The Londoners who are on service charge ‘strike’

Last week, BBC London reported on the soaring service charges faced by tenants and residents, some of whom have seen their monthly bill rise by hundreds of pounds in a few years.

A picture emerged of people who are at the end of their tether over the often-opaque and spiralling service charges – the sum that goes towards the upkeep of the building and other communal areas – which some fear will cause them to lose their homes.

In two housing blocks in east London, residents are taking matters into their own hands by refusing to pay the charge at all.

“I’m not giving up,” Jakia Begum says.

She is referring to a two-year battle she is in with her landlord, the housing association Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH), over service charge rises.

Jakia lives in a two-bedroom rental flat in a high-rise block in Bethnal Green, east London, and says she is “exhausted” with the fight.

“The mental pressure and anxiety, every single day. I can’t even sleep because I’m too overwhelmed with so much stress. Sometimes I feel shattered. I feel lost.”

Along with about 15 other tenants, she has been on service charge “strike” since April 2022, which means she has been withholding payment because she feels the hikes in her service charge are unjustified.

In 2023, it rose by 36.6% but she says it is impossible to get clarity about why. Jakia says they have been charged for work or services that have not been done or cannot be proven to have been done.