A ‘Notice of Service Charge Strike’ has been sent to the Peabody executive, signed by the residents of 42 flats on an estate in central London. The residents are withholding all or part of their service charge payments over concerns that: Some of the charges appear to be opaque, completely unjustified [and] plucked out of… Continue reading Service Charge Strike Notice Served on Peabody
REGISTER DONATE rents pledge Service charge survey Shocking evidence from a whistleblower has confirmed the suspicions of tenants and residents, namely that housing associations (HAs) are not just overcharging them for services, but that the overcharging is deliberate. For almost as long as SHAC has been operating, HA tenants and residents have been reporting problems… Continue reading Whistleblower: Housing Association Overcharging is Deliberate
Residents of an Optivo (now Southern Housing) estate in Putney have written to chief executive Paul Hackett explaining that as of April, they will be withholding their service charge payments. They join a growing group of housing association tenants and residents to resort to this tactic after attempts at resolving issues with their landlord fail.… Continue reading Southern (Optivo) Tenants Declare Service Charge Strike
Hyde Housing has slapped down Michael Gove's department over attempts to improve housing association complaint handling. The 50,000 home landlord has hit back at government pressure by issuing a new, more restrictive, complaints policy. Hyde will no longer investigate complaints about rents or service charges, even if the complainant is highlighting extortionate, inaccurate, or fraudulent… Continue reading Hyde Slaps Gove Down Over Complaints Handling
When we meet Sonya*, the first thing she says is: There is no transparency, actual spend is ending up between 55% and 197% higher than estimates. We’ve experienced on average 109% increase in service charge over the past eight years, and we no clarification why. We have many questions but no answers.” Despite all our… Continue reading Another Service Charge Strike at L&Q
In August 2022, SHAC began to survey members to capture the range of problems they experience with service charges, and the impact on their physical, emotional, and financial well-being. Our aim is to show the extent of service charge abuse by housing associations, and we have now published an initial report based on the first… Continue reading Trapped, Stressed and Impoverished: SHAC Research on Service Charge Abuse
A tenant’s refusal to pay a 60% increase in service charges has forced One Housing Group (OHG, now part of Riverside) to freeze its service charges for 2022/23 on her estate. When Angela* opened a service charge leaflet from her landlord in February 2022, she was angered to find a demand for a payment increase of 60%. The service charge hike did… Continue reading One Housing Tenant’s Non-Payment Forces Service Charge Freeze
SHAC and FindOthers have teamed up to develop a unique online tool to request and chase service charge packs. It is part of a long term SHAC campaign to end service charge abuse by housing associations. Requests and Complaints Made Easy The platform removes a lot of drudgery from the process with pre-set letters to… Continue reading Mass Action to Tackle Housing Association Service Charge Abuse
We won, and it's worthy of a celebration. It took 54,000 signatures on a petition, and a threatened mass mobilisation to picket & protest at the event. It also took an increased media focus on the failings of the social housing sector which was triggered by a coroner confirming that a two year-old boy had… Continue reading Protests Force Cancellation of Housing Executives Awards Extravaganza
Soaring energy costs and the groundswell of anger against energy companies' vast profits forced the Conservative government to announce in April 2022 that it would discount household energy bills. The announcement proclaimed: The Energy Bills Support Scheme provides a £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households to help with their energy bills over winter 2022 to… Continue reading Housing Solutions Tenants’ Long Wait for Energy Rebate
