diff --git a/pkg/deploy/kapp.go b/pkg/deploy/kapp.go
index 5618bab79b..49d599521c 100644
--- a/pkg/deploy/kapp.go
+++ b/pkg/deploy/kapp.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func (a *Kapp) Deploy(tplOutput string, startedApplyingFunc func(),
 
 	metadataFile := filepath.Join(tmpMetadataDir.Path(), "app-metadata.yml")
 
-	args, err := a.addDeployArgs([]string{"deploy", "--app-metadata-file-output", metadataFile, "--prev-app", a.oldManagedName(), "-f", "-", "--app-namespace", a.appNamespace})
+	args, err := a.addDeployArgs([]string{"deploy", "--app-metadata-file-output", metadataFile, "--prev-app", a.oldManagedName(), "-f", "-"})
 	if err != nil {
 		return exec.NewCmdRunResultWithErr(err)
 	}
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ func (a *Kapp) Deploy(tplOutput string, startedApplyingFunc func(),
 
 // Delete takes the app name, it shells out, running kapp delete ...
 func (a *Kapp) Delete(startedApplyingFunc func(), changedFunc func(exec.CmdRunResult)) exec.CmdRunResult {
-	args, err := a.addDeleteArgs([]string{"delete", "--prev-app", a.oldManagedName(), "--app-namespace", a.appNamespace})
+	args, err := a.addDeleteArgs([]string{"delete", "--prev-app", a.oldManagedName()})
 	if err != nil {
 		return exec.NewCmdRunResultWithErr(err)
 	}
@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ func (a *Kapp) Inspect() exec.CmdRunResult {
 		// TODO is there a better way to deal with this?
 		"--filter", `{"not":{"resource":{"kinds":["PodMetrics"]}}}`,
 		"--tty",
-		"--app-namespace", a.appNamespace,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return exec.NewCmdRunResultWithErr(err)
@@ -260,6 +259,10 @@ func (a *Kapp) addGenericArgs(args []string, appName string) ([]string, []string
 		args = append(args, []string{"--namespace", a.clusterAccess.Namespace}...)
 	}
 
+	if len(a.clusterAccess.DeployNamespace) > 0 {
+		args = append(args, []string{"--app-namespace", a.clusterAccess.DeployNamespace}...)
+	}
+
 	switch {
 	case a.clusterAccess.Kubeconfig != nil:
 		env = append(env, "KAPP_KUBECONFIG_YAML="+a.clusterAccess.Kubeconfig.AsYAML())
diff --git a/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go b/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
index 7fbf5e6ea1..0d8bcf8947 100644
--- a/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
+++ b/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ type AccessInfo struct {
 	Name      string
 	Namespace string
 
+	DeployNamespace string
+
 	Kubeconfig                    *Restricted
 	DangerousUsePodServiceAccount bool
 }
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ func NewKubeconfig(coreClient kubernetes.Interface, log logr.Logger) *Kubeconfig
 
 // ClusterAccess takes cluster info and a ServiceAccount Name, and returns a populated kubeconfig that can connect to a cluster.
 // if the saName is empty then you'll connect to a cluster via the clusterOpts inside the genericOpts, otherwise you'll use the specified SA.
-func (k Kubeconfig) ClusterAccess(saName string, clusterOpts *v1alpha1.AppCluster, accessLocation AccessLocation, preferredNamespace string) (AccessInfo, error) {
+func (k Kubeconfig) ClusterAccess(saName string, clusterOpts *v1alpha1.AppCluster, accessLocation AccessLocation, defaultNamespace string) (AccessInfo, error) {
 	var err error
 	var clusterAccessInfo AccessInfo
 
