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She talk bias rubbish the service charge never go down

A massive fiddle. Keep exposing it.

This really needs some form of intervention by the government. The housing associations are not trying to get the best and cheapest service charges because they have no incentive to. They also build a percentage of social housing along with these homes and get millions from the government/tax payers. This is a scandal up there with the Post Office Horizon. I truly feel for these people. I watched that Housing Association woman squirm, she knows that they are fleecing these poor people. These companies should not be allowed to register as charities or non profit, and they should all be fully audited. This is harmful to people who just want to own their own homes, and it is truly heartbreaking. I noticed how Guinness said that they would let their current shared ownership customers be informed, but did not offer to let future ones know of this predicament. I think the government should not be wasting money on these companies and give it to local councils.

Why not allow people to build their own home in small towns. Not all of us want to live in a big city. London is overcrowded.

That fringe is karma

When I was in social housing the rent included contributions to sinking funds so based on that I would have thought that any unplanned repair costs would be split pro rata. If this is no longer the case then that is why the rents are cheap..

disgusting behaviour

So by the sounds of it, if i cant afford to buy a freehold house its better to continue to private rent than getting a SO property

It is the same in France, Germany, Spain... Bilderberg ...? I've lived in houses, flats and now in a mobile home or a flat. I love nature, cats, dogs, stars , quietness, solitude so,.when.people are gathering in front of the TV at 7 or 8,.in winter I look at Orion or I.feed.the.cats... Well, I'm living at 42° North. Nice weather in general Would I Say it is paradise. Yes, a bit, surely !. And you know...Victor Hugo found the " small" Island of Guernsey stunning !

I feel sorry for the victims of this scam it must be so stressful, they feel trapped with out exit, these schemes are from people with out heart, it is really upsetting, God bless the buyers and wish they find a solution 🙏💖

People need to understand that anytime a scheme or special offer is available it’s mainly to off load stock and/or boost sales due to struggling sales. These companies DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU and are not suppose to. Sales team will be so polite with great communication, once you buy the after care team don’t pick up lol…… it’s the same across the board. Pick you poison

Thanks for this documentaries!

The problem is that society pushes everyone to dream about owning their own home when for some people it simply makes no sense. There's no human right guaranteeing everyone to get on the "property ladder" People who rush to buy a home because emotions without making sure that they can afford to end up living well beyond their means, which obviously can't last for long. And it screws up other people too. Has everyone forgotten how sub-prime mortgages caused the global financial crisis?

This country has been ruined!

The minimum wage figures are adding up, people are not.

Short leases have their purpose. If a build can last only 50 years (just look at the leaking basement pipes), a 50-year lease is not a bad thing. It keeps the price lower. You pay for what you get. If you want freehold, then you'll have to pay more. It seems shared ownership is a bad idea. You lose control over escalating costs, repairs, etc.

Shared ownership is a massive scam on people.

I think owning your own home is a Mugs game in todays world. Get a council Property, Rents affordable, Free Repairs inside and outside. Buying a house to end up paying tons of money more than just living in social housing. Its a Mugs game, My service charge is like £5 per month, Social Housing is a stable housing where you dont have to worry about repairs etc..... You buy your own house but still have to pay a lease and the freeholder gets the property back and you loose the house, The housing market in the UK is screwed. Listening to these councils tell lies after lies makes my blood boil. Bunch of scumbags

Housing Associations are always millions of pounds in SURPLUs known as profit year-after-year. All run by chartered accountants. Look in the magazine 'Inside Housing'. These people running a social service/product are treating it as a priavte money generating business. HAs are thieves with a 'charity' licence to steal.

It is very cheap to build a house and there's lots of land (maybe not in the cities) but in towns for sure. The prices of the materials are inflated. The real estate agent and the developer get millionaires and maybe the architect gets a little bit too. The rest of the people starting from the engineer and the person buying the house and the ones constructing it are poor and miserable. Maybe the engineering firm gets a bit too. This is so frustrating because I know how cheap it is and how inflated they make it. Sorry for humanity. I used to be an engineer, my wages were very poor. Building houses in Dublin where I knew they would be sold at half a million. The engineering firm gets 100 EUR an hour with my work and I was paid 13 Euros an hour, Basically minimum wage. The real estate agent would be paid around 5% for the sales. Cost of construction including paying contractors and materials maybe 125k, land 125k, architect 10K, engineering firms 4K EUR (laughable). Price 500K. Developer about 200K taking home, for a one off house, this would be more if apartment blocks or if it was a complete housing estate, as the cost of land, plans, materials are less per unit. If there is no developer and you own the land, more savings.

If you cannot sell due to an ongoing assessment as to whether it’s effectively “sellable” the housing agency should buy you out.

If the Government thinks it's a good idea, that's when you know to RUN THE OVER WAY!

If this government are pushing something like this it means two things. 1. It will not be a good deal for ordinary people. 2. It will be a fantastic deal for their friends.

