The Heating Hub vs Reality

It is officially winter. The clocks have gone back. The slow cooker has been used. The nights are drawing in. The mornings are dark, cold and wet. For many, this is a time of celebration. We’ve had fireworks and Halloween, and we’re now gearing up for Christmas. It’s a time for families. Warm homes make all the difference.

There is something comforting about looking out on a cold, wintry day while you sit in a home that is warm, safe and dry. Being able to turn the heating on without worry is something many of us take for granted. We feel snug, reassured, protected from the elements.

But what happens when the advice being dished out by GreenSquareAccord via their Heating Hub doesn’t match the reality of your home? What happens when, despite following all the guidance, you are ignored? When your property falls deeper into disrepair, and you are unable to heat your home? When the cold, the damp and the moisture seep into your bones, your walls, your belongings and even your mental wellbeing?

That is exactly what happened to one Walsall resident.

Seven Years of Reporting, Seven Years of Decline

The story begins in 2020, though the problems had already been ongoing for two years. The resident first reported mould on an external bedroom wall, explaining that the smell was constant, that the room never held heat, and that her clothes and furniture were being affected. Despite cleaning and ventilating, the mould kept returning.

She never received a response.

This initial silence set the tone for the next seven years.

By late 2022, she was told she would be receiving new radiators. She questioned it, was reassured it was correct, and later discovered the information was wrong. In a detailed complaint, she described years of conflicting assessments, little action, and worsening living conditions. A surveyor had told her that her breathing was causing moisture. Another gave different explanations. Surveyors measured high moisture levels. Heating remained inadequate. Her health suffered.

Still nothing was fixed.

An Independent Expert Report (2022)

In August 2022 the resident had her home professionally inspected by an independent chartered surveyor from Gowing Law Solicitors.

This was not a casual visit. It was a full expert report, complete with photographs, a Scott Schedule, and a formal assessment of disrepair. The findings were damning.

The surveyor identified:

• heating that “doesn’t give off much heat”
• radiators likely undersized
• damp in the bedroom, hall, kitchen and living room
• drafty windows with perished seals
• hot water in the kitchen only working when heating was on
• a breached damp proof course
• leaking guttering
• a broken external vent
• high moisture levels caused by structural defects
• external ground levels too high, channeling water into the building

He concluded the property required significant repairs and estimated at least a week’s continuous work. He costed the required repairs at £1,270 excluding VAT.

He also recorded that the resident had already been living in disrepair for 97 weeks — nearly two years — based on GSA’s own records.

This proves the disrepair was real, structural, severe, and longstanding. It also proves GreenSquareAccord had been informed of these issues long before the more recent complaints.

This single document completely undermines any suggestion that the resident was exaggerating, failing to ventilate, or causing the damp herself. The defects were in the structure and the heating system — both landlord responsibilities.

The report shows the repairs were never minor; they were serious, essential, and should have been treated as a priority.

More Promises Without Action

In spite of the expert findings, the resident continued to be left in the same conditions. She was told someone would attend to measure the property for new radiators. No one came.

A surveyor visited a neighbour by mistake.
Another blamed “breathing and lifestyle.”
She chased repeatedly but was ignored.

She sent photographs showing mould spreading across her sofa, windows and storage areas. Nothing happened.

By 2023 and 2024, every part of the property was showing signs of long-term neglect.

Her front door remained wet and moulded.
Her kitchen cupboards smelled of damp, contaminating cookware.
A hall cupboard was constantly wet.
Lightbulbs regularly blew due to moisture.
Paint peeled from walls.
Internal doors swelled, warped and split.
Sofa and furnishings became visibly damaged by mould.

The deterioration reflected exactly what the 2022 expert report predicted would happen if the landlord failed to act. They failed to act.

In mid-2025, GSA finally issued a Stage 1 response acknowledging a live disrepair claim and requesting compensation paperwork.

It looked like progress. But again, nothing changed.

Three surveyors visited in quick succession — each giving a different explanation.
One suspected rising damp.
Another said there was no problem.
Another took photographs and left without follow-up.

GSA apologised for failing to record her medical issues, despite her raising them many times. They promised a full Disrepair Inspection. They never scheduled one.

Even with an expert report already in their possession from 2022, they continued to defer, delay, contradict, and ultimately leave a resident in worsening disrepair.

Heating Hub vs Reality

GreenSquareAccord’s Heating Hub is full of advice: test heating early, bleed radiators, keep the home warm, prevent condensation, report issues quickly.

Their official repairs policy states that they are responsible for boilers, radiators, central heating, and other structural components.

They also claim that damp and mould must be dealt with “quickly” to avoid harm.

The resident did everything asked of her.
She reported issues for years.
She chased.
She cooperated with all inspections.
She even sought independent legal help.

GSA ignored years of their own policy and their own responsibilities.

Their Heating Hub shows warm, cosy radiators.
Her home had radiators that barely worked.
Their Heating Hub shows happy families staying warm.
Her home leaked heat and absorbed moisture.
Their Heating Hub warns about mould.
Her home was left to grow it unchecked.

The contrast is impossible to ignore.

A Pattern, Not an Exception

Across seven years of correspondence, inspections, and photographs, the same failings appear:

Reports ignored
Appointments missed
Contradictory explanations
Unrecorded vulnerabilities
Incomplete records
Disrepair allowed to spread
Long-term issues treated as minor inconveniences
Independent evidence dismissed

This isn’t customer service failure.
This is systemic neglect.

This is not an isolated case. Many residents reach out to me, but as I explain time and time again, I need photographs and email trails. We have to give GreenSquareAccord the opportunity to put things right. When they fail to do so, residents must escalate to the Housing Ombudsman.

Another route is to provide the evidence so we can document your story as an ongoing concern.

It is only through the sharing of information — good or bad — that we can provide GreenSquareAccord with the feedback they claim to need to improve services. Failures, when exposed, give them the foundations to ensure the same mistakes aren’t repeated.

In the past, GreenSquareAccord attempted to sell off dilapidated homes — something they are no longer permitted to do. That means they now have a responsibility to repair the homes they already have.

If your home resembles the experience of this Walsall resident, and GreenSquareAccord are ignoring your requests, please let me know. Let’s bring these stories into the open where they belong, shine a light on what is happening, and work together to ensure every GSA home is warm, safe, dry and affordable.

We have asked GreenSquareAccord for comment, as we do on all our posts, but once again they have declined to respond — a reminder that addressing uncomfortable truths is far harder than celebrating claims that don’t match residents’ lived reality.