@@ -63,13 +65,19 @@ func (k Kubeconfig) ClusterAccess(saName string, clusterOpts *v1alpha1.AppCluste
 		if err != nil {
 			return AccessInfo{}, err
 		}
+		// Use kubeconfig preferred namespace as deploy namespace
+		// if defaultNamespace is provided and cluster.namespace is not provided,
+		if defaultNamespace != "" && clusterAccessInfo.DeployNamespace == "" {
+			clusterAccessInfo.DeployNamespace = clusterAccessInfo.Kubeconfig.preferredNamespace
+		}
 
 	default:
 		return AccessInfo{}, fmt.Errorf("Expected service account or cluster specified")
 	}
 
-	// If preferredNamespace is "", then kubeconfig preferred namespace will be used
-	clusterAccessInfo.Namespace = preferredNamespace
+	if defaultNamespace != "" {
+		clusterAccessInfo.Namespace = defaultNamespace
+	}
 
 	return clusterAccessInfo, nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_restricted.go b/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_restricted.go
index 8f11e0d690..69fb94cbdb 100644
--- a/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_restricted.go
+++ b/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_restricted.go
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import (
 // Restricted contains a kubernetes kubeconfig as a string
 type Restricted struct {
 	result string
+
+	preferredNamespace string
 }
 
 // NewKubeconfigRestricted takes kubeconfig yaml as input and returns kubeconfig yaml with certain fields restricted (removed).
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ func NewKubeconfigRestricted(input string) (*Restricted, error) {
 		})
 	}
 
+	preferredNamespace := ""
 	for _, inputCtx := range inputConfig.Contexts {
 		resultConfig.Contexts = append(resultConfig.Contexts, clientcmd.NamedContext{
 			Name: inputCtx.Name,
@@ -74,6 +77,9 @@ func NewKubeconfigRestricted(input string) (*Restricted, error) {
 				Namespace: inputCtx.Context.Namespace,
 			},
 		})
+		if inputCtx.Name == inputConfig.CurrentContext {
+			preferredNamespace = inputCtx.Context.Namespace
+		}
 	}
 
 	bs, err := yaml.Marshal(resultConfig)
@@ -81,7 +87,7 @@ func NewKubeconfigRestricted(input string) (*Restricted, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Marshaling kubeconfig: %s", err)
 	}
 
-	return &Restricted{string(bs)}, nil
+	return &Restricted{string(bs), preferredNamespace}, nil
 }
 
 // AsYAML returns a string formatted kubernetes kubeconfig
diff --git a/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_secrets.go b/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_secrets.go
index d0fb2c1bf0..36ea370523 100644
--- a/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_secrets.go
+++ b/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig_secrets.go
@@ -49,8 +49,10 @@ func (s *Secrets) Find(accessLocation AccessLocation,
 		Name: accessLocation.Name,
 		// Override destination namespace; if it's empty
 		// assume kubeconfig contains preferred namespace
-		Namespace:  clusterOpts.Namespace,
-		Kubeconfig: kubeconfigRestricted,
+		Namespace: clusterOpts.Namespace,
+		// Use provided namespace as app namespace
+		DeployNamespace: clusterOpts.Namespace,
+		Kubeconfig:      kubeconfigRestricted,
 	}
 
 	return pgoForCluster, nil
diff --git a/pkg/kubeconfig/service_accounts.go b/pkg/kubeconfig/service_accounts.go
index 7b089e877a..fde14ca9ad 100644
--- a/pkg/kubeconfig/service_accounts.go
+++ b/pkg/kubeconfig/service_accounts.go
@@ -51,9 +51,10 @@ func (s *ServiceAccounts) Find(accessLocation AccessLocation, saName string) (Ac
 	}
 
 	pgoForSA := AccessInfo{
-		Name:       accessLocation.Name,
-		Namespace:  "", // Assume kubeconfig contains preferred namespace from SA
-		Kubeconfig: kubeconfigRestricted,
+		Name:            accessLocation.Name,
+		Namespace:       "",                       // Assume kubeconfig contains preferred namespace from SA
+		DeployNamespace: accessLocation.Namespace, // App namespace is same as SA namespace
+		Kubeconfig:      kubeconfigRestricted,
 	}
 
 	return pgoForSA, nil