My experience with Shared Ownership, NHG & The Building Safety Scandal

I've been living in a shared ownership flat as a leaseholder since 2012.  The freeholder is Notting Hill Genesis. (known as Genesis at the time I moved in).

I have created this as a representation of my experiences to date with the shared ownership scheme and also with life as a leaseholder.

 

So where did it all begin?

 

One day I woke up and looked around.  Laying in a bed on stilts, with my face 60 cm away from the ceiling, I rolled myself to the ladder and climbed down, thinking "what am I doing with my life".  I was wasting a huge chunk of my salary renting a studio flat that was smaller than my my current kitchen.  Standing in the center I could almost touch all 4 walls.  The bed was up a ladder, underneath it was a 2 seater settee, tv and small cupboard.  Along the side was a small kitchenette and there was what can only be described as a cupboard, that contained the shower, sink & toilet.  

It was at this point I realised I should start saving properly.  So I moved back to my parents, I didn't buy a bed as I didn't want to get too comfortable, I slept on a mattress on the floor and stopped going out so much at the weekends.  I paid a little towards bills, but the rest of my money I just saved and saved.

Approximately 12 months later I had saved just enough to cover a small deposit on a 40% shared ownership property & legal fees.  So I began my search.  I had a look at flats in Borehamwood, Watford & NW London.  When I viewed my current flat I fell in love with it.  It had a small living room, with a large kitchen coming off of it.  A large bedroom & bathroom with a bath and shower head. The balcony is south facing & it's on the top floor so in the summer it has sunshine all day.  The only negative, was that it faced onto a road, so in the summer (when the windows are open) it can get noisy. But other than that it was perfect. 

 

In October 2012 I received the keys, I felt like I had won the lottery! 

 

Then the problems began...

 

I started setting up the flat, turned the water & electric supply on, then the first few problems began.

• The fridge freezer was broken, it took me a while to realise as I assumed it just took a few hours to cool down.  But it never did.
• The toilet was broken, the flush wouldn't work.
• The sink plug was jammed in and wouldn't come out.
• The post box had broken, so anyone could get the post.  this was caused from months of leaflets being stuffed in there.

So immediately I got on the phone to Notting Hill Genesis to report the problems to them.  I explained the situation and then was told someone would call me back. 

...No one did.

I kept calling until I eventually got through to someone who said as the 1 year warranty had expired, it's now my responsibility to get things fixed, but as I'd just moved in he would see what he could do.  This was on a Friday, I never heard back from them all weekend. Which meant they had left me in a situation where I had no fridge-freezer & no working toilet for the weekend. 

Not a great start!

I managed to fix the post box & sink.  The toilet cistern was hidden behind a built-in unit and was very difficult to get to.  I had to get someone out to fix that as I couldn't live all weekend without a working toilet.

It was at this point that I realised this shared ownership deal may not be as great as I was led to believe.

Zanussi were great about the fridge-freezer, they sent someone out to replace it.  It took a few weeks, but they delivered a replacement and said it probably hadn't been handled correctly when it had been fitted, hence why it was broken.  The feeling of finally having a working fridge freezer & no longer having to live off of rice, beans, pasta, basically anything that doesn't have to be stored in a fridge or freezer was great.  it felt like I could finally relax, cook nice meals and start to enjoy my flat.

Broken door system

Within the first year of living here the door system would periodically break, meaning the door fob would not work & the door buzzer would also be completely frozen, so you could not buzz a neighbour to let you in. As I lived by myself and did not have any neighbours phone numbers, there were multiple occasions where I would be locked out at night, with no way of getting into the flat.  You can call the emergency Notting Hill Genesis number, the response you would get would be that they would send someone out as soon as they can.  Which could mean 4 hours/1 day/2 days....who knows.  There were a few occasions at the beginning where I would have to find somewhere else to sleep.  

So I'm paying for a flat and I'm not even able to access it!?

I had a few horrible instances where I had been locked out.  Once, my girlfriend (wife now) was out with her friends and returned late, maybe 1:30am.  She was arriving in a cab, so I decided to go and throw some rubbish out and meet her at the door.  

I got to the ground floor, went outside, I was in socks and a t-shirt in the middle of winter (not very smart, but I didn't expect to be outside for very long).  I put the fob to the door entry for the bin cupboard & it flashed red.  I suddenly had the horrible realisation that the door system is down again, I spun as fast as I could to grab the door to the flats before it closed, but I was a millisecond too late, it latched shut.  

