What is the water charges refund?
Alongside many other London boroughs, H&F Council had a longstanding agreement with Thames Water for the supply of water to our council and leasehold properties, and we collected the charges from residents directly.
Thames Water calculated each bill, and we passed the bill onto residents and collected payment as part of the service charges. Thames Water paid the Council a commission to carry this out.
A 2016 court case involving another local authority, challenged this arrangement. The court ruled that the local authority had acted as a 'water reseller' and had charged tenants a ‘commission’.
Background to the court case
Southwark Council were challenged about their agreement and instructed to repay tenants the overcharged amount. The court case took place in 2016 and had wide reaching implications for all local authorities that collected water rates on behalf of Thames Water.
Kingston Council challenged this decision and in 2020 at the Court of Appeal it was reaffirmed that they had acted as a water reseller.
What we believed our position was
Like other London boroughs, H&F Council also considered itself an 'agent' working on behalf of Thames Water. Our billing was calculated by Thames Water, rather than the council deciding on a final amount to charge residents.
To do this task for Thames Water, local authorities negotiated a commission which covered their expenses doing it. It is this commission that the courts have ruled should have been passed onto tenants. The Water Re-Sellers regulations, which the courts were interpreting when passing this ruling, does allow for Local Authorities to charge a small administration fee, 1.5 pence a day for unmetered and 2.5 pence a day for metered accounts and we have now done this.
It is the commission that we failed to pass on during the period we are refunding that has been credited, with interest, to your account.
Who is eligible for a water refund?
You will be entitled to a rebate if you were a leaseholder between 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2020, and we charged you for water directly during that period of time.
We have sought advice on the period of time where we will refund applicable residents in line with the Limitation Act 1980.
How have we worked out refunds?
Your service charge account has been credited with an amount equal to 14% of the water charges made to your rent account related to the period between 1 April 2014 and the 31 March 2020. We have also added simple interest at two times the Bank of England average annual rate for those years and pro-rata up until the day that we credited your rent account.
How can I get my rebate?
We have credited your service charge account with the refund amount which will appear on the account as a credit adjustment.
Can I have the refund paid directly to me?
If your account is sufficiently in credit you may be able to apply to have the excess credit paid to your bank account. However please remember that prior to making any payment we will deduct any debts owed to other invoices.
We anticipate a high volume of refund applications and will endeavour to process requests as quickly as possible.
Will the refund have an affect on my benefits?
We would recommend that you seek advice from the Housing Benefit department or the Department for Work and Pensions on the impact to your benefits.
Former leaseholders
If you were a leaseholder for the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2020 and have sold the property, where there was a water rate charge – you may be entitled to a credit.. Please contact water.enquiries@lbhf.gov.uk or call 020 8753 6032 (option 4) to enquire if you are eligible to a refund.