More than 400 tenants and residents have pledged to support rent and service charge strikes in protest at rent increases and extortionate service charge rises, which will coincide with further hikes in energy bills. The pledges were made by tenants and residents actively resisting sharp rises in housing costs which are threatening the affordability of… Continue reading Rent & Service Charge Strike Pledges Grow
Residents of a Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) estate in east London have threatened to withhold payment of service charges in dispute which includes a ‘missing’ £100,000 from the building’s sinking fund which they want refunded. Sinking funds are pots of money that residents pay into, exclusively reserved for any major maintenance or repairs needed… Continue reading Royal Mint MTVH Residents in Service Charge Strike Threat
Leaseholders in an east London block of flats owned by Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association (MTVH) are withholding service charge payments from the start of June. The strike threat alone however has already secured a partial victory. Leaseholders and Shared Owners will now receive a refund of the increased service charges that were applied from… Continue reading MTV Residents Score Partial Victory but Strike On!
Leaseholders in an east London block of flats owned by Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association (MTV) are set to withhold service charge payments from the start of June having failed to get answers to a number of questions relating to their charges. Resident Rob Holden* explains: “Despite our countless efforts to get some answers and… Continue reading MTV Residents’ Service Charge Strike Threat
Representatives from SHAC together with housing campaign groups, trade unionists, and activists involved in local action assembled in central London on the 9th April. They sent a message to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, that he needs to instruct landlords to cut their rents and end rip-off service charging. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K3J2t6FADQ Watch our… Continue reading SHAC Protestors Tell Gove: “Cut Rents & End Rip-Off Service Charges”
The Equality Act 2010 requires housing associations to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ which allow disabled people to access the same opportunities and services as non-disabled people. It requires employers and providers to consider disability in everything they do and to actively anticipate the need for reasonable adjustments as far as possible. The onus is on landlords… Continue reading Disability Dossier: A Catalogue of Shame
Tenants and leaseholders are sending a message to their housing association landlords: 'Cut the Rents and End Rip-Off Service Charging'. The message comes as a survey by SHAC revealed almost one quarter of respondents could not afford the rent rises being inflicted on them from April 2022. Around 85% will experience negative financial impact. Tenants… Continue reading Cut The Rents ~ End Rip-Off Service Charging
Trident Point tower block owned by Metropolitan Thames Valley housing association in Harrow has a history of disrepairs, rodent infestations, and broken promises by the landlord. The block has regularly featured on the news pages of Harrow Times, and when the lift broke down yet again just after Christmas 2021, tenants reached the end of… Continue reading Power in Numbers at MTVHA’s Trident Point
By guest writer Jackson Caines Harrow Law Centre (HLC) provides free legal advice and representation to local residents but recently took the unusual step of creating a Housing Campaigner and Community Organiser role as part of their team of staff. I was delighted to take up the housing role last year. People assume that I… Continue reading Harrow Law Centre’s Grass Roots Housing Initiative
Just when you believe you have mapped all the different ways in which social housing tenants and residents are fleeced, along comes news of yet another scandal. SHAC has interviewed members of a London campaign whose activists have won thousands of pounds in refunds for water charges illegally levied by councils and housing associations. But… Continue reading Social Landlords’ Illegal Water Charges