Not again!! What could I do? I'm outside shivering in a t-shirt.  So I immediately called Notting Hill Genesis emergency number,  after getting through, I was told they will do their best to get someone out within the next 4-6 hours, but couldn't make any promises.  I explained my situation, i'm stuck outside my property in a tshirt in the middle of winter & the door system has gone down again! I asked them 'what am I supposed to do now? I'm freezing and stuck outside in the middle of winter!'  They had no answer, except you will just have to wait for a repairman to get there. Luckily, I had experienced this issue many times in the past, so I had a few phone numbers of residents in my block. I was pretty hesitant as I didn't know them very well & it was 1:30 in the morning. I managed to call and woke up one of my neighbours to let us in. (I'm so grateful that her phone wasn't on silent).  I felt terrible, so the next day I delivered chocolates & wine as a thank you.  I do not know what we would have done otherwise.  Notting Hill Genesis obviously didn't care.  I guess I would have had to try and find a hotel and stay there (in my socks and t-shirt, without a wallet).  It turned out the door was not fixed for a couple of days after my phone call, so if I had trusted them and waited, I would not have got back into my flat until another resident left the building. 

Another experience I had was after a full day cycling around epping forest.  I had returned home with a dead phone battery to find the door system not working again.  I was exhausted and just wanted my bed.  Instead I had to travel to my parents, find a charger.  Wait for my phone to charge enough battery so that I could make a call to Notting Hill Genesis. I had the same response, they will try to get someone out.  So as I had lost all faith in them. I called the same neighbour and asked if she wouldn't mind cellotaping the door latch, so that when I return, I can get in.  She did and I returned home, exhausted and in need of a shower and sleep.

Such an inconvenience.

I had complained about the door constantly for the past 8 years.  We just got the same response "we are looking into it".  All of the call out costs are then added to our service charge. Increasing our annual service charge.  When I first moved in my service charge to Notting Hill Genesis was £48 per month.  Within the first 2 years it had more than doubled. Now 13 years later it is more than 6 times that, for the same lousy service.

The stress of having to decide whether you can go out and socialise with friends as you may not be able to get back into your flat when you return was terrible.  Some times I would avoid going out so that I would be home at a reasonable hour just in case the worst happened again & I needed to call a neighbour to let me in.

After 8 years we were finally told that they would replace the door system, we received a section 20, with a few choices.  We were all happy with the cheapest option as it would allow a voice call.  But it has now been replaced with a top of the range system, that has video and voice, and an app to open the door from your phone.

We all complained and said none of us want such a fancy system and that we would be happy with the cheaper option.  We also told Notting Hill Genesis that we should not be responsible for replacing a door system that has been broken from the start & caused us all so much inconvenience.  Notting Hill Genesis told us it has to be a like-for-like system (our old system had video capabilities).  So what was the point of giving us a choice in the section 20, if you dictate to us which system we have to go with? The new system works great we've had it for a while now and not had any problems.  Although all the features they promised are not available.  The phone app does not notify you when someone is at the door. Which makes it kind of useless.

Anyway, we have been told we will be hit with a charge for over £1,300 per flat to replace a system that has never been fit for purpose since the day I moved in, in 2012. 

 

 

Other issues with the flat

 

Broken glass

One day (within the first 9 months) I awoke and entered my living room to find a slim pane of glass  had completely shattered (inside pane of a double glazed section that looks out onto the balcony and directly into the neighbours flat) I never liked this glass as it felt like an intrusion of privacy.  it was still standing but was shattered.  I spoke to an expert who said, it was probably fit badly, so that once the temperature had risen inside the flat, it would have expanded, causing it to shatter.  I have never had it replaced as the shatter means you can no longer see through it and gives a bit of privacy.  Previously, you could look straight through this pane of glass, and see directly into the neighbours living room via the identical pane of glass in theirs.

 

Water Pump

For some reason both top floor flats were fitted with a smedegaard pump system.  Every time you open a tap or use water. A sound that could only be described as a tractor starting up emitted from our cupboard.  It was so loud and unnecessary.  The neighbours downstairs had actually complained about it.  Anyway, one day when I returned from a few days away. It was constantly making the tractor sounds.  So I went to check it in the cupboard and it was flashing lights everywhere.  I went to the taps and there was no water coming through. The IT technician in me tried turning it off and back on again, but unfortunately it was dead.   I called Notting Hill Genesis to find out anything about it. But they were no help. So eventually I knew a plumber who came over and managed to bypass the pump allowing water directly from the mains.  It's so much more pleasant to turn the tap on and not have to worry about waking up the entire building. And the water pressure is the same if not better than with the pump.

