What would you do if your management company suddenly demanded up to £2,000 for heating, but refused to show you how the bill was calculated?
This is the reality facing around 300 households at West Works in Southall. What started as confusion has become something far more serious. It is now a months-long battle over rising costs, missing information, and a system where accountability appears to vanish just when residents need it most.
Residents say they have been dealing with this issue since January, with no clear resolution in sight. What they have received instead are shifting explanations, changing figures, and growing financial demands that simply do not add up.
West Works in Southall
At the centre of the dispute is a claimed £300,000 ‘shortfall’ in the communal heating system. Leaseholders are now being told they must cover it, with individual charges ranging from £900 to £2,000 per flat.
But despite repeated requests, residents say they have never been provided with a full, clear, and consistent breakdown of how this figure has been calculated.
Instead, they have been told the numbers come from an “independent reconciliation” exercise. Yet the underlying data, methodology, and detailed cost breakdown have not been properly shared. Even more worrying, the figures themselves appear to have changed over time, with different amounts referenced in different communications.
For residents, the situation is simple. The amount they supposedly owe keeps shifting, and nothing is adding up.
Alongside this, there is another cost quietly driving pressure, the daily standing charge for heating. This is the fixed fee residents must pay regardless of how much energy they use.
At West Works, that charge has fluctuated dramatically. It started at around £1.60 per day, jumped to over £4 per day, described as “temporary”, and is now set at £2.70 per day. That is nearly £1,000 a year before any heating is used.
Residents say this is among the highest fixed charges locally. Yet once again, there has been no transparent explanation of how this figure has been calculated or justified.
Questions and Contradictions Mounting
The managing agent, FirstPort, has repeatedly stated that heating costs are not part of the service charge, but instead fall under a separate Heat Supply Agreement. That distinction is important, because service charges come with (albeit very limited) legal protections around transparency and time limits.
But despite this position, FirstPort has issued what it describes as a Section 20B notice, a legal mechanism that only applies to service charges under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
For residents, this raises a fundamental question. Which rules are actually being applied? The answer appears to change depending on the situation.
At the same time, residents have been in ongoing contact with the developer, Barratt Redrow, but say they have received conflicting information there too. Each organisation points elsewhere. Each response raises new questions.
A Consistent Lack of Accountability
And through it all, one thing is consistent. There is no accountability. Responsibility is passed between companies, explanations shift, and yet the financial demands remain firmly with residents.
Many describe it as a never-ending story with FirstPort, a company that has appeared in the media repeatedly over the years, often in connection with complaints about transparency and management practices, yet continues to operate with little visible consequence.
Meanwhile, the impact on residents is very real. This is not just about numbers on a page. It is about people trying to plan their finances, pay their bills, and feel secure in their own homes, while facing unexpected demands that can run into thousands of pounds.
Residents describe the situation as deeply stressful, with a significant impact on mental health and sense of security. The uncertainty, not knowing what they might be charged next or whether the figures are even correct, has left many feeling anxious and powerless.
All of this is happening against a backdrop of wider issues at the development. Despite residents moving in as far back as 2022, full service charge accounts are still outstanding. At the same time, residents are facing steep increases in costs.
The message they are receiving is clear. Pay first, question later. But the answers never come.
Not Just a Local Issue
Across the UK, more homes are being connected to communal heat networks, systems where residents have no ability to switch provider and very limited control over pricing. While these systems are often promoted as efficient and sustainable, the reality for many is a lack of transparency, weak oversight, and complex billing structures that are difficult to challenge.
What is happening at West Works highlights what can go wrong when those systems are not properly regulated.
Repeated appeals to Matthew Pennycook MP, Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (pictured), to address concerns over rampant service charges have fallen on deaf ears
Residents are not sitting back. They have raised formal disputes, escalated complaints, and taken their concerns to their local MP, Deirdre Costigan. Some have even contributed evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into property management practices.
Now, many are preparing for potential Tribunal action, a step that is time-consuming, costly, and daunting. For residents, it raises a simple but powerful question. Why should it take legal action just to see the evidence behind your own bills?
Wider Failings
At its core, this situation exposes a wider failure. Leaseholders are supposed to have protections, the right to transparency, the ability to challenge costs, and clarity over what they are being asked to pay. But when charges fall into grey areas, those protections can become blurred or bypassed altogether. West Works is not an isolated case. It is a warning.
If hundreds of residents can be presented with six-figure shortfalls, four-figure individual bills, constantly shifting figures, and no clear breakdown, all while being passed from one organisation to another, then the system is not working.
Residents are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the basics. Clear evidence, consistent explanations, and accountability from the companies involved. Right now, they have none of those things.
This is why cases like West Works need urgent attention. Because without scrutiny, situations like this risk becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Organisations like SHAC play a critical role in bringing these stories into the open and pushing for change. Because this is not just about one development in Southall. It is about a system where costs can be imposed without clarity, where responsibility can be avoided without consequence, and where residents are left to fight for answers in their own homes. And that system cannot be allowed to continue.
SHAC Action on Service Charge Abuse
SHAC’s End Service Charge Abuse Campaign is aimed at ending the legalised financial abuse of tenants and residents. We support members to withhold unjustified charges, get peer support for advice and assistance if they are bringing a case to the First Tier Property Tribunal, lobby MPs, and keep this issue in the public eye through press work.
SHAC is also compiling evidence for strategic legal action against government for failing to protect tenants and residents. Find out more about our End Service Charge Abuse campaign and get involved.
20 April 2026
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As an elderly and disabled person who is now a tenant of a social housing landlord this is why I have never been persuaded to enter into shared ownership although I appreciate it is the only way some people can get a home. But the whole thing appears questionable to me. People think they are getting more housing security but they are also getting more liability and less transparency. All the problems of home ownership and none or very little of the benefits it appears. I hope everyone gets justice in the end!