What's the point of building insurance if it's not going to cover burst pipes? Also what about hidden defects legislation?

Rip off Britain at its best. The government does not care about its citizens at all, it’s all about making more money for investors period.

Very good and informative program. Many thanks to Panorama for bringing these severe and unjust problems to light. Commendable investigation. Thank you. Gerry

When we bought our house a few years ago we were exploring this option and it just came across as robbery. Constantly chasing trying to pay off an ever increasing property price on top of paying your mortgage. It only really works if you don’t have the initial capital but you have good excess income that you can be paying off the shared owner. Although some companies want to keep the share because it provides the company an extra income through rent.

This is disgusting way of doing a housing scheme these companies should be fined for everything that goes wrong.

If you have a mortgage. You own nothing. .

90% of homes in uk are mortgages so the Banks and Rothschild’s own them. You create the debt and monies when taking the mortgage. Enjoy 😂

I was tempted to get a shared ownership flat but im glad ive stayed away. Complete scam!

Clarion gave us 3 days notice of a service charge underestimate they were applying to our account of over £3000. They're now harassing residents to pay it.

Can someone please explain the problem with each case, because by god all I see is people upset life is hard. 1st Case - High service charge Service charge is present to cover costs incurred for the upkeep of the building, you can and should expect this to increase due to inflation and the increasing costs of services. In addition, older buildings may incur maintenance costs. Your housing association (HA) has a right to charge this at whatever the costs are, you have the following rights as taken from gov website; - Ask for a summary showing how the charge is worked out and what it’s spent on - See any paperwork supporting the summary, such as receipts Your landlord must give you this information - it’s a criminal offence if they do not. 2nd Case - High Service Charge Same as 1st Case. 3rd Case - High Service Charge This is a good scenario to discuss, as much as it is same as the 1st case. If I was the shared owner (SO), I would demand to see summary of costs, receipts and a fair tender process to ensure a fair and competitive rate. If the service charge includes the costs that the HA have agreed to cover, this is wrong and the SO has a right to dispute. SO has a right to dispute as how can the HA bear the costs if they are including it in their service charge. 4th Case - Lease Length This is laughable, as said by the SO herself "I don't think I understood that I was buying a short lease" and here in lies the problem. I doubt the HA missold the lease and if you were aware of the length of the lease and your solicitor was then the onus is on you to do research. To summarise, I wish it was easier for everyone but you cant be upset with the issues raised as above.

Disgrace

Where is her husband she's doing all the talking

Disgusting ❤

Check housing association CEO yearly income and you will knew if it’s “not for profit”….

Shared Ownership is a trap.

Thank you for uploading this - I was on the verge of putting myself thru to purchase a shared ownership. I can’t believe how criminal these housing associations are, not allowing the 999 year lease, lowering it to 125, charging £12k to increase any existing short lease - it’s day light robbery…

I live in shared ownership, admittedly i dont pay a service charge but i pay rent on the part i don't t own. They sold the house to me below market value, but if i want to buy any more i have to do it at market value. At the time it was £18,500 per 10%. On the open market it was £23,000 per share. So if i wanted to buy another 10% immediately after buying then it was £23,000. Also 5years ago the rent on my remaing share was £64.00, five years later its £180.00. For the rent they do nothing, they say its my responsibilty for repairs. They do nothing! My home oeaks and have had to chase it through NHBC. The quality is shocking. Any improvemts i made i.e. landscaping the garden is added to the value of the home, so in effect any improvements i make are refectex in the market value, so in effect they are taking a percentage of any improvements i make.

Go to 5:49 for a laugh. Thank me later😂😂😂

When Schemes turn in to scams because of shortsightedness. Look carefully at the wording people, it’s all designed to trap you over time. Make sure what is good today is good for everyone’s future, but it’s not, it’s a designed entrapment around your dreams. The system is flawed by the fraud which they manipulated into a law to protect business.

L&Q rolling round in money… it’s only fair she gives us more, crossing the border between legality & morality.

More Government corruption and crooked schemes. People needs to start getting together and fight against the Government and their corruption. Wake up people. The Government is not for us..

Never lease anything. How does anyone NOT know lease means you have to give it back & you lose all your $, it's nothing more than a long rental?

Even for shared owners that want to purchase the remaining portion of their home, the rented part will be revalued. There they still might not be able to purchase the remaining property.

L&Q, most of the rent and service charges go to their CEO Fiona Fletcher-Smith, who earns £370,000 a year

Shared ownership is a scam to allow developers to charge over the market value for the property. Housing associations who are also factors are run by scammers filling their mates pockets who are contracted to maintain the properties. Prove me wrong...

Strikes me that this bloody Government will grant any business enough free rein to legally screw anyone out of everything whenever they choose with little or no recourse. “Keep the rich rich and the poor, poor.”

All companies should be legally obliged to make it clear from the outset what the costs are and can be and for the companies to not be able to refer to the ' small print ' only ( if any ) . This is deception by the companies.