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
How Landlords are Siphoning Millions in Unearned Service Charges from the Welfare State A new investigation by SHAC reveals a systemic failure in the Housing Benefit system, allowing landlords to overcharge the taxpayer by millions of pounds while the government looks the other way. Download the report: Service Charges & Housing Benefit report It is… Continue reading The Great Housing Benefit Heist
Missing information and the service charge maze: how one email built a residents’ association By SHAC member David Woodrow Our residents’ association was born from an accident. In August 2024, our building manager at Peabody emailed every resident about window cleaning — and accidentally used CC instead of BCC. What followed was a week of… Continue reading Missing Information and the Service Charge Maze
By Rachel I have lived in my home for over 24 years. It is the only home I have known as an adult. I raised my son there, invested my own money and labour into maintaining it, and built my healthcare, support network, and community around it. Today, I am facing possession proceedings and homelessness… Continue reading Ombudsman’s Severe Maladministration Finding Leads to Eviction Not Protection
By Mary Pimm, SHAC member and Victoria Park Community Association Chair In November 2024, the Mayor of London initiated a consultation about devising a Key Worker Living Rent (KWLR) plan. It ended early in the spring last year. The Deputy Mayor for Housing, Tom Copley, has recently reported on its findings to those who, like… Continue reading London Rents A Blow to Key Workers
New research carried out by SHAC shows that across all the cases of service charges challenged at the First Tier Property Tribunal (FTT), more than 63% of landlords were found to be overcharging for services. This figure rises to more than 66% for housing association landlords. The overcharges in many of the cases were replicated… Continue reading SHAC Research Finds Overcharging in More Than 63% of Tribunal Cases
By Jess Owen A major Social Landlord has claimed that housing associations are not bound by some provisions of the 2010 Equality Act. Peabody Trust, which operates over 100,000 Social Homes and “provide care and support services to around 25,000” people in England, claims that, as they are not listed in a schedule of the… Continue reading Housing Associations and The Equality Act 2010
By Michael Savell Nothing less than total reform will cure the problems with housing. For the last several years I have been involved with SHAC as its Treasurer, and have occasionally contributed to the various Whatsapp groups answering questions and commentating on the problems that tenants and leaseholders have with their landlords. It is very… Continue reading Nothing Less Than Total Reform
