Hot water and heating restored to residents in Portsmouth - but they say it is 'costing a fortune'

As previously reported by The News, certain residents of Cardigan House in Portsea have described living in “pure hell” with some going without hot water and heating since December last year.

FOR MORE READ: Tenants living through 'pure hell' with no running water or heating since December

But now Southern Housing Group, which manages some of the flats in the building, has now said all of its tenants have access to hot water and heating. “Cardigan House is managed by Premier Estates, who are responsible for maintaining the plant room and boilers providing heating and hot water to residents,” it said. “For some time, the boilers have been working intermittently and they’re coming to the end of their life. We’ve been applying pressure on Premier Estates to have the boilers replaced since August 2023.

“On 26 January, Premier Estates advised us the boilers had failed completely. Southern Housing distributed temporary heaters to our residents on the same day and hot water is available via backup electric cylinders. We understand this is frustrating for our residents. Our team is working on this urgently with Premier Estates in order to provide residents with an update, along with time frames for a long-term solution. Southern Housing will also be contacting residents to replace the temporary fan heaters with more efficient oil-filled radiators and share details of the compensation we’re offering.”

However, tenant Scott Beachame said that the temporary measures are too expensive. He said: “They’ve given us oil-filled radiators and we’ve got to put our immersion heater on – you put it on for an hour and it costs £8 to heat the water. They’ve told us to keep all of our receipts and once the boiler’s been fixed they’ll reimburse us. They need to give us some money now because we can’t afford to pay it – it’s costing a fortune.”

He added that the housing association offered him a personal service charge for heating and water for approximately £170 per month – which he’s refused. Premier Estates was approached for comment.