GreenSquareAccord – Problem Sold!

Despite employing communications teams that take a wage and cost the organisation money, GreenSquareAccord’s communication with residents about service charges remains astonishingly limited. Year after year, bills go up – often without explanation – and residents are left asking the same questions: What are we actually paying for? Where is this money going? And why don’t we ever get a straight answer?

I suspect there are three reasons for this silence.

First, GreenSquareAccord themselves may not fully understand how service charges are worked out. Many residents who’ve tried to challenge their bills or request breakdowns have been met with confusion, bounced emails, late responses to Section 22 requests, errors in their own maths, and even internal departments passing the buck. It begs the question: Is the housing association in control of its own accounts?

Second, they might not want to know. If you follow the money too closely, the cracks begin to show. Transparency could expose what residents already suspect – that service charge income isn’t fairly or efficiently allocated, and that some are effectively subsidising others. A proper audit would likely raise more questions than answers.

But the third reason is the most concerning – and it’s the one we want to focus on today.

If you're paying a service charge for your building to be maintained – but that work is never done – and then GreenSquareAccord later decides your property is too far gone to repair and sells it off as “dilapidated stock,” shouldn’t you be entitled to a refund? Haven’t you, over the years, built up a slush fund for the very work they’ve chosen to ignore?

This isn’t a hypothetical. It’s happening. And we have the evidence.

From Service Charges to Sell-Offs

In recent years, GreenSquareAccord has been quietly selling off social housing stock it deems “no longer economically viable.” That includes homes in rural Wiltshire, where the association failed to consult with local councils or communities before listing dozens of properties on the open market. In some cases, residents were still living in those homes.

Wiltshire Council was so alarmed, it passed a motion demanding GSA halt the disposals. Council leaders warned this was more than just poor communication – it was a deliberate erosion of the social fabric in villages where affordable housing is already in short supply. And yet GSA defended the sell-offs, citing the rising cost of meeting energy standards and regulatory requirements.

But this excuse glosses over the deeper issue: many of these properties were neglected for years. Residents paid their dues – in rent, in service charges – and yet basic maintenance was never carried out. Broken windows. Rotting woodwork. Damp and mould left untreated. And now, those very failures are being used to justify selling the homes off altogether. Some residents even claimed that their homes weren’t beyond repair, and in some cases were energy efficient.

Let’s call it what it is: institutional disrepair, followed by disposal. And it’s not just happening in Wiltshire.

At Lucas & Remy Place in Oxford, older residents reported serious disrepair – despite GreenSquareAccord describing the scheme as “high quality.” Rent and service charges were paid. The issues were reported. But repairs never came. The risk? If the building is allowed to deteriorate further, it could also end up on the chopping block.

Charged for What?

Over in Trowbridge, on the Castle Mead estate, over 650 residents pay an annual maintenance charge – in some cases over £100 – for the upkeep of green spaces and communal areas. But ask anyone who lives there what they’re getting in return, and the answer is often: Nothing.

Residents describe overgrown paths, neglected spaces, and non-responses to complaints. One leaseholder was even threatened with a ban on emailing GreenSquareAccord after raising concerns. According to him, all he did was persist in asking for answers.

This is not an isolated case. It’s a tactic GreenSquareAccord has used repeatedly to silence critics – including me. I’ve personally been placed on a “communication plan” simply for trying to hold them accountable. When questions become uncomfortable, their answer isn’t transparency. It’s containment. Control. Isolation. Residents like myself aren’t just ignored — we’re actively discouraged from engaging. It’s a chilling message: ask too much, and we’ll shut you down.

Follow the Money – If You Can

Across the sector, watchdogs like SHAC have shown that when service charges are challenged at tribunal, the majority are reduced or cancelled. That means housing associations are routinely charging residents for services they can’t justify. And yet, few residents make it to tribunal – the process is long, expensive, and stressful.

GreenSquareAccord has another layer to this story. According to a Moody’s credit opinion released in 2023, GSA’s financial strategy is now increasingly dependent on the sale of homes. The figures are stark: property disposals are projected to bring in £55 million by 2026 – up from just £12 million in 2023. That’s a nearly fivefold increase. Moody’s didn’t mince words — they raised concerns about the risks this strategy carries, especially given that GSA had only identified around half of the homes it needed to sell in order to meet that target. Which begs the question: Are more homes being quietly lined up for disposal right now? Is your home safe?

If you're wondering why repairs are delayed, why questions go unanswered, or why transparency feels like a dirty word — maybe it's because your home isn't part of their long-term plan.

Where’s the Accountability?

This isn't just bad practice – it’s an erosion of trust. Trust that housing associations will maintain homes. Trust that service charges are fair. Trust that if residents raise concerns, they’ll be taken seriously.

But when homes are left to rot, when charges go unexplained, and when residents are forced out of properties they paid to maintain – that trust is broken.

So here’s the question we want answered:

If you paid your service charge year after year, and your building was then sold off due to disrepair… should you not be due a rebate? Should you not be told how your money was spent – or not spent? Should you not have a voice in decisions that will change your life?

GreenSquareAccord has a duty – not just a regulatory one, but a moral one – to stop hiding behind silence and start engaging in honest, transparent conversations with the very people who fund its operations: us residents.

What’s increasingly clear is that GreenSquareAccord’s communication strategy isn’t built to inform or support residents — it’s built to protect the brand. Communications teams, paid from the same public and tenant-funded pot, aren’t focused on transparency or accountability. Instead, their role appears to be managing negative publicity, silencing criticism, and curating a false narrative online — one where everything is “award-winning” while residents live with damp, disrepair, and unanswered questions.

But the efforts to control that narrative go far beyond social media spin. In my own case, GreenSquareAccord has used strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), involved the police unnecessarily, imposed communications bans, and even pursued court action — all with one goal: to shut down a resident telling the truth.

This wasn’t about defamation or disorder. It was about intimidation. About sending a message to every other resident who might dare speak up: don’t.

When that much energy and money is spent trying to silence one voice, it says everything about how scared they are of the truth getting out. And it raises a question every single resident should be asking — if they’re willing to go that far to hide the reality, what else are they covering up?

Could it be that GreenSquareAccord is deliberately running down the building I live in — not just to avoid repairs, but to profit from selling off 43 flats, homes to 43 families — and, in the process, quietly get rid of one very vocal tenant?

We’ll keep asking questions until we get answers.