Who this is for: Residents connected to Southwark communal heating or hot water.
If your heating or hot water has failed, report the fault and keep the reference. Checking with neighbours can help describe its extent, but a group message is not a repair report.
What do I need to do?
- Check Southwark’s communal breakdowns page for an existing incident. If your problem is absent, report it. Do not assume another block’s incident includes yours.
- Use Southwark’s heating and hot water reporting page. Southwark says not to attempt repairs to a communal heating system yourself. Do not bleed radiators or adjust communal system controls without advice from the responsible service.
- For an emergency property repair, call 0800 952 4444 or 020 7525 2600. Explain any immediate risk to people or the building. Emergency repairs.
What information will I need?
Tell the service your block and address privately, when the problem began, whether heating, hot water, or both are affected, and whether the issue affects one outlet or several. Describe lukewarm water accurately rather than reporting a complete outage. Explain any health or accessibility needs privately. Keep the reference and a log of when service returns or fails again.
Is there a fixed heating season?
For systems described as “heating on demand”, Southwark says operation depends on outside temperature and weather monitoring. This does not establish the precise controls or seasonal timetable for every block here. Check current notices rather than relying on a date remembered from a previous year. Elderly or vulnerable residents can ask Southwark about a free fan heater outside the heating season on 020 7525 5000. Communal heating guidance.
Compensation and follow-up
Southwark’s published policy says a communal heating or hot-water loss lasting more than 24 hours attracts £3 for each whole day, credited automatically through the service-charge account once in a three-month period; it does not reduce the heating charge itself. Ask the council to check the incident dates and your account if the credit is missing. This is the published scheme, not confirmation that a particular incident qualifies. Compensation policy.
Homeowners can use the heating compensation enquiry form. Other residents should ask the repairs/resident-services team how their case is handled. For repeated failures, use the complaint guide.
Estate details still to confirm: control type by block, current contractor, current interruption notices, and how compensation is applied to each billing arrangement. Report your own fault promptly; do not wait for another household to call.