By guest writer Hassan Elbiali Imagine your roof leaks. You report it. Nothing happens. You report it again. You get a reference number. Then another. You escalate to the formal complaints process. You wait eight weeks. You get a letter telling you the landlord has investigated itself and found no wrongdoing. You appeal to the… Continue reading Social Housing in the UK: A Brutal War of Attrition
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
Missing information and the service charge maze: how one email built a residents’ association By SHAC member David Woodrow Our residents’ association was born from an accident. In August 2024, our building manager at Peabody emailed every resident about window cleaning — and accidentally used CC instead of BCC. What followed was a week of… Continue reading Missing Information and the Service Charge Maze
New research carried out by SHAC shows that across all the cases of service charges challenged at the First Tier Property Tribunal (FTT), more than 63% of landlords were found to be overcharging for services. This figure rises to more than 66% for housing association landlords. The overcharges in many of the cases were replicated… Continue reading SHAC Research Finds Overcharging in More Than 63% of Tribunal Cases
By Michael Savell Nothing less than total reform will cure the problems with housing. For the last several years I have been involved with SHAC as its Treasurer, and have occasionally contributed to the various Whatsapp groups answering questions and commentating on the problems that tenants and leaseholders have with their landlords. It is very… Continue reading Nothing Less Than Total Reform
