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Government Housing ILA Information Islington Islington Council LBI Leaseholders Leases London Major Works Meetings Newsletter PFI Repairs Service Charges Website

ILA meeting on Tuesday the 13th of January 2026

ISLINGTON LEASEHOLDERS ASSOCIATION (ILA)

MEETING on TUESDAY the

13th January 2026 at

7-9pm in
St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

(located approximately 100 yards from the Town Hall, walking towards the Angel) at

7-9pm

The ILA welcome Leaseholder to the first ILA meet of the new year 2026

Please be aware that we will have door attendance every 10-15 mins…so just ring the reception bell if the door is closed/unattended…

Ila will be discussing problems arising in connection with s20 bills…Emergency Lighting…Fire precautions…Etc

Hosting the meet – Dr Brian Potter

Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every month

All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.

X (FKA “Twitter”) @ilaorguk

Face Book www.facebook.com/IslingtonLeaseholdersAssociation

Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk . You can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab in menu

Categories
Councillors Cyclical Works Financial Housing ILA Information Islington Islington Council LBI Leaseholders London Major Works Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholder Letters 9

“Out with the Old”

I’m on a pension and have lived in my one bedroom ex-council flat for 25 years. “It’s all very well for (Una O’Halloran the Leader of the Council (D.Telegraph 26/7/25,)“Islington plans to purchase 900 former council houses”) to gloat regarding buying back former Council properties for short term accommodation, but she conveniently fails to mention that in so doing, she is simply displacing the Council’s long term residents”

This is precisely the process used in my situation by Islington council. I have been a leaseholder in Newbery House for 25 years and Islington council has issued me an s20 estimate of £50,000, (larger 2 & 3 bedroom flats are estimated considerably higher)

Notably, these bills are being issued without full, independent and proper surveys  – (we have an estimate for major work to our roofs,) when a simple, and cheaper) drone survey could easily and accurately determine whether such major works are actually necessary! Furthermore the company deciding the scope of works is the company doing the very work! Thereby, in effect, writing their own cheques; (ie…marking their own exam papers). As a result, hundreds of residents, like myself, are losing sleep over a maintenance bill, that will in effect, force me out of my home after 25 years.!!!

The council are deliberately sacrificing a whole swath of it older, long term, paying residents, in order to house Non paying residents, this despicable behaviours shows that they see us as being easily disposable,‘Cash Cows’. 

Consequently, I intend to stand as an independent leaseholder candidate in the May 2026 local elections, Basically, in order to get some say in MY borough, as opposed to just being grossly misused and abused.

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Borough of sanctuary

Leaseholder Letters 8

Dear Isabel, 

Having read many sad and heartbreaking letters in your newspaper concerning huge major works bills I was surprised to see the council’s leader statement and not any mention of the leaseholders under threat of losing their homes.

Cllr Una O’Halloran’s anniversary statement paints a glowing picture of her first year as Leader, but it glosses over one of the most pressing and painful issues facing this borough: the crushing major works bills now landing on the doorsteps of long-standing leaseholders.

For many older residents — including pensioners who have lived in their homes for decades and paid every service charge without fail — demands of £50,000, £60,000, even £70,000 are simply unmanageable. These aren’t optional improvements. They are compulsory charges that risk pushing ordinary people out of the homes they’ve lived in for most of their lives.

Yet not a single word of this crisis appeared in the Leader’s statement.

While the Council celebrates housing buybacks and licensing schemes, a whole community of leaseholders is being left to fend for itself. The reality is that long-term residents are staring down the barrel of financial ruin, while others entering the borough under separate schemes will not be contributing to maintenance costs. The inevitable shortfall will fall on those already struggling — meaning even higher service charges for people who are already at breaking point.

If Islington is a “Borough of Sanctuary,” then sanctuary must apply to the people who have built, maintained and paid for this borough for decades. Right now, many of them feel abandoned and excluded from the Council’s narrative of success.