Broken balcony door

The balcony door was always a pain to close, it had to be pulled really hard and simultaneously lift the handle to get it to latch shut.  It would often take a few attempts. Approx 2 years ago, it just decided it had had enough.  The handle would go up and down but the door was latched shut, there was no way to open it.  

The first expert came over had a look at it and said he doesn't know the brand (Nordan) and there's no way he could open it.  This was a bit disappointing as I'd had to take a day off work to wait for him.

The second expert came over a week later and said the only way he would be able to open it would be from the outside.  Luckily my neighbour was home, so the workmen climbed over from the neighbours balcony and had to cut the locks to get it to open.  It now works well.  Except I can no longer lift the handle when the door is open to lock it in an open position.  If I want the door to stay open I need to tie it to the balcony.  Not a big issue, but for a door that was probably 7 years old, you wouldn't expect that to happen so soon.

Re-mortgaging

Re-mortgaging with Notting Hill Genesis was a nightmare.  Originally when I moved in, their advisers recommended a mortgage at 5.99% which was extortionate, but after calling around trying to find my own mortgage, I found out it was quite difficult at that time to find a lender who would offer for shared ownership.

After the initial fixed mortgage had ended I moved to HSBC, who offered a great rate of 1.89%  I found out from HSBC that they needed specific documents from Notting Hill Genesis on letter headed paper.  I first contacted Notting Hill Genesis in November 2015, after many phone calls & emails I finally got all of the documents that HSBC required in April 2016. 

so not only had I been forced onto variable rate (and paying more for my mortgage) whilst waiting for Notting Hill Genesis to get their act together and send the correct documents.  I also had the privilege of paying £60 to Notting Hill Genesis for the documents.

Thanks, great customer service.  I am now also back on variable rate (4.69%) as it is now impossible to re-mortgage my flat due to the current Building Safety Scandal (I'll mention more on this later).

Service charges

The free holder appears to be able to charge whatever they like and we have no power to challenge this.  For example.

Cleaning

We have a small building, 7 flats in total, 1 on the ground floor, and 2 on each floor going up.  Each landing is small.  We have a cleaner between once or twice a week who spends 15 minutes hoovering the stairs and landings. For this we have been charged.

Communal internal cleaning

2014-2015 - £1284.52

2015-2016 - £1459.52

2016-2017 - £1848.82

2017-2018 - £2164.08

2018-2019 - £2011.68

Communal window cleaning

Firstly let me explain we have 2 panes of glass outside our building and a glass door. (maximum a 10 minute job to clean).  . 

2014-2015 - £1111.26

2015-2016 - £1164.48

2016-2017 - £811.32

2017-2018 - £82.83

2018-2019 - £113

How can they justify this fluctuation? As the building hasn't suddenly spawned more windows to be cleaned. I have of course asked the questions, I've recently had a response, it took over 6 weeks, and multiple chasing emails to get the response. They have said The windows that are cleaned are the two panes of glass and the door.  The window cleaning company visit once a quarter.  So 4 times a year, 10 minutes a time. Less than 1 hours work a year & they were receiving over £1000!!  

The more you dig into your service charge, the more you realise you are just being ripped off at every opportunity.

Our windows have never changed, they've only ever washed the entrance windows and the door, so how can it cost £1164.46 one year and £82.83 the other!

(these are the windows, and the door is around the side) 

I would happily spend 10 minutes, once a quarter at the weekend washing the windows for an extra £1,000 a year.

Another question I had for Notting Hill Genesis was about my service charge, There are 7 flats in the building. But my block costs are split by 1 sixth.  So I am paying 16.67% of the bill instead of 14.29% it may not sound like much, but as i've been paying this rate on my service charge for the past 8 years, it will add up.  I pointed this out to Notting Hill Genesis and approx 7 weeks later I got this response:

"This is an error on our side as flat xx does not have their own door and share the same services as the other properties at xxxxxxx. I will ensure that this rectified to reflect on the accounts going forward"

They will fix this going forward!? What about going backwards!? All the extra money they have taken from me.  I went back to them asking if they will be re-imbursing me.  I had no response, so a week later I chased them up, whilst cc'ing my MP.  I immediately got a response saying that they are looking into this and will get back to me.  My original email was sent over 2 weeks ago and I'm still waiting.

