HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS
Flats broke
AS A retired accountant with 50 years’ experience, combing through invoices comes easily to Michael Savell. But it didn’t take an expert to spot something strange when his block of flats was charged £23,0000 for gas despite all the homes being powered solely by, er, electricity.
Nine years later, he’s still fighting for a full refund for years of similar bills – adding up, he says, to £83,000 – on behalf of the 170 tenants, all aged over 55, at his south London development, which is run by the housing association Southern Housing. In that time, Savell says he has identified many more anomalies that might otherwise have escaped his neighbours’ notice. He believes they are each owed at least £1,400 in surplus charges and are being overcharged once again this year. He said: “It worries me that this will be going on up and down the country unchallenged.”