By Olivia Virag An Ordinary Question When I moved into my shared ownership home in July 2020, I wasn't looking for a campaign or preparing for a legal dispute. Like most people, I simply wanted a place to call home. At the age of 50, after many years of renting shared accommodation, home ownership had… Continue reading I Thought I Was Just Checking My Service Charges
By David Wood On 11 August 2026, a representative of Peabody Trust stood in Thames Magistrates' Court and pleaded guilty to a criminal offence: failing, without reasonable excuse, to provide a leaseholder with a written summary of service charge costs. Peabody was fined £1,000, reduced from £1,500 because of its guilty plea, plus £400 victim… Continue reading Peabody Was Convicted. It Took a Resident to Make it Happen
By SHAC and Geri Girardi Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) has lost a First Tier Tribunal Case after attempting to recover historic major works costs by raiding the residents' reserve fund. The decision of the First-tier Tribunal raises important questions about how registered social landlords recover the cost of major works from leaseholders. But it also… Continue reading Notting Hill Woes: Residents Win Legal Battle Over Historic Repair Costs
Government's Two-Front Rent Failure Betrays British Tenants Housing Secretary Angela Rayner’s explicit decision to rule out private rent controls, coupled with the government's policy allowing social housing landlords to increase rents above the rate of inflation, represents a coordinated disaster for millions of tenants across England. In a blow to private renters, the Ministry of… Continue reading The Double Squeeze: Government’s Rent Failure
On Friday 10th July, SHAC received fresh communication from the National Audit Office (NAO), for the first time concurring with SHAC that there is a serious gap in regulatory oversight when it comes to service charges paid by councils using Housing Benefit, although they do not agree with all our conclusions. For some tenants, the… Continue reading Service Charge Abuse: Audit Office Validates SHAC Risk Evidence and Campaigners Win Landmark Ruling
Housing Campaigners Demand Council Action as Corporate Landlord BMR Group Targets More Than 100 Families Tenants on the St James Estate in the London Borough of Southwark are fighting mass evictions and unaffordable rent rises after corporate landlord BMR Group Ltd began trying to force residents from their homes. Campaigners understand that BMR Group plans… Continue reading A Community Under Threat: Southwark Families Fight Mass Evictions
By David Wood I became a banker in 2007. The lesson I took from the financial crisis was not that banks should cease to exist. It was that systems which appear robust on paper can contain weaknesses that only become visible when the system is stressed. Safeguards should be tested rather than assumed. Looking at… Continue reading The Three Closed Doors: A Stress Test of Leasehold Accountability
New data from SHAC's comprehensive national survey of 829 residents has exposed an environment of widespread service charge abuse, directly challenging the government’s refusal to protect tenants and leaseholders. full report: Landlord Service Charge Abuse Survey - MAY 2026 PETITION: Allow disputed service charges to be paid to courts In April 2026, the Secretary of… Continue reading Mass Survey Exposes Rampant Service Charge Abuse as Housing Minister Rejects Caps
By guest writer Hassan Elbiali Imagine your roof leaks. You report it. Nothing happens. You report it again. You get a reference number. Then another. You escalate to the formal complaints process. You wait eight weeks. You get a letter telling you the landlord has investigated itself and found no wrongdoing. You appeal to the… Continue reading Social Housing in the UK: A Brutal War of Attrition
What would you do if your management company suddenly demanded up to £2,000 for heating, but refused to show you how the bill was calculated? This is the reality facing around 300 households at West Works in Southall. What started as confusion has become something far more serious. It is now a months-long battle over… Continue reading The £300,000 Black Hole: FirstPort’s Mystery Heating Bills