Update

After over a year of constant chasing. (emails, service charge meetings) I have finally been told I will receive my money back in January 2022.  Of course it's mid-January now and I've had no update or no money back.  The amount of effort and resources to try and get my money back, makes it actually not worth it.  As the money is quite small.  But it's the principle.  NHG constantly try to wear you down with ignorance, incompetence and by simply ignoring you until you give up.

 

Next update.. (June 22)

After many more attempts of chasing Notting Hill Genesis.  I received the response:

"The SVC team believe that the issue with the monthly charges was due to the wrong amounts being budgeted for, not the apportionments. This is why the SVC team have not processed the historic refunds for the previous years. I have attached a copy of the original monthly charges which were higher due to incorrect insurance costs, and the corrected monthly charges for your property which shows you the reduced monthly charge. As you can see on both, the apportionment remains the same.

I hope this helps – please let me know if you have further queries at all. I will ensure you receive a response ASAP.

As an apology for the length of time it took for us to pass over this information to you I would like to offer you £100 compensation. Please confirm whether you accept this and please provide proof of your bank account details so we can process this for you."

So, after originally telling me they had made a mistake and that they would refund me for all the additional money they had taken out of my account. 6 months later of my constant pressure emailing them. They've come back saying they did not make a mistake and no longer owe me money, but would like to offer me £100 compensation.  Of course I went straight back to them saying, feel free to compensate me for all my wasted time, but I still want the money that you said you owed me.

....of course radio silence 

I then spent a couple of hours going through all my emails with dates and times, created an official complaint and sent it to Notting Hill Genesis.

And of course as if by magic, I get a response saying. Oh, we do actually owe you money and we will get it to you within the next few weeks.

It's now mid-June and the money has not appeared.

 

Refund finally received end of June 22.  The amount of hours, documenting emails that NHG had sent me, writing emails, phoning is definitely not worth the £300 refund.  Sometimes, they wear you down so much that you just give up, but this time I had every intention of getting my money back, no matter how much effort it took. 

It is a complete joke how Notting Hill Genesis & other housing associations can treat leaseholders and not be held accountable for their poor service.

The leasehold system is broken, there needs to be a change.

England and Wales are the only countries that still implement this broken leasehold system. 

Our neighbours have asked for Freedom of Information requests, which Notting Hill Genesis tell us they do not have to abide by as they are a charity.

My conclusion is that the flats were cheaply built and rushed to sort the housing shortage crisis.  The problem is with the leasehold system.  The freeholders, can do whatever they like and us leaseholders have very little power to do anything about it.  The freeholder owns the land and the building but can pass on 100% of costs to the leaseholder.  Sounds like an easy money making scheme for the rich.

Update 2024

Since 2019 we have been chasing our service charge statements, but because NHG's finances are in such a mess they cannot provide them.

So the way it works, at the beginning of the year, NHG supply estimates for all of the charges, e.g. electricity costs, cleaning costs, maintenance costs etc.  They literally pluck a figure out of the air.  Every month for the year, you pay on these estimates.  At the end of the year, they do their accounting and send a statement with the actual costs.  Which means you could have underpaid, then have something like 30 days to pay back the difference. Which could be anything.

So we have not received any of our actual costs since 2019.  We have chased and chased, but they keep saying they are still working on them.  How is that even possible!?  Surely they have paid their bills, submitted them to HMRC and they can divide that by each flat.  Anyway, we have been told to expect a big bill as it looks like they have undercharged us all these years.  So at any point in the next year or so, we will get the actual costs for all of those years and we will be owing a large amount of money and 30 days to pay.   Their incompetence again will cost us massively.

Update 04 November 2025:  We have still not received any finalised accounts since 2019. So have no idea what is going on.

I've seen the look on peoples face when I've tried to explain the current situation to them, their eyes glaze over and they cannot comprehend.  To be fair, I barely understand what's going on and I'm living it.

So my wife moved in a few years ago, we are now ready to move on with our lives, get out of London and get a bigger property with a garden and more open space around us to start a family.  

I would need to speak to work about permanent remote working, or find a new job.  Before I spoke to work, I decided to contact Notting Hill Genesis to find out the next steps. 

I had seen on their website the mention of an EWS1 form for buildings over 18 meters (Our building is 8.5 meters).  I thought i'd drop them an email to make sure we did not require one and what steps we need to take to initiate the sale of our flat. 

