By Olivia Virag An Ordinary Question When I moved into my shared ownership home in July 2020, I wasn't looking for a campaign or preparing for a legal dispute. Like most people, I simply wanted a place to call home. At the age of 50, after many years of renting shared accommodation, home ownership had… Continue reading I Thought I Was Just Checking My Service Charges
By David Wood On 11 August 2026, a representative of Peabody Trust stood in Thames Magistrates' Court and pleaded guilty to a criminal offence: failing, without reasonable excuse, to provide a leaseholder with a written summary of service charge costs. Peabody was fined £1,000, reduced from £1,500 because of its guilty plea, plus £400 victim… Continue reading Peabody Was Convicted. It Took a Resident to Make it Happen
By SHAC and Lindsay Bush Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP and a cross-party group of MPs have blasted the Government's lack of housing association accountability, writing to the Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, on the 29th July saying: We strongly believe that residents in housing association (HA) properties across the country are being failed. They are being failed… Continue reading We Can End the Conspiracy of Silence: Join MPs’ Call for Action
By SHAC and Geri Girardi Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) has lost a First Tier Tribunal Case after attempting to recover historic major works costs by raiding the residents' reserve fund. The decision of the First-tier Tribunal raises important questions about how registered social landlords recover the cost of major works from leaseholders. But it also… Continue reading Notting Hill Woes: Residents Win Legal Battle Over Historic Repair Costs
On Friday 10th July, SHAC received fresh communication from the National Audit Office (NAO), for the first time concurring with SHAC that there is a serious gap in regulatory oversight when it comes to service charges paid by councils using Housing Benefit, although they do not agree with all our conclusions. For some tenants, the… Continue reading Service Charge Abuse: Audit Office Validates SHAC Risk Evidence and Campaigners Win Landmark Ruling
Housing Campaigners Demand Council Action as Corporate Landlord BMR Group Targets More Than 100 Families Tenants on the St James Estate in the London Borough of Southwark are fighting mass evictions and unaffordable rent rises after corporate landlord BMR Group Ltd began trying to force residents from their homes. Campaigners understand that BMR Group plans… Continue reading A Community Under Threat: Southwark Families Fight Mass Evictions
By David Wood I became a banker in 2007. The lesson I took from the financial crisis was not that banks should cease to exist. It was that systems which appear robust on paper can contain weaknesses that only become visible when the system is stressed. Safeguards should be tested rather than assumed. Looking at… Continue reading The Three Closed Doors: A Stress Test of Leasehold Accountability
New data from SHAC's comprehensive national survey of 829 residents has exposed an environment of widespread service charge abuse, directly challenging the government’s refusal to protect tenants and leaseholders. full report: Landlord Service Charge Abuse Survey - MAY 2026 PETITION: Allow disputed service charges to be paid to courts In April 2026, the Secretary of… Continue reading Mass Survey Exposes Rampant Service Charge Abuse as Housing Minister Rejects Caps
What would you do if your management company suddenly demanded up to £2,000 for heating, but refused to show you how the bill was calculated? This is the reality facing around 300 households at West Works in Southall. What started as confusion has become something far more serious. It is now a months-long battle over… Continue reading The £300,000 Black Hole: FirstPort’s Mystery Heating Bills
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
