Westminster Council and PDHU: What Residents Really Pay
- rebeccaisabellebry
- Nov 2
- 2 min read
Tenants are paying for PDHU replacement - not upfront but every month
Westminster Labour leaflets claim tenants are “not directly liable for major works and will pay no upfront costs” for the PDHU replacement. In practice, council‑housing tenants do share the costs. Rent income goes into the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), which helps fund infrastructure projects like the PDHU. Tenants are already facing the maximum permitted rent increase of 7.7% in 2024/25, and with PDHU replacement costs running into hundreds of millions, future monthly rent and service charge bills are highly likely to be affected.
Leaseholders face paying double: £66K PDHU bill could cost £133K to £140K over 25 years under Council repayment plan
Westminster Labour has promised a “cost-effective, least disruptive solution” They’ve also highlighted a new leaseholder repayment plan for major works, allowing bills over £20,000 to be spread over 25 years or deferred until the property is sold. But what does this mean in reality?
Take a leaseholder facing a £66,000 PDHU bill. Under the Council’s plan, only the first 8 years are interest-free, with the remaining 17 years facing interest of 1.5% above the Bank of England base rate. Over 25 years, the total repayment could reach £133,000–£140,000, more than double the original bill.
£140K is not affordable: it's pushing residents into poverty
Both leaseholders and council tenants will be covering the enormous cost of this project. Residents may be forced into poverty, leaseholders may be left with flats that they can't sell, and this is before factoring in the cost of other major works that are due to take place over the next 25 years.
When assessing the options for the replacement of the PDHU, the Council have repeatedly told us that affordability is the most important factor in their scoring. When pressed to tell us what they think is affordable, the Council has not provided a clear answer. Is £140,000 for a new heating and hot water system affordable? Clearly not.
