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 action is supported by the Unite Housing Workers Branch, Homes for All and Defend Council Housing SHAC is calling a protest at 12 noon on Saturday 9th April outside the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF (map). The nearest tubes are Westminster, Pimlico, and Victoria.… Continue reading Demand an End to Rip-Off Rents and Charges – Protest 9th April
Take our poll! With new housing laws rogressing through Parliament, there has been a flurry of interest in what the Regulator of Social Housing, should be doing. As part of this drive, the Regulator is consulting on which tenant satisfaction measures it should require from social housing providers. The consultation is open to anyone, and… Continue reading Should the Regulator Regulate Service Charges?
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
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 amount collected by housing associations as service charge income has increased by 2.3% (ยฃ33 million) in one year, according to the consolidated returns of housing associations made to the Regulator of Social Housing. It brings the total income generated through this income stream to ยฃ1.5 billion in the 2020 financial year. Upward Trend The… Continue reading Associations Enjoy ยฃ33 million Service Charge Income Bonanza
A group of Hyde residents from an estate in Maidstone have begun withholding service charge payments in despair over their landlord's failure to provide accurate, reasonable, and evidenced accounts. Residents wrote jointly to inform Hyde that they were "withholding the service charge payments" because they have been requesting itemised invoices from the service charge team… Continue reading Hyde Residents Resort to Service Charge Strike
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
Oh, the irony. Or is it hypocrisy? An announcement has hit the headlines. Peter Denton, former CEO of Hyde, has been appointed to lead Homes England, the government body responsible for housing investment. Denton quipped: The government has an ambitious agenda of not just more homes but decent, affordable, safe, energy-efficient ones that sit well… Continue reading Hyde: A Very Bad Apple in a Very Rotten Barrell
