Sheltered housing residents have slammed a community housing association after their weekly cleaning charges were almost tripled.

L&Q (London and Quadrant) hiked up cleaning charges for elderly residents living in Perry House, Perryfields Way, Burnham, from £6.33 per week to £17.54.

Residents said they had been trying to resolve the issue with the housing association since February, when letters were sent out, but say L&Q did not respond to their protests and the charges were put up on April 1.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “It is absolutely extortionate. We are all older residents here – the oldest is in their 90s and the youngest is in their 50s – and it is just too much to pay.

“No-one is happy about it. It is ridiculous.”

L&Q said the charges were put up “in error”, with a spokesman saying: “We would like to apologise unreservedly for sending out notifications of unexpected service charge increases to these residents.

“These were sent in error. We will be updating all Perry House residents to inform them that their cleaning charges will be remaining the same.”