Leaseholders 'treated like cash machines'

Solicitor General Harriet Harman today claimed some people who have bought their council flats are being overcharged for maintenance and repairs.

Ms Harman said Southwark council treats its 11,000 leaseholders like "cash machines".

Their annual service charge bills have increased at least twofold since 2002. On the Clifton Estate a typical charge rose from ?500 in 2002/3 to ?1,400 in 2004/5. "It is impossible to overstate the fear and anxiety generated for thousands of people, many of them elderly and vulnerable," said Ms Harman.

It is alleged Southwark failed to produce proper accounts explaining how service charges have been spent. Ms Harman's "Fight for Fairness" campaign demands a freeze on any further increases until all leaseholders get a clear breakdown of charges for the last three years, as the law requires.

Ms Harman has referred 18 complaints of maladministration to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Steven Flannery, Southwark's executive member for housing, admitted annual service charges have been consistently late and inaccurate. "I am determined to oversee a genuine change in the service leaseholders receive," he said.