. People have said they’re afraid of retaliation.”
The issue of residents being scared of the building managers comes up again and again. The Cable has spoken to one tenant in the past who said City Estates would only give them their deposit back if they left a 5-star Google review, and another who received an eviction threat after they had spoken out about problems in the building.
The union organisers sent an email to City Estates in February listing the issues in the building and calling for urgent improvements, including more serious repairs to the roof to address the issue of leaks, damp and mould.
Their requests are yet to be addressed by the building managers. “If they keep ignoring us, I’m more than happy to make it unignorable,” the organiser says, referring to the social media accounts they’ve now set up to make public the conditions they’re living in.
The latest rent increase of about 10% is lower than the 2023 hike, and at £1300 for a 2-bed flat is pretty reasonable for Clifton in 2025. But as the residents say in their email: “If we are going to be charged the rates of Clifton Village, we will expect a similar level of treatment to Clifton Village residents.”
While many tenants in the building are living in poor conditions, the building managers are in the process of converting some of the flats into HMOs for extra people. For example, getting rid of the living room so that a 4-bed flat becomes a six-bed with private bathrooms and small kitchen areas for £800 or £850 a month.
Bristol City Council did not respond to the Cable’s questions about whether the local authority was aware of these conversions and whether different HMO licences were required.
This attempt to increase income from the building comes at a time when Leslie Zucker and Alan Lewin, the directors of City Estates London Ltd, have made a profit of £2.5m in the last five years, according to their group company accounts. And the building’s owner is Watorod Investment Ltd, whose directors own a multi-million property portfolio via other companies and pay themselves a dividend each year through owning Queen’s Court of about £200,000.
What is the council doing?
Bristol City Council has been aware of the issues at Queen’s Court for years, due to complaints from residents and local councillors getting involved. There were inspections as far back as 2021 with the landlord being ordered to make improvements in 2022, followed by further inspections in 2023.
Residents have reported that in some cases the council’s involvement did prompt repairs by the building managers, but others said they were left in the dark after council officers came to inspect their flats.
In October 2023, after inspecting flats at Queen’s Court, Bristol City Council fined the landlord £12,000 for failing to comply with an improvement notice and breaching license conditions, the Cable can reveal.
Local councillors Serena Ralston and George Calascione met with residents on 14 March, after flagging the situation at Queen’s Court as urgent with the private housing team and writing to Leslie Zucker requesting an urgent meeting and for him to provide a response to tenants.
Cllr Ralston tells the Cable: “There is a long history of poor conditions at Queens Court. While there have been some repairs, it’s really sad and frustrating to hear from residents that they are still experiencing significant issues, especially when some tenants’ rents are set to rise.
“We met with the residents’ union representative and visited Queens Court where we witnessed for ourselves many instances of poor conditions in communal areas and in flats, including damp and black mould, leaking drainpipes, broken doors, a room with no working electrics, and holes in walls.
“We were also shown close to 100 photographs taken by residents over the past couple of months showing a whole range of issues in flats including damp, mould and leaking ceilings, disconnected smoke alarms because of the damp, and rotting floorboards. We heard that many of these complaints are longstanding and unresolved.”
The union organisers said the meeting was productive, and that they appreciated the intervention by local councillors. They called on the council to inspect the whole building, because handling reports from different flats on an individual basis had allowed systemic issues to persist. Ralston said that she had asked the council’s private housing team to consider taking complaints from groups of residents rather than on an individual basis.
The allegations in this article have been put to City Estates London, who did not respond to our request for comment.
A Bristol City Council Spokesperson said: “We issued two Civil Penalty Notices in October 2023 to the owners of Queens Court for non-compliance with licensing conditions and non-compliance with an improvement notice.
“Property licensing schemes give us powers to be able to inspect and investigate properties to make sure homes are being well managed and meet minimum standards. Where this is not the case, we can take appropriate action.
“Following further investigation, further improvement notices have been issued, and we continue to work with tenants to provide advice and support where possible.”
‘Shameless’ rent increase
About two weeks after tenants had met with the local councillors, City Estates sent eviction threats to half a dozen tenants who hadn’t agreed to the rent increase, and in at least one case, they issued a Section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction notice, which will be outlawed later this year.
A spokesperson for community union ACORN, who have been supporting tenants in the building, told the Cable: “You would think a block of flats in Clifton was only for the well to do, however these flats are home to many working class people including delivery drivers, carers and many working in the service industry just trying to get by.
“This shameless rent increase shows that the greed of landlords, in this case City Estates, knows no bounds. While the tenants put up with damp, mould and complete lack of repairs those at City Estates are happy to jack up the rent. We have a high number of ACORN members living in Queens Court and will be ready to support them no matter what.
“As we often find landlords will instantly jump to eviction whenever they are held to account on the poor upkeep of their properties. All too eager to take the rent; not prepared to do the work.”
The council spokesperson urged any tenants experiencing issues to report these using their online form or by emailing private.housing@bristol.gov.uk
