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From The Socialist newspaper, 1 December 2021
East London mass non-payment wins housing victory
Following a fire in 2019, residents in Barking have fought for safety Photo: Pete Mason (Click to enlarge)
Pete Mason, east London Socialist Party and chair of Barking Reach Residents' Association
The combative residents and residents' association on the Barking Riverside estate in East London have won another victory. A residents' service charge strike has forced home builders Bellway to pay in full for the remediation of flammable balconies, cladding, and missing and deformed cavity barriers on another 314 dwellings in the Caspian Quarter of the estate, something they previously refused to do.
The balconies alone will cost over £1 million to fix. That bill had been passed on to residents, causing untold distress and hardship. Residents were facing huge costs - service charge bills of up to £6,000 for two years.
Backed up by a campaigning residents' association, a majority of residents refused to pay the remediation part of the newly issued service charge bills. The multifaceted, well-organised campaign has brought together protests and other actions, building the confidence of residents.
Once the bills were overdue, it became apparent to the landlord, tax-haven based Adriatic Land, that they faced a determined, well-organised force. Within a few days, their partners in crime Bellway crumbled - suddenly announcing their about-turn.
To accompany the service charge strike, the residents' association has worked hard to apply political and legal pressure, raising hundreds of pounds for a legal challenge to Bellway, and lobbying councillors and MPs. Under pressure from the campaign, the council was forced to engage with Bellway, threatening to consider blocking them from any further developments in the borough.
Residents are planning well-earned celebrations for a hard-fought victory.
But residents should never have been put through the distress caused. The tax haven-based landlords have forfeited their right to ownership. The unsafe, profit-hungry top-ten homebuilders have forfeited their right to build. The democratic public ownership of land and the building industry, as part of a socialist plan, remain a necessity to solve the housing crisis.
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In The Socialist 1 December 2021:
News
Covid-19: New variant emerges but same old capitalist disease
27 dead in channel migrant tragedy
Bulb bailed out, nationalise energy to solve price crisis
Khan threatens further London transport cuts
Kickstart scheme 'insufficient and flawed'
Tories strengthen repressive laws
COP26
After COP26: where next for the climate movement?
International
Argentine elections see deepening polarisation
Wales
Wales: The Labour-Plaid Cymru agreement - jam tomorrow, maybe
Rural life
Behind the rural idyll - the problems of everyday life
Workplace news
NHS workers - vote yes for action to win a decent pay rise
Staff and students unite against university bosses' attacks
Education unions lead campaign against Leicester academisation
RMT strikes against abolition of night tube train operators
South Yorkshire Stagecoach drivers strike against measly 1% pay offer
Nottingham and Mansfield trade unions rally against cuts and for better pay
Oaks Park school strike ends following forced concessions
Campaigns
East London mass non-payment wins housing victory
Marching to stop violence against women
Housing campaigners protest CEO champagners
Building a political alternative to Tory and Labour cuts
Stop the cuts to Uni arts funding
Plymouth: Hundreds attend vigil for Bobbi-Anne McLeod
Socialism 2021: How we reached our fighting fund appeal target
Readers' opinion
TV review: Valley of the Tears
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