2. Financial Review (Section 22)
Using statutory inspection rights to expose Southern Housing's billing practices, track our missing money, and prepare the RTM financial case.
Opening the Black Box
Southern Housing has treated Odyssey House like a blank cheque. We receive annual estimates with vague line items, inflated costs, and zero proof of delivery. When we ask for receipts, we are met with silence or "system errors."
To successfully execute our Right to Manage (RTM), we must know exactly how much money is in our building's accounts, what contracts we are currently tied to, and how much we are being overcharged.
Our weapon for this is Section 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. This law gives every leaseholder the absolute right to inspect:
- Service charge receipts for the last accounting year
- Supporting invoices for all major works and repairs
- Managing agent contracts and fee structures
- Sinking fund bank statements showing our reserve balances
The Statutory Deadline
Failure to provide access within 30 days of a formal S22 request is a summary criminal offence punishable by a fine. Southern Housing cannot legally ignore this.
Our Primary Targets (The "Hit List")
We are currently auditing the accounts to expose three specific categories of financial mismanagement:
1. Undelivered Services
These are items we are billed for where the service is mathematically or logically impossible.
- Electric Power Points (£840.60/year): We are charged for the "checking and maintenance" of communal sockets. Aside from a cleaner plugging in a vacuum, these points require an EICR test only once every 5 years (costing ~£250 total). Billing us £840 annually for this is absurd.
- Grounds Maintenance (£1,753/year): We have roughly 100 sq/m of outside space (a 10x10m patch of grass/bushes). We are paying mega-contractor rates for a space a local gardener would maintain for £40 a month.
2. Broken Amenities Billed as Functional
We are collecting invoices to prove Southern Housing is charging us for contracts on dead systems.
- Door Entry (£748.80/year): The Noralsy intercom has been dead since August 4, 2025, because Southern failed to pay the BT line rental. Yet, we are still paying for its "maintenance."
- Fire System Repairs (£1096.20/year): We are billed over £1k annually for fire repairs, while the Floor 2 fire door remains jammed and propped open since March 2025. This is prima facie evidence of negligence.
3. The £1.2M Section 20B Shock
In September 2025, we received a placeholder notice reserving Southern's right to charge us £1,212,000 for historic costs incurred in 2024-2025.
- Divided by the 40 total units on the estate, that is £2,525 per month, per flat.
- We are using Section 22 to demand the exact ledger of when these costs were supposedly accrued. We suspect they are attempting to pass estate-wide or regional costs onto our specific building.
The Sinking Fund (Reserve) Audit
Every year, each flat contributes £498.36 to the sinking fund. Over time, this adds up to thousands of pounds of our money, held in trust by Southern Housing for future major works (like roof replacements).
Why this matters for RTM: When our RTM company takes over, Southern Housing is legally required to transfer the entire unspent balance of this fund to our new resident-controlled bank account. We need the S22 audit to lock in the exact balance before we serve the RTM notice, preventing them from misallocating any more funds.
What Happens When They Stall?
Southern Housing is notoriously slow. If they fail to provide the invoices within the 30-day statutory window (expiring mid-April 2026), we will execute the following escalation path:
- Housing Ombudsman Report: File a formal complaint for statutory non-compliance.
- Section 27A FTT Application: Apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to have the disputed charges legally declared "unreasonable" and stripped from our accounts. If they can't produce a receipt, they can't charge us.
- Withholding of Funds: As already notified to their accounts team, we will legally hold the disputed funds in escrow until the amenities are restored.
The Output: The Shadow Budget
The ultimate goal of this audit isn't just to win an argument—it's to build our Day 1 RTM Budget.
By stripping away the underdelivered services, the inflated management fees, and the broken contracts, we will present the building with a realistic, lean, and transparent budget managed by a local agent of our choosing.
Stage 2: Financial Position
Next Steps: Review the line-by-line absurdity in the 2026/27 Service Charge Breakdown or see how this money directly funds our Right to Manage legal takeover.