Sarah Nash (second from left) with her husband Richard Larcombe and other Finsbury estate residents

FIVE estates are considering taking Islington Council to a tribunal in a bid to get their heating and hot water switched back on after the council said the supply would be shut off for 11 hours a day.

Just under 5,000 properties have been affected by the policy, leading to residents from the Finsbury and King’s Square estates to join forces with those at Brunswick Close in Clerkenwell, the Redbrick estate in Old Street and the Weston Harry block in Caledonian Road.

Sarah Nash, from Finsbury estate in Skinner Street, said the move has left shift workers, the elderly and very young, as well as those with disabilities or medical conditions, “shivering”.

She added: “It was an undemocratic process. The leaseholders can take [Islington] to a tribunal because it’s illegal to have no hot water, and when the heating’s off our hot water also goes off. We’ve only got 13 hours of heating a day so for 11 hours we have no hot water or heating.”

In a consolation exercise one week before the switch-off, Islington offered residents two choices: either pay a little more for their heating and see their heating cut by five hours a day or pay a lot more and keep the status quo.

But Ms Nash said residents suffering on her estate included a woman aged 106.

At the Islington People’s Rights AGM on Tuesday, Mark Waller and Evlambios Charalambous, from Brunswick Close estate in Tompion Street, asked why Islington had increased tenants’ charges and reduced their heating when other councils had not.

Mr Charalambous added: “At the moment I am paying £27.73 a month for the communal heating, and from December it goes up to £45.50 even though they’re cutting down the hours and the weeks.”

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said he was “in discussion” with the council about the issue of turning off communal heating and added: “I do think we have to look at this and address this in some way”.

A council spokesperson said: “The changes to communal heating hours on some estates were solely made to save Islington residents money on their energy bills. The council is spending £1.1m of its heat reserve fund to subsidise bills and soften the blow of vastly increased energy prices.

“The council consulted residents earlier this year and more than two-thirds of respondents – 67 per cent – backed the plan. “We have plans for further consultation with residents to ensure that their voices continue to be heard now that the changes have been implemented.”