When construction company Lendlease first backed the regeneration of Elephant and Castle in south London, it promised many benefits to the local community.
The area will add more than 3,000 homes, including hundreds of affordable apartments, a new public park with a “treehouse” for the community, and thousands of jobs, it said. The area was previously known for the sprawling Heygate council area, two unstable traffic junctions and a fading shopping centre.
In recent weeks, people in many of the new “affordable” homes have struggled financially at the £2.5bn project, built in partnership with Southwark council. Demands for mats are falling, with service charges rising to over £5,000 a year in many cases.
Investigating the reasons for such high bills, residents discovered that they were paying for neighborhood safety patrols and the cost of public facilities that Lendlease had promised to provide. Fees include maintenance of the new park and new treehouse, which includes a café, bamboo decking and a public rooftop terrace.
Amada Teruel Sanchez, 36, and her partner José Mellado, 47, were told last month that the service charge for their flat, sold by housing association L&Q, had risen by 38% from £338 to £469 a month. Marson flats, which consist of 10-storey blocks of 50 houses, are being charged £48,885 for the management and maintenance of the “public realm”.
Mellado said: “We already pay council tax and we shouldn’t be paying for a public park.” He said residents now want to see full accounts of the total costs they have paid in the area, including local security patrols, a public park and a treehouse.
Jessica Salgado, 29, another resident of the Marson flat block, is also seeing her service charge rise by nearly 40% to £372 a month. Salgado, who moved into his co-owned flat last year, said: “We don’t know how these costs are calculated and when we ask for documentation they are a riddle.
“It breaks my heart a little bit because the reason I went this route was because I couldn’t afford to buy a property in London. When you go through shared ownership, the emphasis is on affordability. It feels like we’re being ripped off.”
Residents of Marson flats are joining groups across the country to protest the increase in service charges. A poster in the block’s lift states: “We are launching a joint strike against L&Q over poor service charge increases.”
Residents at Braeburn estates, a block in Wood Green in north London – another development where L&Q homes are located – were relieved to be told in a letter dated February 19 that service charges would be reduced. Then, in a letter sent the next day, they were told there had been an increase of more than 40%.
Campaigner Alejandro Sanchez, 33, who lives in a shared-owned property on the block, said: “You have to complain to get the budget and then it’s not very transparent. “We’re still trying to get to the bottom of last year’s budget increases.” He said such a dramatic increase in service charges was a “mockery” of the concept of affordable housing.
Lendlease said: “All residents of Elephant Park contribute to the maintenance of public spaces and community facilities, including the treehouse.” It was stated that the tree house is a benefit for the society and also serves development.
L&Q said it did not own the Marson flats or the Braeburn estates, but had a master lease on the properties. It said it had “limited influence” on decisions about what services would be provided.
An L&Q spokesman said: “Unfortunately, we have not been provided with a detailed budget for the whole of Elephant Park. We contacted Lendlease, which owns the property, to obtain this information.” It said residents had paid significant increases for a number of reasons, including tighter building safety regulations, undercharging residents in the previous accounting year and increases in buildings insurance.
Southwark council said it had requested an urgent meeting between all parties at Elephant Park to ensure legislation was complied with and “reduce bills going forward”.
Michelle Furber, 52, a primary school teacher and single mother from Brighton, said what was supposed to be a lifesaver getting on the housing ladder “turned into a nightmare”. Service charges for a Clarion Housing shared ownership two-bedroom flat in central Brighton have risen from £349 a month in 2023-24 to £417 a month in 2024-25.
The association also said it was asking for a one-off payment of £2,221 to cover the shortfall in the previous year’s budget. This means his total expenses this year are more than £7,200. He refuses to pay the increases.
Furber said: “It was marketed as affordable and suitable for key workers, but once you move the fees go up massively. It’s completely unaffordable for me now.”
Savills, appointed managing agent of Furber’s estate, said: “The main drivers of the service charge increase are a result of increases in community service and insurance charges, as well as increased operating and maintenance costs. “We are in contact with all residents regarding service charge levels moving forward.”