Obligations regarding heating for large old house

[Smilla]

Hi All,

We have a bit of a predicament with an IP we own in Victoria. The house is a large, old, high ceiling'd four bedroom weatherboard house. While the house is functional and in good repair, it is typical of many houses of its age with poor heating, insulation etc. In recognition of this, it rents out cheaply to tenants in the lower end of the rental market and the next cheapest four bedroom house is over $100 more expensive per week. we always have a long list of tenants wanting to rent the property.

We have just had new tenants move in and they are complaining about both the heating and the hot water service.

They are demanding that we:
a)install additional/better heating
b)put in a larger hot water system.
they are threatening to go to VCAT to either force us to replace these items or break their lease.

Now while we understand that these appliances are not the most efficient or up to date, we feel that if a tenant is paying very low rent and is aware of the amenities when signing the lease, they have less room to be making such demands.

Despite the fact that no other tenants have complained about either of these things over the five years we have owned the property, we are probably willing to reach a compromise on the heating.

My question is, is anyone aware of the minimum obligations of a landlord to provide a certain level of heating or the size of a hot water system?

the hot water system is 90 litres and the house contains two adults and three children.

the heating provided is a medium size split system which services the living area and kitchen which is a large open plan area.

I have looked through the tenancies act but can't find mention of heating obligations.....

thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lura]

As long as they saw the property and you didn't falsely advertise it - and these items work as they were intended - you have satisfied your obligations.

If they want to break lease and you have a long list of others who would want the property - let them but make sure they pay all the necessary break lease fees.

 

[pennyk]

I agree with Lura... they rented the house as is, and need to buy their own portable heaters.
Or alternatively, you can offer to put their rent up $100/wk if they would like them updated!
Pen

 

[marg4000]

You will have the obligation to provide an adequate hot water system suitable for a 4 bedroom house.

If the unit is old or inefficient and not supplying hot water then the tenant would have a right to expect it to be updated.
Marg

 

[AndrewT]

A 90 Litre HWS is not adequete for a household of that size. We have a 180L unit in our place and it is rated for 2 adults, 2 children. I think you should upgrade the size of the HWS to suit a 4 bedroom house, but the heating is different in my opinion. The tenant should be buying portable heaters or etc if they are getting cold - they rented the house as is!

 

[RumpledElf]

Curious, since I have a big house with a small HWS too (mainly for water conservation reasons) - can you get any kind of grant to offset the cost of getting a solar HWS put into an IP?

 

[tom32]

Curious, since I have a big house with a small HWS too (mainly for water conservation reasons) - can you get any kind of grant to offset the cost of getting a solar HWS put into an IP?

Hi RE!

http://www.ecosmart.com.au/news11.html

information on the grant post feb this year.

TO the OP, on whether you have an obligation to fix, I agree with everyone else, on the hot water service yes, on the heating generally no unless as others have said you rented it out mentioning central heating etc, and your system falls well below what acceptable levels for central heating might be.

@ lura above, As far as letting them break lease but making them pay break lease fees, this is always the case, a tenant of course can break lease and pay fees / costs associated with the default, it is not like you can ever force them to stay? It is not like you are letting them break in this case, is it?

If your point was however that it might be wise for you if you have never had problems with either thing before with other tenants to politely tell them, if you are unhappy you can leave without a break lease and then get another tenant in who knows why the property is cheap. i.e. it is $100.00 cheaper than surrounding because it is not the same!

 

[Perp]

It sounds like the HWS is inadequate and needs to be upgraded, irrespective of what was there when the tenants inspected/leased.

With regards to heating, you're certainly not obligated to improve the heating facilities, but if they aren't cutting the mustard... I can't help thinking that $100 more per week in rent, plus depreciation allowance on capital expenditure, makes it worthwhile considering addressing the insulation and heating issues. (Even if for subsequent tenants, if these ones unwilling or unable to pay increased rent.)

 

[BenQld]

Maybe put the HWS on a normal tariff not night, so it will heat 24x7, so it will recover quick if its emptied.

Also, you could try to put a tempering valve on the unit so the water going to the shower is only 50C, but crank the HWS temp to 75C+, then this will effectively increase its capacity.

Ben

 

[Smilla]

thank you for the thoughtful responses everyone.

We have agreed to release the tenants from the lease and are looking at installing some kind of heating solution in the house - either a large gas heater or gas ducted heating as well as maybe a hot water service and increasing the rent accordingly.