Retrospective changing of tariff on Heat Network

Ectophile

We are currently receiving ‘Back Bills’ on our heat network for years 2015-2024. They have agreed to waive 2015-2020 but are still pursuing the other years.

They have generously decided to waive those (alleged) debts up to 2020. I guess it's completely coincidental that the Limitation Act makes it impossible to recover any debt over 6 years old in a court.

cbmatheson

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890295#Comment_81890295

Hi - our case has also now been covered in the Guardian, the piece is here:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/feb/07/london-flat-dwellers-heating-bill-heat-networks

If they are claiming it is being recovered under the lease agreement, then it likely falls within the legal definition of a service charge and they can only lawfully bill going back 18 months, and even then they would have to follow whatever service charge regulations are set out in your lease.

Many of our arguments were specific to our lease, but they may map across:
https://www.gov.uk/residential-property-tribunal-decisions/river-gardens-develoment-greenwich-wharf-london-se10-0yp-lon-slash-00al-slash-lsc-slash-2024-slash-0239

If the value is £568k then it could well make sense for residents to come together and get legal advice.

sgunthorpe27

Hi @cbmatheson

The Guardian article about your Property Tribunal case was a lightbulb moment as it closely matches the situation in my London block also managed by R&R . Our billing agent is Switch 2 . We are struggling to get any information at all from either Rendall and Rittner or our leaseholders management company ( we also have a tripartite lease as I believe you have ) . In our case I am pretty sure I am still not being billed correctly for my gas use and therefore the situation is on-going . The tariff I am paying has not changed since set up in 2019.

We have become aware that the resulting deficit on the heat network accounts ( as of end Dec 2024 ) has actually already been settled by a transfer of funds from the service charge accounts impacting the block finances . Leaseholders were not made aware of this and we do not know who authorised it .

I wanted to ask if you are now currently being correctly billed and therefore the tariff issue has been resolved ?
I would also be interested to know now that the Property Tribunal found in your case that the deficit could not be recovered via service charges how it will in fact be recovered - effectively who will pay and how ?

If you have any updates since your successful Tribunal decision that would be interesting . You must have spent many many hours on this and we are just at the beginning and appearing to get no-where ! It seems there are quite a number of R&R managed blocks in this situation .

cbmatheson

Hi @sgunthorpe27 ,

Apologies for the late reply on this. I have only just noticed your response on this thread.

I’m sorry to hear a similar situation has also occurred at your development. We do have a tri-partite lease, however unfortunately, as the decision confirms at 3.10, the leaseholders are not in control of the company in our case.

Unfortunately the vast majority of leaseholders paid charges under duress at our development, having received legal threats from R&R, which later turned out to have no lawful basis. It’s not clear how the situation can be unwound, since as you say, the RMC does not have funds or its own and is considered a separate legal entity from the freeholder.

para 9 in our decision states: “The Tribunal has no jurisdiction to consider alleged misuse of the reserve fund which is a matter for the County Court under sections 42 and 52 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.”

It might be worth getting legal advice on that point, as service charge funds are held on trust - presumably the lease did not allow the fund to be used for the purpose of settling a (alleged) deficit.

Unfortunately we don’t have such a clear recovery route - as unlawful charges have been paid by hundreds of individual leaseholders/residents, co-ordinating a claim would be challenging to say the least. At least the charges have been ruled unlawful in our case, and we can begin to get a better view on what the accounts should look like, but without our having control of the RMC that is still challenging.

I’m not sure if that helps much - it’s shocking and disappointing to me that this still seems to be happening in so many developments.

sgunthorpe27

Hi @cbmatheson

Thank you so much for your response which I have just seen . Is your situation now resolved for correct billing going forwards ? Rendall and Rittner still seem to be unable to achieve that in our block despite clearly knowing about the deficit for some considerable time . They are now saying a new tariff will be set by the end of June - we have no idea why it has taken so long .

I am sorry that you have not a clear recovery route and very much expect we shall be in the same position. Even though we have apparent control of the RMC the current director is unresponsive. The service charge accounts appear to have been used without any consultation to settle a deficit still accruing . The immediate goal is to stop any further transfers of funds .

Thanks for your advice wrt the specific point on use of service charge funds and the jurisdiction of the property Tribunal . It is frustrating that route could only go so far and not recover the funds .

we are in the process of gathering information and initiating complaints to potentially follow your route and that of the Energy Ombudsman .

There are quite a few other Rendall and Rittner managed blocks in a similar position with respect to Heat Network charges I understand . If you have any other updates in your situation then I and possibly others would be very interested

Good Luck !

cbmatheson

Hi,

Is your situation now resolved for correct billing going forwards ? Rendall and Rittner still seem to be unable to achieve that in our block despite clearly knowing about the deficit for some considerable time . They are now saying a new tariff will be set by the end of June - we have no idea why it has taken so long .

We are told that billing is now set at the correct rates to recover costs, although residents have no sight of the accounts for the heat network, so at the moment it's impossible to know what the true position is. R&R have also now been replaced as managing agent for our development as of 1 May. Unfortunately they left without issuing any communications to residents, including on the deduction the Tribunal applied to their managing fee, so the issues remain unresolved.

The situation was covered in the i paper again a few weeks ago:

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/leaseholders-fought-extra-bills-won-tribunal-not-money-4414025

(Alternatively see MSN syndicated version here without a paywall: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/we-re-leaseholders-who-fought-a-200-000-energy-bill-and-won-we-want-our-refunds/ar-AA23H4lS )

I've also been maintaining a page with an overview of the information here: https://cbmatheson.substack.com/p/heating-deficit-tribunal-ftt-case