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West Park family in wrangle over heating costs
A West Park family is complaining to a watchdog after becoming locked in a bureaucratic battle over 'hidden' costs for a heating system they claim they don't want.
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Glen Hill, 44, is demanding answers after finding out he was paying a 'lease' charge for the central heating system in his council home without his knowledge.
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He has already been refunded almost 400, but does not intend to let the matter rest. The charges only came to light in a new-style breakdown of how council tenants' rents are worked out.
The dad of four said his family had never signed up to the scheme, and now, despite not wanting it, they are being forced by landlord Leeds
City Council to pay for it.
He said he would prefer the council took out its radiators and he will pay for his own system which, he claims, would be cheaper in the long-term. However, he says town hall bosses have so far refused to budge.
He fears if he takes the radiators out himself, he will get accused of vandalism. Mr Hill has taken the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman, who investigates complaints about councils.
He, meanwhile, is being threatened with court action by Leeds City Council after refusing to pay the weekly 3.75 heating surcharge.
Mr Hill, a civil servant and a council tenant for seven years, said: "We never signed up to the heat leasing scheme but in April this year we found out the council had been charging us for it since 2007 without our knowledge.
"We have been fighting them for months.
"We just don't want it but we are not getting a choice – they have told us we have to keep paying for it."
He said he had been told there were no extra charges for the radiators and fittings, because they were installed before he and his family moved in. The only charges they were liable for were bills.
A spokesman for West North West Homes Leeds said: "We have arranged to repay Mr Hill 390 as we agree his obligations regarding payments for Heatlease were not made clear when he moved into the property.
"Mr Hill has been advised the charge he should now pay is the same 3.75 weekly charge that every other tenant with Heatlease pays."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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