'We've been paying for a lift that does not exist'

Residents at a block of flats have shared their dismay after paying for a lift that does not exist for two years.

The tenants at Barham Park in Wembley, north-west London, contacted the BBC after it reported that Notting Hill Genesis had sent rent and service charge notices to tenants with cost increases of up to 50% "in error".

Those living at Barham Park said their block of flats only had stairs, yet each tenant had been charged close to £200 for a lift for two years in a row.

The housing association apologised and said certain costs at Barham Park had been "incorrectly apportioned", and it would send out new estimates.

It also apologised for concern caused to tenants at another block whose service charge costs are more than doubling after previous year's costs were under-budgeted by more than £77,000, as shown in documents seen by the BBC.

The errors have led to criticism, with the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) saying overcharging and miscalculations made by housing associations "is a scandal on par with the Post Office scandal".

While an employee of a managing agent who works on one of the same sites as Notting Hill Genesis - and interacts with the association - told the BBC anonymously "I don't think the finance systems are robust" because they had seen "duplications in terms of spending on contractors".

They added "there are lots of junior staff and high turnover" within housing associations generally and "employees need more support from the managers".

Angela Tanner, who lives at Barham Park with her partner Rosemary, said: "We just don't have a lift in this block.

"We've asked multiple times for a refund but Notting Hill Genesis still haven't made that refund.

"We're paying around £200 for the non-existent lift this year. It's like banging your head against a brick wall."

Ms Tanner said their service charges had almost doubled in a year.

"It's very difficult for me as a resident to understand what I'm being charged for," she said.

"It's also lack of transparency on what the charges are when they lump it together. I don't understand the logic."

Notting Hill Genesis said at Barham Park it had identified that certain costs had been "incorrectly apportioned meaning some of our residents have received inaccurate service charge bills".

"We have written to residents to let them know and we will be sending new estimates setting out the costs they'll be paying, as well as issuing refunds where appropriate," a spokesperson said.

"We recognise the impact this will have had on residents and are sorry for the understandable concern caused."

In response to the anonymous employee, the Notting Hill Genesis spokesperson said: "We are in the process of embedding a new operating model which provides local officers with support from more specialist teams with expertise in specific areas, including service charges.

"We are also close to introducing a new finance system which will improve how we manage core information and, in turn, improve services to residents."

Meanwhile, service charges for another group of tenants living in Geneva Court, a Notting Hill Genesis block in Hendon, north London, are increasing by more than 100% - which residents say is the highest increase in more than 20 years.

Paperwork seen by the BBC showed that in 2023-2024 the building had an expenditure of £126,656 but only had a budget of £49,640, meaning the housing association under-budgeted by £77,015.

Resident Manuel Fernandez said: "Why should I be penalised for someone's mistake for under-budgeting a 22-year-old building?

"Looking at the service charges throughout the years, the electricity is exactly the same charge. That's your problem not mine."

Mr Fernandez added: "I'm physically and mentally drained. It's not the first time I've been dealing with service charges. I've called them a few times on mistakes but they've never refunded us.

"I work five days a week, silly hours, as a gas engineer. I leave at 06:00 and don't come back until 19:00 or 20:00.

'I'm going to have to tell my family we can't go out. We have to pay an extra £300 a month."

Notting Hill Genesis said, in line with the tenancy or leasehold agreement and service charge practices, it reviews the actual spend against the estimated amount each year and then charge or credit the difference.

"Unfortunately, at Geneva Court, the estimated amount was too low, and we now need to recoup the actual cost of those services," a spokesperson said.

"We recognise the impact this has had on residents and are sorry for the understandable concern this is causing."

SHAC said it was inundated with tenants across the UK complaining about "huge number of errors, inflated charges and unexplained charges".

Co-founder Suzanne Muna said: "'There are people paying directly who are having to find ever greater sums of money to keep up with what their landlords are trying to charge them.

"But we also have a number of people who are having it paid through the public purse and that means we are all paying these highly inflated and sometimes what we would consider downright fraudulent causes."

The group is calling on the government to introduce something similar to the deposit protection scheme to help residents dispute service charges.

"We think this is a scandal on par with the Post Office scandal because tenants and residents have been saying for years it's been happening. And landlords and government have been refusing to listen."

The National Audit office said: "We have received the correspondence from SHAC and we are carefully considering it in line with our remit to audit government spending."

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We will consult this year on implementing measures to drive up transparency of service charges, ensuring leaseholders and tenants can better hold their landlords to account."

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