London apartment owners have successfully fought off a shock £200,000 heating bill. Residents of the River Gardens development were recently told they owed massive extra charges because of a debt that had built up on their communal heating system's energy account.

One resident, Calum Matheson, took the case to a tribunal to challenge the bill. He argued that the energy supplier's own contract stated the company, not the tenants, should take the risk if gas prices became unstable.

The tribunal ruled in favor of the residents, deciding that the money could not be legally recovered from them. This case comes as the energy regulator, Ofgem, recently took over supervision of these communal heat networks to better protect customers from unfair costs.