Residents at a trendy new Middlewood Locks development in Salford, have hit out at ‘mismanagement’ of their building after they were hit with backdated energy bills setting some of them back thousands of pounds.
Residents at the block, situated near the Salford and Manchester border, were sent an email at the beginning of July telling them their energy tariffs had been ‘incorrect for three years’ and presenting them with bills ranging from £800 to £1,400.
Those living in the development said the email, from Savills, has pushed residents to ‘boiling point’ – and to top it off, they say are paying a higher service charge than in Deansgate Towers, which boasts a pool, gym, and parcel room.
Savills said they are ‘working to clarify the position’ regarding bills with the energy provider, and that the service charge is ‘budgeted in line with the growing needs of the properties’.
One Middlewood Locks resident, 41, said they have been asked to pay a backdated energy bill of nearly £1,000. The resident did not want their name to be published.
He said:
“A few weeks ago we got an email saying the tariffs have been incorrect for three years, so residents now have bills ranging from £800 to £1,400.
“People are really upset, it’s putting a lot of stress on our lives. We know we don’t have to pay this but we wish the developer would make Savills more accountable.”
Having lived in the building since 2019, they said they have had numerous issues with Savill’s management of the development, and would prefer another firm to manage Middlewood Locks.
They also said that the developer of the buildings, Scarborough Group, has chosen an alternative company to manage its new Railings Residence, partly due to some of the issues residents are dealing with Savills.
“Over the years, we’ve had backcharges in the past and the gas bills have been completely off and not right. We’ve had years of personnel changes, years of no accountability, years of under budgeting service charges.
“I love living here, it’s a great place to live and I want to keep living here, but it’s difficult not knowing if I’ll need to sell or rent out my flat one day.”
Another resident, who has been handed a backdated bill of £800, said the situation was ‘crazy’:
“We keep getting all these bills we have to pay for, and then we started looking into the service charges at other buildings.
“Deansgate Square is really luxury and they have a lot of facilities, and they pay less service charge than us.”
He also said he had experienced a number of issues with Savills since purchasing his flat. “It has been an absolute nightmare,” he added. “We hoped it would get better, but it hasn’t.”
Local MP Rebecca Long-Bailey has also got involved to support residents. In a comment to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she said she had been told some residents are even facing paying bills from years they didn’t even live in the development.
She, said:
“There are two separate issues, the first one is about the heating system,
“They’ve got a shared heating network and they get billed through an organisation called ISTA. Savills, who manage the buildings, are meant to be managing the rate that residents are on. Apparently, since 2021 residents were on a proper fixed rate, but since then the rate had been changing, and Savills hadn’t been updating the billing company about the change. Now they seemingly have realised and want reimbursing, so residents are looking at massive bills.
“There are a lot of residents because it’s quite a new development, and a high turnover of people renting as well. A lot of people have only just moved in a few months ago, and they’re facing the prospect of having to pay back three years worth of bills that they are not responsible for. Some residents are estimating it could be thousands.”
She added it ‘isn’t fair’ to add such a huge financial burden onto residents.
Continuing, she said:
“The second issue is about the service charge,
“I’ve been told by residents that the service charge has increased by around about 75 percent in the last 4 years, which is what is causing huge concern among residents because they don’t know what to expect in the coming years.
“The thing that upsets them is that when they look at other developments, the service charge seems to be a lot less. They compare where they are to Deansgate Square, which is a luxury development with a swimming pool with a sauna, gym and concierge, their service charge is £3.37 a square foot, whilst at Middlewood Locks with none of those extra luxury items, it’s £4.20 a square foot, they can’t understand why there is such a big difference when they don’t have all these additional things.
“I’ve asked Savills to provide an actual breakdown of the estate service charge, so the residents can understand the costs that are on there, because they are all just big headline costs with no explanation as to what they are actually for.
“It’s just not fair to place such a huge financial burden on residents in this way without any prior notification at all. Particularly residents who haven’t been there very long but are expected to pay a backdated bill that they’re not responsible for. I think it’s only right that Savills and ISTA and whoever is responsible makes this right and makes sure that the costs don’t get passed on to residents.”
A spokesperson from Savills said:
“Savills fully appreciates the concerns that residents at Middlewood Locks in Salford have in relation to this matter and, as part of its role as managing agent, is working to clarify the position regarding energy billing with ISTA. Savills has no involvement in arranging the supply or billing of heating at the Estate and does not receive information regarding resident tariffs. The billing of heating costs is solely managed by ISTA.
“With regards to the service charge at Middlewood Locks, this is budgeted in line with the growing needs of the properties, to cover areas such as staff costs, cleaning of communal areas, security, landscaping and appropriate project works. There is also an element of service charge expenditure which is linked to the needs of the wider estate. We are engaged with leaseholders on this matter and have prepared a breakdown of the costs that is being shared with leaseholders in order to provide further clarity.”
A spokesperson from ISTA said:
“We are in exchange with the managing agent. We hope for your understanding, that we cannot comment on this matter at the moment.”
Scarborough Group was contacted for comment.
