In the middle of January, an extraordinary meeting was held between tenants and residents of Hyde from the Stockwell Towers estate, the Stockwell MP who helped facilitate the meeting Bell Ribeiro-Addy, and Hyde chief executive Andy Hulme alongside other Hyde staff, plus local councillors.
The meeting was extraordinary because Hulme is notoriously shy about engaging directly with tenants and residents. The Hulme of today is an elusive individual, and a far cry from the open and accessible leadership from the early days of his appointment. It took pressure from Ribeiro-Addy and local councillors to make it happen at all. After the meeting, tenants and residents shared their notes with SHAC as the information (and some misinformation) may be of wider interest.
SHAC members protested Hyde’s lost social purpose in May 2024
At the start of the meeting, Hyde staff said that they would only admit Hyde residents who lived in the Towers, but promised to meet separately with other groups of residents. If you feel this would be helpful, we would encourage you to write to Hyde.
Among the major issues for tenants and residents, were the general increase in costs, charges for major works, the lack of a sinking fund (a pot of money set aside for major work), very poor complaints handling, and a decline in services.
Service Charges: Still Not Good Enough
Hulme claimed that Stockwell Towers were the most expensive Hyde buildings to live in. He admitted that the layout of bulk invoices was confusing and promised to develop a clearer breakdown, working with tenants and residents on the format. However, he also claimed that Hyde does not make a profit on service charges, and asserted the error rate is just 1%. He believed that the accuracy of service charges had been improving.
The tenants and residents in attendance were not convinced. They pointed out that more than 60 people have queried the service charges from the Stockwell Towers estate alone, and that service charges have gone up 100% in two years, even as the standard of service delivery has gone down.
And even if it was true that Hyde is not making a surplus from service charges, it was pointed out to Hulme that there is considerable profiteering within the system. The subcontractors used by Hyde are profit-making companies whose inflated invoices are passed onto residents without any scrutiny of the standard of service, or even any services at all.
The complaints included examples of residents being charged for the maintenance of gardens that are not open to them to use. And while a sinking fund might help cover large items, it was emphasised by residents that it should only be used for truly unexpected charges, rather than making up the shortfall between poorly estimated and actual charges.
It could be that Hyde claims it does not profit because as a social housing provider, the term surplus is used to describe excess instead. Whatever the label however, evidence of inaccurate charges was plentiful. Residents in one block were charged £68 each per month for electricity to power communal lighting. The sum of all their contributions far exceeds any reasonable cost for such a small amount of electricity.
Agonising Waits and Financial Hardship
The length of time taken to resolve service charge disputes was highlighted, with many queries outstanding from the 2023/24 packs, and other challenges going back much further. This often leaves tenants and residents in financial hardship and unable to budget properly.
The complaints process is not working with adequate urgency or effectiveness to resolve these issues. A typical example was one tenant who received a bill for £4,000 in service charges even before moving in. She had duly followed the process set out for complaints, called Hyde, and was given a case number. After a long period of inaction, she called again to be met with a claim that Hyde had no record of her complaint or her case reference. Hyde has now begun calling her, but she understandably refuses to accept these calls, and will only respond to written communications.
Hyde Wont Trigger Evictions for Service Charge Arrears
A number of tenants and residents have been unable or unwilling to pay excessive service charges, but have received legal letters threatening action against them if they don’t pay up, even as they attempt to challenge inaccuracies. This will be a familiar scenario for many SHAC members.
In response, Ribeiro-Addy asked for freezing legal action against those who have been unable or unwilling to pay inflated charges whilst the accuracy of the service charge accounts were being scrutinised.
Hulme’s response was interesting. He alleged that sending the legal letters to those in arrears was a legal requirement. This is a dubious claim, as it would only be necessary if action were to follow. However, he also stated that Hyde does not have any residents who are being taken to court over service charge arrears and that the executive have taken a decision not to evict any tenants or residents over service charges arrears.
Charges Up, Service Standards Down
Shoddy and declining service delivery is a constant problem on many Hyde estates. One tenant explained that she is a prisoner in her own flat when the lifts regularly break down. Many have observed that services like cleaning have doubled in cost but without any improvement in quality of service. One problem is that Hyde doesn’t inspect the work of subcontractors before paying.
Hulme claimed that there was never a time when all the lifts were out of order, and said that replacement parts were hard to acquire. Hyde has finally got round to bulk buying the parts, but it is extraordinarily bad management to take so long to identify such an obvious fix to this problem.
Hyde’s disrepairs at Stockwell Towers stretch back at least as far as 2017
At this point, Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP asked Hulme to confirm in writing that Hyde will work with the tenants and residents group. Hulme seemed to be under the impression that this had already been done. During the service charge discussion, he had denied that the electricity brokerage fee was being passed on to tenants and residents, who in turn pointed out that it was included in their service charge invoice packs.
These claims indicate a considerable gap between what Hulme believes is happening and the reality for tenants and residents. We can only conclude that the lines of communication within Hyde are just as poor as those between Hyde and their tenants and residents. The meeting ended with promises of more action to address the issues at Stockwell Towers, but pressure needs to continue to make sure that Hyde follows through on its promises.
SHAC Hyde Group
SHAC is supporting tenants and residents of Stockwell Towers and other Hyde estates to challenge poor service delivery and overcharging for services. Our SHAC@Hyde WhatsApp group provides a hub for members to discuss issues, share peer advice, and organise collectively for improvements. Join us to receive more information.
27 January 2025
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