The Leader may say she is listening to residents but leaseholders facing life-changing bills would like to know when she plans to start listening to them.

Yours faithfully,

Mike Ryan 

Concerned Leaseholder 

Categories
Councillors Election Financial Government Housing ILA Islington Islington Council LBI Leaseholders Leases London Major Works Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholder Letters 7

I have been a leaseholder with London Borough of Islington for over 40 years and have been subjected to unjustified charges for repairs and major works.

The most recent estimate I was upset to receive was a bill of up to £44,00 and had to work with the council to reduce the scope of the works without resorting to legal action. The LBI know leaseholders can rarely afford legal action. This abuse of power puts low-income leaseholders such as I at risk of bankruptcy and homelessness.

LBI in 2024 followed up with another letter for Major Works to take place during 2025 which had previously been undertaken in 2019. With the support of the Islington Leaseholders Association I was able to challenge the Major Works schedule and these works were eventually withdrawn, but only after waiting a agonising eight months for a decision to be made.

I currently exist in a state of financial insecurity, and a constant state of anxiety and worry. I worry for my mental health as I am unable to ever switch off living in a never-ending spiral of fear, fight and eventual flight.

I live in panicked state as to whether I can afford to stay in my home in an area I truly love.

“An extremely concerned Leaseholder”

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Councillors Election Financial Housing Information Islington Islington Council LBI Leaseholders Major Works Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholder Letters 6

Sir, As Treasurer of the borough wide Islington Leaseholders Association Ltd., I am delighted to see that the Tribune has explicitly drawn attention, via its letters column, to the horrendous and shameful plight of leaseholders.

Following Dr Brian Potter’s article (17 October) attendance at our  meetings held at St Mary’s church (second Tuesday monthly at 7pm) has quadrupled.

Sadly, recent reports of cyclical maintenance bills totalling £60,000 – £80,000 are no longer uncommon forcing residents, many of whom,

particularly elderly pensioners, have lived in the borough all their lives, to move out.  

It is not surprising, therefore, that due to the misery and depression caused, some have even contemplated suicide.

Cllr Woolf’s comments regarding “consultation” procedures are at best disingenuous. So much for honesty and transparency!

Since there is no opposition in this borough to the council’s approach to billing, I, along with others, will be standing as Independent Leaseholder candidates at the next borough elections in May 2026 to challenge the present “rotten borough” situation.

Our election policy is based essentially on vigilance and constant scrutiny of all policies affecting the appalling waste of essential finances and consequent financial persecution of its residents.

Bear in mind that a well run borough is one that is the product of constant public vigilance and a strong independent opposition, which this borough does not have.  It should not be blind adherence to an uncaring central party policy, with the sole objective of staying in power.

Yours sincerely

Ray Alcock

Highbury

Categories
Councillors Cyclical Works Financial Housing ILA Information Islington Council LBI Major Works Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholder Letters 5

“Empty barrels make the most noise”

It’s all very well Councillor Una O’Halloran (Daily Telegraph 26/7/25, “Islington plans purchase of 900 former council houses”) boasting about the Council’s scheme to “buy back” former council homes for temporary accommodation. What she fails to say is that these properties are owned by former council tenants — people who paid their rent in full, 125 years in advance, by purchasing their flats.

Now long-standing residents are being pushed aside so the Council can parade its “achievements” as a triumph of social policy. In truth, it’s little more than an act of displacement dressed up as compassion.

When leaseholders challenge the ever-escalating major works bills, the Council falls back on its same hollow excuses — shouted ever louder, as though volume were a substitute for reason. The old adage certainly fits perfectly, “empty barrels make the most noise”.

If this Council genuinely believed in equality, it would use the 11–14% from over-specified, building projects — the very excesses that create these problems — to support leaseholders. Reducing re-chargeable costs or extending payment terms (without the insult of compound interest) would show leadership. Instead, the Council behave like a debt collector.