I sent an email on the 8th September 2020 at 12:15.  

The very next day 9th September at 15:15 I noticed an email from our Housing property manager stating immediate waking watch is now needed for our building as it was unsafe starting from the next day.

(waking watch is where we have someone in our building 24/7.  If there is a fire they are supposed to alert all the residents and help them evacuate, as the building is highly flammable and would burn down quickly).

A week later the sales team finally came back stating that all buildings now require an EWS1 form.

Of course, as is the theme here.  No one bothered to get in contact with me to discuss this.

So all leaseholders obviously had loads of questions as this was the first we had heard of this. We all emailed across questions and was told they would send us an FAQ document. 

So our initial question was:

What did you find specifically at xxxxx Court?

"We have not completed any testing of materials at xxxxx Court but did investigate existing materials and we have carried out detailed surveys of adjoining buildings which were constructed at a similar time and by the same developer. Findings from these inspections, suggest there are missing or ineffective cavity barriers within the cladding system, and our advisors have therefore formed a provisional opinion, that the cladding system which is fitted to xxxxx court, may have similar issues."

So from this I take that they had done tests on the adjoining building and found faults. As our building looks identical and was built at the same time then we have the same issues.  The problem I have with this is that in 2018 the adjoining building had scaffolding up.  It is only now that I have realised they removed all of the cladding off of that adjoining building in 2018, but have left our building covered in the cladding.

Instead they removed the scaffolding and left our buildings all covered in the same cladding, without mentioning a thing to us.

We now know this cladding is dangerous and the buildings were poorly built. They decided to stay quiet and leave us living here, in a fire risk all this time.

After enquiring some more it turns out the cost of removing that cladding was paid for by Notting Hill Genesis and the original developer.

We have always been told that it is likely that we will have to pay to remove our cladding. 

We are very concerened as we have a 10 year Warranty from NHBC which expires early next year. So we asked the question: "as freeholder have you spoken to NHBC?".

We were told that they are in talks with NHBC at the moment.

Time is ticking. So I spoke to NHBC who said they have had no contact with Notting Hill Genesis recently. The only contact they had regarding our properties was back in 2018. Notting Hill Genesis never got back to them and it was closed.

NHBC have since confirmed to me that a claim has been opened by Notting Hill Genesis, but as the warranty is almost up and if it passed building regulations at the time it probably won't be useful.

Anyway, it's a very messy situation. We will soon be sent a section 20 suggesting the new fire alarm systems they will be fitting to potentially reduce the waking watch costs.

This will be another massive bill for us. Not to mention we need to pay for the waking watch salary.  Notting Hill Genesis shared the current costs with us, and for our building it works out at over £720 a month per leaseholder.   

So at the moment our lives are on hold, every day our lives are being taken over with dealing with this situation. Leaseholder meetings, meeting with MPs, chasing up Notting Hill Genesis to find out if they are doing anything to try and resolve the situation.

After a full day of work we have to spend our evenings trying to fix a problem that was not of our making.

We moved in trusting that the building is maintained by the Freeholder & we have insurances in place for any issues.

In fact, when you apply for a Shared Ownership property you have to visit a financial adviser provided by NHG to make sure you can afford the monthly costs.  One of my questions was about insurances, I knew I had to get contents insurance, so I asked about Buildings insurances. "What if there is an issue with the roof/walls/balcony, do I need to get buildings insurance?" and I was told no. The building is the freeholders responsibility. They have insurances in place to fix any issues.

But now it turns out, actually, they can pass all costs for any repair work onto leaseholders.

Our lives are on hold. We are waiting for:

• a bill for the new door system (that never worked properly since the day I moved in)
• a bill to pay the waking watch salary's
• a bill for a new fire system, to potentially reduce waking watch hours (so we could still be paying for waking watch).
• a bill for works to remove cladding & remediate the missing fire barriers.

All of this will take years, meaning we are trapped. We can't re-mortgage without an EWS1 form.

So we're now at the mercy of variable rate (another cost increase).

I can't get an EWS1 form as the freeholders have to request it, and they can't request it until all these problems are resolved.

There are not enough qualified people to fix all of the flats affected quickly, and it's a very high percentage of all flats across the UK that are affected. We can't sell as no lenders will provide a mortgage against our property.

The value of the property is zero, we cannot move, we cannot sell!

