How Landlords are Siphoning Millions in Unearned Service Charges from the Welfare State A new investigation by SHAC reveals a systemic failure in the Housing Benefit system, allowing landlords to overcharge the taxpayer by millions of pounds while the government looks the other way. Download the report: Service Charges & Housing Benefit report It is… Continue reading The Great Housing Benefit Heist
More than 100 activists gathered in person and online on the 11th October to plan a national tenants and residents (housing) union. The event was organised by SHAC as the basis for forming an independent action group that can transform the vision into reality. Attendees included those leading local action on their estates, regional groups… Continue reading Conference Agrees to Build a Housing Union
By Michael Savell, SHAC Committee Member It appears that anyone who rents a flat, or was unfortunate enough to have bought a share of a flat through shared ownership, has the same issues. High and unregulated service charges being one of the major complaints that SHAC and other campaign groups receive. What is not generally… Continue reading Invisible Tenants, Forgotten Victims
By a Twenty-Twenty Resident Twenty-Twenty House A is an attractive, modern apartment block in the trendy Mabgate area of Leeds. Twenty-Twenty A houses 30 apartments, most of which are occupied by homeowners with full or shared ownership leases of (initially) 99 years. On a first take, everything at Twenty-Twenty A looks sharp: it is in… Continue reading A 20-20 Vision of How Social Housing Landlords Fleece Leaseholders
Just one year ago, a community of women from mainly Bengali migrant and refugee backgrounds living in the east end of London would probably not have described themselves as grass-roots housing activists. Yet their substandard housing conditions left them keen to fight for better, and their ESOL (English language) class gave them both the perfect… Continue reading SHAC and English for Action: Empowering Community Housing Action
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… Continue reading Familiar Stories from Hyde’s Meeting with Stockwell Tenants and Residents
By Lindsay Bush Isn’t it interesting, and a coincidence, that Matthew Pennycook MP (Minister of State for Housing and Planning) made a statement just one day ahead of the BBC publishing a major investigation into leaseholders suffering inflated charges and lack of services for the privilege?! Matthew Pennycook MP, Minister of State for Housing and… Continue reading Leasehold and the Enforcement Gap
Residents of One Stratford say they are trapped in a system of financial abuse by One Housing Group (OHG), a housing association which merged with Riverside Housing Group last year after falling into financial difficulties. At least 40 residents at One Stratford are now withholding service charges or ‘balancing charges’ after receiving a series of… Continue reading OHG-Riverside Residents Strike Back
As major announcements go, this year's statement on the social rent cap (SRC) has to be one of the quietest in history. A page on the Regulator of Social Housing's website confirms government's return to the social rent cap formula. Unlike last year, there was no fanfare heralding its arrival. It means that the majority… Continue reading Social and Other Housing Assocation Rents to Rise by 7.7% in April
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 says that service charges must be reasonably incurred, and incurred on services or works completed to a reasonable standard. Apart from the fact that certain parts of the legislation apply only to leaseholders but not full renters, and that there is also differentiation in the protections that apply depending… Continue reading Service Charges: Unreasonable Laws