Few outside this experience grasp the reality of being a council leaseholder : the relentless anxiety, sleepless nights, feeling of being treated as a “cash cow” by the authority that once offered security and community.

At the I L A, we hear this pain month after month. The stories are heartbreaking — ordinary residents bullied, threatened, and financially bled by a Council that seems more interested in retaining control than serving its residents.

If the Council wants to create a “fairer Islington,” it should start by treating its leaseholders with fairness, dignity, and respect — not as collateral damage in a PR campaign.”

Mr/Ms name and address supplied

Categories
Councillors Cyclical Works Election Financial IBC ILA Islington Islington Council LBI Leaseholders Partners Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholder Letters 4

Leaseholders deserve transparency, proper oversight, and fair treatment

Dear Editor,

I am writing to inform readers that I intend to stand as an independent leaseholder candidate in the May 2026 local elections.

Over recent months, I have personally attended a number of Section 20 (S20) consultation meetings on behalf of concerned leaseholders, and I am deeply shocked by the attitude and approach of Islington Council.

s20 notices are being issued without full and proper surveys being carried out. In some cases, leaseholders are being told that new roofs are required when a simple drone survey could easily determine whether such major works are actually necessary.

Even more concerning is that unqualified individuals — some still in training — are being appointed as project managers for these costly schemes. Meanwhile, certain S20 notices are as much as five years out of date, yet the Council continues to push forward with the projects and expects leaseholders to pay tens of thousands of pounds.

At the monthly Islington Leaseholders Association (ILA) meetings, many residents are now expressing serious distress — including stress, anxiety, and depression — as a direct result of the Council’s handling of these issues. People feel ignored, overwhelmed, and financially trapped, with little to no meaningful support or communication from those responsible.

This situation is unacceptable and demands urgent scrutiny and reform. Leaseholders deserve transparency, proper oversight, and fair treatment — not outdated paperwork, questionable assessments, and indifference to the human cost of these failures.

Yours faithfully,

John Doherty

Independent Leaseholder Candidate (May 2026)

N1 area

Categories
Councillors Cyclical Works Financial Housing ILA Information Islington Islington Council LBI Leaseholders London Major Works Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholder Letters 3

“overlooked and discriminated against”

After reading Cllr O’Halloran’s statement marking her first year as leader of the council I feel really overlooked and discriminated against, and I know that amongst the borough’s leaseholders I am far from alone in this.

Cllr O’Halloran says in her statement that housing is “a daily issue” for the residents she serves. As someone who has always lived on an Islington council estate I am a champion of social housing and welcome the buyback scheme as a way of increasing council housing stock, but only if the leaseholder genuinely wants to sell and is not being bullied or forced out of their homes by extortionate major works bills. These are sometimes as high as £100,000, amounts no average-waged person or OAP could ever dream of paying without incurring considerable debt. 

An Islington Council employee has confirmed to me that most of the homes the council buys back are sold because the leaseholders can’t afford these huge bills.

Leaseholders are among the residents Cllr O’Halloran serves, and the number of them that have to leave the community they have lived in for years is surely a housing issue, yet she shows no empathy, understanding or even awareness of their plight. 

She has the power to change policy and give the leaseholder a much longer period to pay the money back interest free, an improvement on the inadequate 5 years that now applies. 

Council tenants pay for their share of major works with increased rents, but over a much longer time. Us leaseholders ask for fairness and equality, and a change of council policy to help us sleep at night.

Name/Address supplied

Categories
Leaseholders

Leaseholder Letters 2

inefficiency and poor oversight in council maintenance work

Dear Editor,

I am writing to highlight yet another example of inefficiency and poor oversight in council maintenance work  a problem that many Islington leaseholders are all too familiar with.

It recently took four separate visits by council workers just to fit a simple gate closer correctly. Four attempts to get one small job right. Each time, the work was either incomplete or poorly executed, until finally, after weeks of inconvenience, it was done properly.