We have the potential option to sublet, but it is for a maximum of 12 months. Which is pointless as we'd have to move back in at the end of it.  Also, Notting Hill Genesis would be the management company and would be making a profit from our sub-letting and to be honest, I'd feel terrible renting to someone, knowing soon, once the work begins, they will have to live with all that repair work going on, the noise, the dust, the heat, as the windows will have to be shut and the flats are extremely hot in summer.

Even if we had enough to put down a deposit on another home, we'd then have to pay a second home tax as we would still be the owners of this flat.

We will also miss out on the recent No Stamp Duty. Which means if we are ever in the position to buy again we will have to pay thousands in stamp duty tax.

It's a nightmare as we have no idea how long it will take to repair the building, as we are less than 18 meters we are low priority.

So let's assume 10 years. This flat would be too small to raise a child, so that's a worry.

Our dream of moving out to the countryside, getting a larger home & starting a family is now on hold and we have no idea for how long and what the costs will be.

We've seen stories of people receiving charges in the tens of thousands. There's the real potential that hundreds of thousands of leaseholders will be made bankrupt because of no fault of their own.

Someone really needs to step in and provide a solution for this situation instead of everyone saying it's not our problem.

I feel quite lucky in that we are only a 3 story building.  The fact that if a fire did quickly break out, we would possible have time to get out or, worst case, we could climb onto the roof from our balcony and run along to safety, and await the fire brigade to help us get down.  I cannot imagine the stress hundreds of thousands of other people are going through, knowing that they are on the 10th floor or higher & living in a potential tinderbox.  It must cause many sleepless nights. 

The only good thing to come out of this issue is that it has brought many of our neighbours closer together.  

For anyone considering shared ownership. My honest response would be, it's a big risk, your costs can increase and decrease massively without much warning.  

• You will ultimately be owning a share on a lease but be liable for 100% of all costs. 
• You will be at the mercy of a freeholder who can and most probably will treat you very badly.
• Even though you don't own the building, you will be billed to repair it.
• You will have to thoroughly check your service charge as they are riddled with erroneous charges.  Which will never be rectified unless you spot and point it out to them. Even then it can take years of phone calls & emails and you still may not be successful in getting the errors fixed.

 

Once we manage to escape this flat, I will never be a leaseholder again.  It's all in the favour of the freeholder, they have their building maintained at the expense of a leaseholder and they cannot be easily held to account for their shockingly poor service.

I will keep this page updated with any future developments.

To find out more, check out the hashtag #EndOurCladdingScandal on twitter. 

 

More Updates

January 2022

Our building had some work start early last year.  The scaffolding went up.  The ACM cladding was removed, then suddenly all the builders disappeared without a word around August last year.  We all spent months & months of chasing Notting Hill Genesis to find out what was going on.  Eventually we were told, the designers made a mistake and the materials they have won't fit. So they are trying to sort that. 

The last update we had, was that work would recommence in January and be completed by April.  But as we were previously told all work would have been completed in October last year and we would have an EWS1 I have no faith. Also, it's more than half way through January now and no builders have turned up. 

My wife is now heavily pregnant, the flat is covered in scaffolding so there is minimal light and the windows cannot be left open.

We can no longer live there.  It was not meant to be a home to raise a child, we're on the third floor with no elevator.  There are 52 steps and 5 landings to get to our front door.  Not convenient with a push chair and baby to carry. 

We currently reside at my in-laws in a spare room. We have been robbed of our chance to set up home & build a nursery ready for our first child's arrival.  A time that should be the most exciting is also covered in constant stress and fear.  

Once the child is here we will need to consider renting somewhere else.  This means we will be stuck paying a mortgage, rent, an ever growing service charge, any section 20s they decide to bill us for and now rent on a second property.  I have no idea if we will be able to maintain this. But it's the only option we have for our mental health....

February 2022

Our child was born and we are living at our in-laws until we can find another solution.

June 2022

We decided to move away, we have moved up to Derbyshire, but still have to maintain the flat.  Costs include, Mortgage, Rent, Service Charge, Council tax, energy bills & then rent, council tax, energy bills for a second property while we wait for them to fix the flat.

December 2023

The flat is apparently fully repaired and we have an EWS1, the EWS1 was supplied with a typo in the address, which took a bit of chasing for NHG to supply the correct one.  This should be a very happy day as we should now be able to sell. 

It had been listed on Purple Bricks for over a year, but all the viewers were put off by the scaffolding and darkness inside the flat.

