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Just four leaseholders asked to sign NDAs in Lewisham Homes’ history
Just four leaseholders overcharged for services by Lewisham Homes signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in its 17-year history, the council reported in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
Each leaseholder received an average of £5,255.84 in payments related to being overcharged for building work and services by the former ALMO of Lewisham Council.
The council said the amounts paid “were not necessarily solely in respect of overcharging”.
Comparatively, the BBC reported earlier this year that Lambeth Council had asked 136 leaseholders over a period of five years to sign confidentiality clauses as a condition of receiving payments totalling almost £1.6m, as well as for being overcharged for building work and services.
Lambeth Council, which said the settlements were used to “resolve disputes and avoid the stress, time, costs and incurrence of court resources”, has nearly 4,000 more leaseholder properties in its stock than Lewisham Council.
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The information about the NDAs was revealed via a Freedom of Information request to Lewisham Council.
A member of the public asked whether the council or one of its partners had ever asked a leaseholder to sign an NDA or confidentiality clause “as a condition for the leaseholder to receive money owed to them for building work and services the leaseholder had been overcharged for”.
The council initially confirmed that its other housing management partner, Regenter B3, had not asked any leaseholders to sign NDAs, but a subsequent appeal revealed that Lewisham Homes had.
A Lewisham Council spokesperson told Inside Housing: “We have around 5,500 leasehold properties in our stock. Disputes over costs occasionally arise and we follow legal advice to resolve them.
“In its 17-year existence, Lewisham Homes signed only four non-disclosure agreements on behalf of Lewisham Council as commercial settlements on cases brought to the first-tier tribunal.”
No leaseholders rejected the offer, Lewisham Council stated.
In July, Lewisham Council reported a £7.5m deficit in its major works income for 2023-24 due to a “timing difference with bills due to be raised in forthcoming financial years”, which means leaseholders will have to be recharged for repairs.
Its 2023-24 financial monitoring report said the deficit relates to works carried out on homes that needed to be recharged to leaseholders, although this amount “is in dispute”.
Lewisham Homes was brought back under direct control of the council last year.
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