By a Beam Park Resident For too long, housing associations like L&Q have relied on a classic strategy to avoid accountability: division. By putting residents into different boxes—leaseholders, shared owners, market renters, and social tenants—they keep us isolated. If one group complains, they treat it as an individual, tenure-specific issue. But at Beam Park, the… Continue reading Failed by L&Q – The Need for Unity to Fix a Broken Housing System
A Statement from SHAC A massive housing crisis is shaking the Spanish state. It sends a clear warning to our own government. The housing emergency will lead to unrest, and it needs a fundamental plan to end the commercialisation of our homes. As soaring costs push Spanish working-class communities to the brink, a powerful mass… Continue reading Lessons from Spain: Organising to Fight the Housing Emergency
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
A story of injustice, discrimination against leaseholders, and a broken housing system By Gill Perceval 2008 and Mum was living in a house in Langley. She was active, sociable and hands-on in helping others. After losing her husband and suffering some health issues, she became aware of Extra Care Developments which were to be built… Continue reading Jean’s Story: Life and Death with Shared Ownership
The Regulator of Social Housing has reported that service charge income for housing associations soared by 15.8% to £1.9 billion in the year to March 2024. Also in 2024, service charge disputes brought to the First Tier Tribunal concurred that tenants and residents had been overcharged in over 70% of cases. Taken together, these figures… Continue reading Tribunals Research Finds Overcharging in 70% of Cases as HA Service Charge Income Soars
By Lindsay Bush Isn’t it interesting, and a coincidence, that Matthew Pennycook MP (Minister of State for Housing and Planning) made a statement just one day ahead of the BBC publishing a major investigation into leaseholders suffering inflated charges and lack of services for the privilege?! Matthew Pennycook MP, Minister of State for Housing and… Continue reading Leasehold and the Enforcement Gap
Residents of One Stratford say they are trapped in a system of financial abuse by One Housing Group (OHG), a housing association which merged with Riverside Housing Group last year after falling into financial difficulties. At least 40 residents at One Stratford are now withholding service charges or ‘balancing charges’ after receiving a series of… Continue reading OHG-Riverside Residents Strike Back
Residents of One Housing Group from different but comparable blocks on the same estate (One Stratford) have pooled information about their service charges and found a level of randomness that defies explanation. It highlights what happens when landlords are allowed to impose charges without any external oversight or regulation. A survey across flats in George… Continue reading Residents Expose One Housing Group’s Service Charge Abuse
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 says that service charges must be reasonably incurred, and incurred on services or works completed to a reasonable standard. Apart from the fact that certain parts of the legislation apply only to leaseholders but not full renters, and that there is also differentiation in the protections that apply depending… Continue reading Service Charges: Unreasonable Laws
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
