Last winter was particularly difficult for Joy Bailey. Living in a block of flats where the aged communal heating system had broken down, she contracted shingles and constantly felt a chill. “My hands were cold all the time from using cold water,” she says.
Now Bailey and other homeowners in the north London flat complex face the prospect of bills amounting to almost £33,000 each to fix the heating system, even though they claim the job can be done for a fraction of the cost.
The retired lawyer owns a former council flat in Jessop Court in Islington and has been suffering the effects of the broken gas heating system, along with the residents of the other 40 flats, since July 2022.
It was then that the system “came to an end of its useful life” according to Islington council, the landlord for the property, with even replacement parts no longer being made.
In the winter months, Bailey found herself restricted to one room in the evenings and did not turn on the council-supplied oil-filled heaters until the late afternoon because of the high cost of energy. She boiled the kettle in order to have a wash or do the dishes, again because of energy costs, and blames the onset of shingles because she was suffering from the cold all of the time. “It did affect me quite badly,” she says.
Communal heating systems are used to heat 4,700 homes across Islington council’s network of properties. The council says they are best choice as they offer good value for money, reduce fuel poverty levels and are accessible to service.
But in August, the residents of Jessop Court were told that the bill to replace the faulty system with a more efficient gas system would come to £1.1m – and leaseholders would be on the hook to pay their part.
In the case of Bailey, and other leaseholders who have three-bedroom apartments, the cost would be £32,863 each. There are 15 leaseholders and 26 council tenants in the building, according to Bailey, and the local authority will have to pay for the share of the properties that it owns.
She says that the work is “totally unreasonable” and “too extreme for the problem”. “The council can recover the costs of installing the communal system from the leaseholders in respect of 15 of the flats, but the council will still be paying for the work in respect of the other 26 flats. This is a scandalous waste of council tax payers’ money, and any other public funds the council may use for this work.”
An individual new gas boiler would be £5,000, according to an estimate given to another leaseholder. Bailey wants to install an air source heat pump, which would cost between £7,000 and £13,000, and could be subject to a £5,000 grant. She claims the council could install individual boilers in all flats for one quarter of the overall price of the proposed system.
But the council does not allow residents to be disconnected from communal heating as it says the system would be affected for those who do use it.
View image in fullscreenIslington council says the £1.1m figure for Jessop Court is part of a consultation process, rather than a final bill. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer
Islington council says it brought in support measures when the heating stopped working, including compensation and providing heaters and installing an emergency boiler. It also says it would have considered any request to move out of Jessop Court temporarily, if a resident had asked for this. Bailey says the council has been generous but she did not know how much money she would receive last winter, prompting her to be conservative about her energy spend.
The £1.1m figure is part of a consultation process, rather than a final bill, says the council, but the prospect of putting in place a low-carbon alternative could be even more expensive. During the consultation, a number of residents raised concerns about the deterioration of the existing heat system and questioned whether they could install their own boilers.
Cllr Una O’Halloran, Islington council’s executive member for homes and communities, says it regrets the disruption that has been caused.
“Leaseholders expressed their concerns about the cost and their enthusiasm for exploring low-carbon alternatives, and we listened,” she says. “We are now exploring options for a low-carbon system and supporting grant funding, which we will share once the detail is clear – though this is likely to be significantly more expensive. We want to find the right balance between our responsibility to heat people’s homes, the upfront cost of installing the system, residents’ ongoing bills and our net zero commitments.
“We know paying for major works can be daunting and we are committed to supporting leaseholders throughout the process, including with long-term payment plans and financial support for those who need it. We will of course also continue to support all residents at Jessop Court while the temporary heating arrangements are in place.”
The leaseholders of Jessop Court are just the latest residents to be threatened with enormous works bills from a council. Earlier this year, the Observer reported that residents of another estate in Islington faced bills of more than £60,000 for new windows, electrical work, scaffolding, fire safety measures, painting, roofing and brickwork. And last year, an artist who bought a flat in a council-owned block said he faced homelessness after his local authority demanded he pay nearly £98,000 towards building repairs.
Sebastian O’Kelly, the chief executive of the campaign website Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, says he is contacted every week by leaseholders who are being sent bills for tens of thousands of pounds by councils. “Leaseholders need to unite, pool some resources, challenge everything and involve local politicians to provide some third-party scrutiny. They might challenge the major works process … on grounds of reasonableness,” he says.
“Those who have bought very recently should have been informed of pending works, and it they weren’t they may have a case against the council or their own conveyancing solicitors.”
This article was amended on 17 November 2023. Due to information provided by Islington council, an earlier version said the council had provided temporary accommodation if people wanted to move out of Jessop Court. This should have said that the council would have considered any such request if a resident had asked for this.