This isn’t an isolated incident it reflects a broader pattern of waste and mismanagement that leaseholders continue to face, even as our service charges keep rising year after year. The frustrating truth is that we, the leaseholders, end up footing the bill for this inefficiency.

Having worked in building maintenance for many years, I can spot shoddy workmanship a mile away. But many residents don’t have that background, and they’re forced to accept substandard work without knowing what’s wrong or what it’s costing them.

It’s no wonder leaseholders are up in arms about escalating service charges. Until there’s proper oversight, accountability, and value for money, these problems will continue, and residents will keep paying the price.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you’ll find this issue relevant to your readers.

Yours faithfully,
Mike Ryan 

Staveley/Keighley Close Estate

Categories
Borough of sanctuary Councillors Election ILA Islington Islington Council LBI Major Works Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholders deserve  Fair Representation in Islington

Press Release:

** Leaseholders deserve Fair Representation in this borough ** 

17 leaseholders stand as independent Councillors in local elections on 7th May

This borough‑wide commitment, aims to bring, Accountability, Transparency, and value for money, to local Services, Major works, and Cyclic Maintenance charging. 

After years of being ignored, and grossly overcharged by our council, ALL candidates are now calling for genuine representation (inclusion) that listens to residents, not just their tick box tactics…!!!

All candidate are standing independently, but on a shared commitment to responsible spending, to enforce fair treatment, and genuine communication with all Islington residents. 

Contact: Islington Leaseholders at : –

Email: – islington.leaseholders@hotmail.co.uk

Dr Brian Potter (chairman) ILA

Categories
Financial Islington Council LBI Leaseholders Repairs Service Charges

Leaseholder Letters 1

You may have recently seen letters from various Leaseholders in the press…explaining how they are being forced to sell up, due to the outrageous charges levied by Islington Council. 

It would appear the council are (probably) trying to force existing leaseholder out of the homes they’ve lived in for many years, (apparently, according to a recent FOI* request) Islington Council are currently under pressure to supply homes for short term accommodation and are “Encouraging” Leaseholders to sell back their homes by issuing outrageous bills, in order to fulfil this obligation, and provide the council with a massive cash windful…to assist repayment of the £85,000,000 dept they have incurred rather than cut back on their idiotic vanity projects…

We will printing some of these  Leaseholder letters over the following weeks & months,  starting with those below. 

Letter 1

BeggarsBelief.

I’ve been a leaseholder in my much-loved home in Islington for over 30 years. Like many leaseholders who are very vociferous regarding Extortionate Bills and Gross overcharging for Cyclic/Major/Services Charges works. I too, was shell shocked, when the council recently issued me with an estimated s20 for fire safety works totalling £31,000, (revised ) to £18,000, after negotiations, assisted by the Islington Leaseholders Association, Which I now attend monthly, and I am deeply grateful for the independent advice and support that it provides me.

These unreasonably, over-specified works, are having a massive impact on my mental health, and consequently, I live in a state of constant anxiety and fear until the post arrives, dreading further demands from a council totally lacking in any form of Transparency/Accountability/Fairness/Quality.

This situation surely begs the question— why are those who pay their way, being deliberately targeted, to the point where they’re being forced to move out of the borough altogether. With many leaseholders now facing bills of between £60,000 — £80,000, Where in lies the sense of this short-term gain…it really beggars belief. If high paying leaseholders are forced out—who foots the bill to pay essential financial contributions into the council coffers— Who will fill the black hole due to the years of mismanagement, and irresponsible spending/borrowing, That directly affects all residents?

Sadly, Islington Council has been suffocating under a vast Labour majority since 2010, and it shows—just how badly a borough can fall behind, due primarily, to a total lack of effective OPPOSITION. 

There are over 11 thousand leaseholders in Islington,(1/3 of council housing), whose financial contribution is crucial to the future of  Islington residents. 

Surly WE, the Electorate should have a say on important decisions effecting our daily quality of life.

Carol Louvet

Address supplied

*FOI ref 6457811:

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