Formal exchange with Southern Housing regarding the statutory notice served March 2, 2026, and the agreement on partial payments.
Because Southern Housing failed to maintain basic amenities for over a year, residents have the right to challenge whether the service charges were "reasonably incurred."
This email thread documents the original arrears demand, the formal notification that specific portions of the service charge are being withheld in escrow, and the execution of our statutory right under Section 22 to demand the receipts and invoices for the undelivered services they claim to provide.
Official Case Reference: CAS-2844300-G5R8W3
covers the formal Section 22 request for invoice inspection and the dispute regarding broken fire doors and entry systems. Southern Housing has officially agreed to accept partial payments while this dispute is active.
Re: Stage One Complaint Acknowledgement (COM126617)
From:Alexander Lyon (arlyon@fastmail.com)
To:Patricia Samuels (patricia.samuels@southernhousing.org.uk) cc Hello@southernhousing.org.uk
Date:8 June 2026
Dear Ms Samuels,
Thank you for your acknowledgement of 5 June 2026 (complaint reference COM126617). I confirm that your summary of the four heads of complaint is accurate and I have nothing to correct.
In answer to your question about the service charge year:
1. The year my 2 March request covers. Your service charge accounts appear to be made up to 31 March, as reflected in your estimate statements. The right to inspect under Section 22 therefore attaches to the last complete accounting year ending on or before the request. As my request was made on 2 March 2026, that is the 2024/25 year (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025). The supporting documents for that year remain outstanding, were due in April, and are covered by my 14-day final notice of 1 June, which expires on 15 June 2026.
2. The 2025/26 year. My 2 March request was for the most recent complete year then available (2024/25), and it was my intention to request the following year once it closed, so that the two years could be compared. That year (1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026) has now ended, so I am also requesting, under Section 22, inspection of the invoices, receipts and supporting documents for it. It is the year in which the door-entry system was inoperable from 4 August 2025 while continuing to be charged, so those records are directly material. For this period I would like the full gamut please. All receipts that contribute to the summary accounts as delivered by post. The statutory one-month period for making these available runs from today.
3. What I am asking for, and why. I already hold the year-end accounts and the line-by-line breakdown, so I am not asking for the summary figures. My request is for the actual invoices, receipts and supporting documents behind those figures, specifically the fire-systems servicing and repairs, the powered door-entry system, and the checking and maintenance of electrical power points. The breakdown states what I am charged; Section 22 entitles me to inspect the evidence that those costs were genuinely and reasonably incurred. By way of illustration, I am charged for door-entry maintenance on a system that has been dead since 4 August 2025, and for fire-systems work while the Floor 2 fire door remains defective and propped open. The receipts are precisely what would show whether those sums were properly incurred.
4. Timing. The Section 22 duty and your complaint run on separate clocks. The statutory deadline for the 2024/25 documents fell on 2 April 2026 and has already passed; my final notice requires them by 15 June 2026. Your Stage 1 response date of 19 June does not extend or suspend the statutory obligation, and I expect the 2024/25 documents by 15 June regardless of when the complaint response follows, and the 2025/26 documents one month from today.
Two administrative points:
• Please direct all correspondence on this matter to arlyon@fastmail.com. Your acknowledgement was sent to a secondary address (arlyon@me.com). I would prefer it if we do not use that.
• I now hold two complaint references for the same matter, CAS-2952461-D7M9S1 and COM126617. Please confirm the single reference you would like me to use so the record stays clear.
I look forward to receiving the 2024/25 documents by 15 June 2026, the 2025/26 documents within the statutory month, and your full written complaint response by 19 June 2026.
Yours sincerely,
Alexander Lyon
Under Section 22(4), Southern Housing had to make the requested documents available within one month of the 2 March request — by 2 April 2026 — and for two months thereafter. As of 1 June 2026, no documents have been provided. This is a breach of the statutory duty and a summary criminal offence under Section 25.
Southern has separately admitted that the door-entry failure stemmed from an unpaid bill inherited at handover, with the line still awaiting connection — all while continuing to bill for the service.
On 1 June 2026 a formal Stage 1 complaint and 14-day final notice was served. Southern acknowledged it the same day, logging it as a formal complaint under reference CAS-2952461-D7M9S1 and promising a full written response within 5 working days. On 5 June 2026 Patricia Samuels, Senior Complaints Resolution Lead, issued a formal Stage One acknowledgement under a second reference, COM126617, correctly restating all four heads of complaint. She set 19 June 2026 as the target for the full written response and invited any correction of her understanding by 12 June 2026.
Patricia Samuels also asked which service charge year(s) the Section 22 request relates to. Because Southern's accounts are made up to 31 March, the right of inspection attaches to the last complete accounting year ending on or before the request. As the request was made on 2 March 2026, that is the 2024/25 year (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025); a request cannot reach a year that had not yet ended. This was confirmed in reply on 8 June 2026, and, the 2025/26 year (1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026) having since closed, a further Section 22 request was made for that year too, so the supporting documents for both years are now sought. The 2025/26 year is the one in which the door-entry system was charged while inoperable from 4 August 2025.
Three clocks now run: the 2024/25 documents are required by 15 June 2026 under the final notice (the statutory deadline having already passed on 2 April 2026); the 2025/26 documents are due within one month of the 8 June request (by 8 July 2026); and the Stage 1 written response is due 19 June 2026. If the 2024/25 invoices are not produced by 15 June, the matter escalates to the local housing authority (s.25 summary offence), the Housing Ombudsman, and a First-tier Tribunal application under s.27A challenging the disputed charges.
Correspondence address
The Stage One acknowledgement (COM126617) was sent to arlyon@me.com, not the arlyon@fastmail.com address used throughout this dispute. Southern should be redirected to the fastmail address so formal responses are not missed.