So now, I have instructed another agent to sell and am hoping for a quick turn around.

Unfortunately, the skylight (EOV) at the top of the building was damaged when they removed the scaffolding, meaning it has been open all of December, so I raised an issue with NHG, saying it needs to be closed urgently.  Otherwise all the rain will be pouring into the building. I was calling and chasing them all of January and February, even making official complaints.  They finally managed to close the window in February.  3 months of rain pouring in the building, the stairs were soaked & slippery, the walls were wet all around the light switches.  It's a miracle that no one, slipped down the stairs or got electrocuted.  3 months to fix a window, when the rain is pouring in causing a massive hazard and danger to residents, is just another example of their terrible service.

I am now chasing them on a weekly basis to find out what their plan is for fixing the walls and carpet that are soaked through.  Damp will set in and the carpet is stained.  

April 2024

Still waiting to find out how they plan to fix the damp & carpets.  This is delaying any potential sales as it's not a nice experience when you go to view a flat.  One day this nightmare will end.  Almost 2 years, of having to rent a second property, whilst also paying for a flat we can't use. 

11 February 2025

All viewings have been put off due to massive over priced service charges. An equivalent flat (not managed by NHG within 100 meters has a service charge less than half of mine.  In fact NHG have new 1 bedroom flats across the road with service charges of £130/month wheras mine is now £299/month. On the estimates, they actually quoted me £425/month!, until i went through every single bill, pointing out all the incorrect ones, ones that should not be there etc. Then they reduced it to £299/month.  They literally removed a few of the incorrect charges and increased the others.  how they can get away with it is beyond me.

I noticed on the news that Adam Kiziak had been accused of forging fire safety certificates (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74e04ek82wo), of course I checked mine and he had signed it off.  I immidiately went to NHG and said will this affect me.  They said they are aware of the situation and will update me.

More Bad Luck

It turned out that my EWS1 is no longer valid and I was told I should have a new one in 8-10 weeks.

November 2025

• I am still waiting end of year accounts since 2019. (No updates from NHG on this, how can it take 6 years to finalise accounts?)
• I am still waiting for an update on when we will receive a valid EWS1 form. I am now at the point of chasing this weekly and getting no response.
• My service charge is still more than double all other 1 bedroom flats in the area. I have complained to the ombudsman, to NHG directly, to my MP to the media and still nothing changes.
• I am awaiting compensation that I was told in March they would send to me due to ignoring all of my official complaints. I am also chasing this weekly and just keep getting ignored.  if I ever manage to get someone on the phone, they promise to get it sent out. But nothing ever does.

Current Situation as of November 2025

 

On the 8th September 2020 I requested with NHG to sell my 40% share and was told I wouldn't be able to because of the fire defects in the building.

04 November 2025 I am still unable to sell.

• I am on my third estate agent, they have all not been able to sell it, even at a reduced price, because (I believe) NHG insist on inflating their service charge to recoup some of the building safety costs that they have had to pay out for. There's no other reason why my 1 bedroom flat has a service charge higher than the 2 & 3 bedroom flats in the next block which have parking, lift and other expenses (also managed by NHG)
• 5 years later and I still have no valid EWS1
• I still have a service charge more than double all of the other 1 bedroom flats in the area and to top it off I have no parking and no lift to maintain, whereas the flats with a cheaper service charge do.  So no one in their right mind would buy my flat.  I've dropped £40k off the price and still no luck.
• I am still waiting for NHG to finalise their accounts which for the years 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024
• I am still awating a valid reason for why my service charge is so high.  For the years prior to the builcing safety work it was always around £108-£130/month) Then suddenly, after works completed, it went to £235/month. Then the following year they tried to increase it to £425/month, after days of going through the charges and complaining they brought it down to £299/month).  These numbers are plucked out of the air.  I managed to speak to their complaints department after being ignored and having to involve the housing ombudsman & my MP.  The complaints person was very honest, he sounded like he had lost the will to live due to dealing with all of NHGs poor management. I was told they are failing at service charges as they are not accountants, they do not have the skill to manage it properly. After requesting they buy back my 40% share, I was told they don't do buy-backs and it's not in their interest, as shared owners make them a profit, whereas they actually make a loss with social housing. 

This means it's in their interest to keep me trapped as a prisoner, paying ever-increasing ludicrous charges and bills (almost £1k/month) for a flat that I don't want, can't use and am unable to give away.

 

 

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