Tenants and residents of Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) have been sent incorrect service charge estimates for 2022/23, and the errors have affected almost the entire social housing stock.
Despite unsuccessful attempts by many residents to query the charges, some only received confirmation of the error after a local councillor queried charges on behalf of tenants and residents in is constituency. NHG responded:
Unfortunately there were organisation-wide issues with our service charge setting this year after we moved to new system for managing these. The majority of 2022/2023 budget estimates that were sent out at the end of last year were incorrect, … There also appears to have been error on a small number of 2020/2021 final year balances.”
Notting Hill Genesis
Any organisation invoicing residents should be unstinting in its duty to make sure that every penny is correctly allocated. But for an organisation as large and well-resourced as NHG, this scale of error is inexcusable. Estimates should have been checked for accuracy before they were sent out. Their admission of failings demonstrates that the organisation does not have a proper grip of its finances.
Notting Hill Genesis is one of the largest housing associations in London and the south east. It owns and manages over 66,000 homes and employs around 2,000 staff.
In 2020/21, NHG collected £48 million in service charges on social housing lettings alone, and amassed an operating surplus of £119 million.
Molly, an NHG tenant has spoken publicly of her shock on seeing the service charge estimate for her small flat in west London. She described the charges as “absolutely horrific” and explains that they contained a number of new charges including bulk waste and graffiti removal, and three additional elements for fire risk assessments.
Refusing to accept large service charge hikes, Molly is withholding part of her service payment. She did so after making several fruitless attempts to engage with NHG to find out why they had risen so sharply in a single year. While no responses were forthcoming from the service charge department, she has instead been hounded by the rent department telling her (wrongly) that she is in rent arrears.
Tenants and residents believe that the board must be held accountable for financial control and service failings, and for the enormous distress and anxiety caused to households.
SHAC@NHG
SHAC members who are tenants and residents of NHG now meet regularly to direct campaigning for better services, communication, and repairs. Register with SHAC to receive automatic invitations to the meetings and regular updates. See here for more details.
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I’ve had similar issues with !!sanctuary housing !!
They have sent me threatening letters say that I’m over £800 in rent arrears
My rent has always been paid by local city council for last 3 years
These letters are imposing great stress for me and probably other residents in the same block I live in
I’ve sought help and advise from the local management~~at Greenwich gardens in mackworth-derby.
But they sit on their arses all day and do nothing to help me out..
I have to fight my own corner at 77 years of age
I can’t deal with this stress and I can’t sleep at night..
Local service charges have also shot up way over inflation.
It seems these large private landlords are squeezing us tenants dry and it also impacts on our mental well-being.
They make vast profits each year but government doesn’t intervene at local or national level
Shocking!!
Absolutely – shocking as it is, this is not an isolated problem with one rogue landlord. It’s a problem across the larger associations especially who feel that because they are unaccountable, they don’t need to bother getting it right – and it is always gross overcharging so that’s OK!
My NHG service charge has gone from £165 to £255 and now £365 in 2 years. Service is appalling and maintenance non existent. Residents spotted an 11k mistake on one block of 20 flats and our defecit is 232k for the 4 blocks which means their estimates are about 80% off the mark. 8 PMOs in 4 years is unacceptable I’m withholding the latest service charge hike as its ridiculous and almost guaranteed to be completely wrong. More residents should do the same as NHG are clearly at fault. They are a dysfunctional organisation who should be shut down.
Just received new NHG service charge and its been raised by 51% from last year !! shoking as the service is poor and NHG have provided nothing to show how this has been calcultaed.
Check out our End Service Charge Abuse campaign for steps you can take when service charges are unexplained or unreasonable …
https://shaction.org/service-charges/