The History of ACCL

At the end of 1994, at the request of a number of leaseholders and after months of persistent enquiry, Councillor Judith Barnes succeeded in establishing that the Housing Department had for many years failed to pass on to leaseholders discounts that Camden receive on their insurance premiums. Several leaseholders then asked that the money they had overpaid should be refunded, but Camden Council flatly refused to do so.

As individual leaseholders, they were naturally reluctant to resort to legal action, which is expensive, worrying and time consuming. £25 buys only a few minutes of legal advice.

Leaseholders therefore proposed that there should be a completely independent Borough-wide organisation that could tackle collectively problems too difficult or expensive for individual leaseholders to undertake.

As a result, ACCL was formed and properly constituted early in 1995 with the intention, amongst other things, of establishing a legal fund which might eventually give members collectively access to thousands of pounds worth of professional advice and representation for the price of an annual subscription.

The effectiveness of this plan was demonstrated in May 1995 when, having first taken legal advice, ACCL issued a press release signifying its intention to take action through the courts to establish the right of leaseholders to a refund of insurance premiums overpaid. Within a matter of days, a report appeared in the press to the effect that Camden had recently been considering an anomoly in the insurance charges to leaseholders, and only the discounted premium would in future be charged. Result!!