This week we interviewed Emma, a Hyde shared ownership tenant who will shortly hand back the keys to the Hyde flat she has lived in for 15 years. Emma will then become homeless. Emma has been driven out of her home - not by rising rents, but by extortionate service charges. One example is the… Continue reading Emma’s Story: Made Homeless by Hyde Service Charges
The problems experienced by tenants and residents living in housing association properties come in many guises, from extortionate service charging to slum landlordism. From failures to comply with equalities law to a dereliction of their duty of care. All problems have two distinct common threads. The first is the relentless commercialisation of social housing, and… Continue reading SHAC Steps Up The Political Agenda
SHAC's meeting on Service Charges and How to Challenge Them heard from two excellent and informative speakers, with many attendees posting their thanks and appreciation for the contributions. Ed Spencer - SHAC Ed demonstrated a powerful piece of software that he has developed to help analyse service charge statements and receipts. Using the software, he… Continue reading Service Charges: An Informative and Energetic Discussion
The executive of Shepherds Bush Housing Association (SBHA) have been condemned as "unfit to govern" by some employees and tenants horrified at the landlord's culture of mismanagement. Examples of failings provided to SHAC include incorrect service charge bills being sent to around 900 leaseholders over the last eight years. Among the estates affected were the… Continue reading Shepherds Bush Shambles
SHAC members on a Clarion estate are celebrating victory following a partial rent strike. Strikers in north London have successfully secured action to address a number of concerns that had been outstanding for years. The repairs, some of which tenants have been requesting for five years, have been offered just three weeks after strike letters… Continue reading First Rent Strike Victory Declared!
Lisa lives in a property owned by social housing provider Onward Homes. She noticed that her rent seemed quite high, and wrote to the landlord to challenge it. Onward admitted that her property had been wrongly classified and that she had been overcharged on rent. They are arranging to refund the overpayment, going back to… Continue reading Onward Heads Downwards
By guest writer Paul Burnham Housing associations have been breaking rent regulations all around London. If they are doing it here, they will be doing it everywhere, illigitmately generating of hundreds of thousands of pounds profit. Freedom of Information Act replies show that in one-third of boroughs, new Social Rents were set above the “Cap”… Continue reading Associations Breach Rent Caps with Impunity
