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
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 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
It started off with a complaint about serious antisocial behaviour (ASB) by a neighbour, and ended up with the resident taking the extraordinary step of sending court bailiffs to one of the largest housing associations in England (L&Q), to recover the compensation awarded to him by a county court. SHAC member and L&Q resident Dean… Continue reading The Resident Who Turned the Tables and Sent the Bailiffs into L&Q’s Head Office
Housing Associations Failing Tenants Despite Ombudsman Rulings By Dean Kennedy Despite falling national statistics in police-reported anti-social behaviour (ASB), social housing tenants continue to suffer disproportionately, and housing associations are persistently failing to act – even in cases where they are found at fault by the Housing Ombudsman. Recent government figures show that while police-recorded… Continue reading Social Housing Antisocial Behaviour Crisis
By Richard Simpson, a registered blind tenant of Riverside Housing If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a crime family decided to take over a housing association, let me introduce you to Riverside Housing Group: a not-so-merry band of landlords with the operational grace of The Sopranos, minus the food and charisma. In fact,… Continue reading The Housing Mafia’s Service Charge Racket
A single day in May has again thrown social housing into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A damning report has been published on rising disrepairs complaints, and the media reports the death of a baby in a decaying home owned by a housing association. On Thursday, the Housing Ombudsman published a new report… Continue reading Turning Simmering Anger into Social Action
SHAC has received a government response to our petition posted on the Parliamentary website. The petition, which launched in January 2025, asked government to: Create a new body to regulate landlord and freeholder service chargesWe want the Government to create a new body that is empowered to monitor and regulate private, council, and housing association… Continue reading SHAC Reacts: Government Offers Words But No Reassurance
By Carl Davis The ongoing struggle for reasonable adjustments and the normalisation of adversarial landlord-tenant relations. Securing reasonable adjustments remains an uphill battle for disabled tenants, largely due to landlords’ entrenched resistance. According to the Housing Ombudsman’s Attitudes, Respect, and Rights report, 68% of tenants consulted reported that their landlords had refused to provide reasonable… Continue reading The Ongoing Struggle for Reasonable Adjustments
Or: The passive optionalisation of the Equality Act 2010 and the need for proactive Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) compliance and enforcement. By Carl Davis The passive ‘optionalisation’ of the Equality Act 2010 within social housing is a subtle but dangerous form of regulatory failure. It occurs where laws designed to protect disabled residents are… Continue reading The Equality Act: Option or Obligation?
