The annual UK Housing Awards ceremony is a lavish self-congratulatory event for the executives of housing associations and council housing departments, and is due to take place on the 25th November in Manchester. This year, the event will be held against a backdrop of the deepest cost-of-living crisis in 40 years. Attendees will pay anything… Continue reading Nothing to be Proud of: Cancel Your Awards Ceremony
By Linda Waterman Problems with the de-regulation of rents and service charges first started in 1989 when social landlords in England (councils and housing associations) ceased to issue 'Secure', 'Fair Rent' and 'Regulated Tenancies', all of which afforded tenants a number of rights and safeguards. Limiting Social Rent Increases The change took place at around… Continue reading The Problem with Rent Deregulation
SHAC and partners are demanding that government holds social rents, shareholder rents, and service charges at current levels. The campaign is moving government. In August, the Department for Levelling Up announced that it will not raise social rents above 7%, and is more likely to set the cap at 5%, but we don't believe that… Continue reading Freeze Rent & Service Charge Rises
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”
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
The first thing you notice about Hyde's email is a smiling woman, calculator in one hand, letter in the other. But many how of those receiving the emailed smiled on finding their rents would rise 4.1% from April? And how deep is their dread as they wait to find out how much more they will… Continue reading Hyde Hikes Rents
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
