Tenant Requesting Evap cooling

[Allgood]

Hello!

We received an email from our Wagga PM which was written by tenant. It states she wont be renewing her lease unless we install evap cooling because the house is so hot. It's something I thought not having it might be a deal breaker for a tenant and I guess I was right!

Options:

1. Do nothing, hopefully get new tenant and probably have the same issue next summer.
2. Install air conditioner and keep rent at $350.
3. Install air con and increase rent (but possibly will then go above market rent, kind of bluffing her to stay).

Im guessing putting one in is the best option (not that I want to). Does anyone know a reputable air con mob in wagga? Or rough cost for a standard 3 bedder?

Also any thoughts on buying second hand units? Im guessing being ducted the install is probably the most expensive part.

 

[S.T]

Can you go with a cheaper option of a split system in the main living room? Might get away with it installed for around $1k or so.

I'd certainly be increasing the rent, even if only $10 a week or something as part of this. But I also have no idea what the rental market is like in Wagga.

 

[Macca]

According to SQM the vacancy rate is 5%

http://www.sqmresearch.com.au/graph_vacancy.php?mode=p&postcode=2650&t=1

If that is the case then I would be putting a split AC in the living areas pronto !!

Ask PM do they have a contact or see if someone on here can help but I would assure the tenant that you had intended to put in an AC as part of the new lease deal

I am not up on evaporative coolers as they don't work around here but I have seen a lot of them out west so I guess they work in Wagga. AC has the advantage that it will heat as well and I do know that it gets very cold in Wagga

Get advice from PM on rent adjustment but if they pay on time I would be loathe to rock the boat.

 

[Scott No Mates]

1 - an evaporative cooler is not an air conditioner; they work on totally different priciples
2 - Air conditioning is far more expensive to run as it has a compressor and fan coil vs evap cooler with a motor and cooling pads
3 - Air conditioning requires the cleaning of filters and should be serviced annually vs evap coolers which need emptying/winterising so that the water doesn't freeze in winter, pads need occasional replacement
4 - does the tenant know how to use an evap cooler (windows need to be opened to allow air to escape, doesn't pump out cold air so needs airflow, everything inside gets moist)
5 - Wagga is the ideal climate for evap cooling - low humidity & lots of heat
6 - tenant has asked for evap cooling

 

[jim1964]

Might get away with it installed for around $1k or so.

This week Kelvinator split $840, installation $920 pretty basic.I dont think 1k will do it.

 

[S.T]

This week Kelvinator split $840, installation $920 pretty basic.I dont think 1k will do it.

I have a sparky who does MHI 3.5kw for $1300 or so fully installed, but yeh looks like vacancy is high there plus evap is the way to go for that area!

 

[The Dark Knight]

I hate when tenants dictate what they want from you. They go through the house before signing the lease, surely they think about things like this before signing. As previously stated 5% vacancy rate is quite high maybe you can promise it for next summer and start saving and increase the rent soon to get a head start on paying it off?

 

[kathryn d]

Allgood,

How long have you owned this property?
Did you have any problem renting it, previously?


If you haven't had issues in the past renting it, why install something extra, that if it breaks you are responsible for?

Just my thoughts.....

 

[spludgey]

1 - an evaporative cooler is not an air conditioner; they work on totally different priciples

That's not strictly true. Both of them have liquids that cool by evaporating.
The difference is that a standard air conditioner does so in a closed loop with refrigerant like tetra fluoro ethane (better known as R134a), while an evaporative cooler does so by evaporating water in an open system.

Sorry, engineer, couldn't help myself.

 

[Xenia IM]

You need to firmly decide what you are or are not prepared to do then carry that out accepting all associated consequences.

If you do decide you want to add evap cooling ensure that a 12 month renewal with rent increase is signed first.

If you want to put in split system then make that clear and let tenants choose their own reaction to that - stay, move out, complain etc .... You cannot control the reactions of others.

If you decide not to add anything then ensure that advertising is ready and you have a firm move out date so that the impact is minimised.

We had a similar situation in our office recently. We sent out lease renewal with rent increase, tenant said only if the landlord supplies a second split system to main bedroom. Landlord refused.

We told tenant - request refused, please return renewal notice by x day or we will expect vacant possession on day x.
Lease renewal was signed and returned.
Keep if simple.

 

[womble66]

I hate when tenants dictate what they want from you. They go through the house before signing the lease, surely they think about things like this before signing.

Agree but in this case the tenant stayed until the lease expired and is now giving the LL an option of either upgrading the house to retain the current tenant or roll the dice and take the gamble on finding another tenant with minimal vacancy.

If it were me and the house isn't in Tolland or Ashmont then I would consider a "swampy" and increase the rent accordingly if the REA/PM indicates an increase is sustainable which is something I would check first. Other areas mentioned above to me means tenant roulette so investment may not be worth the outlay.

I would opt for Evap cooler as the Tenant seems to know what is required as this will cool the whole house day and night at low costs compared to a single RC AC that will only cool one area and be useless in other areas.

In-laws live down that way and it get HOT and you need cooling (if you can afford it) throughout your house so that means ducted or multiple RC unit. A single while it may retain the current tenant it won't be long before they ask for the bedrooms to be done.

 

[Scott No Mates]

That's not strictly true. Both of them have liquids that cool by evaporating.
The difference is that a standard air conditioner does so in a closed loop with refrigerant like tetra fluoro ethane (better known as R134a), while an evaporative cooler does so by evaporating water in an open system.

Sorry, engineer, couldn't help myself.

I will beg to differ spludgey. That's like saying an abacus is just as good as a calculator when performing complex calculations or a 1970's Datsun 120B is as good as the latest Nissan Xtrail as they are both cars.

A evap cooler sprays water over pads/filters and sucks air through the pads and blows the air into the building using an axial fan. The air which is sucked into the fan is supersaturated, moisture droplets fall on the skin and air movement causes the evaporation on the skin giving the cooling effect. System works on bulk air movement.

An air-conditioner is a heat transfer, gas is forced through an outlet (within a closed system), using boyle's law the gas which is pushed out drops in temperature. The gas is then circulated around a fan coil and the air forced through the coil (radiator) loses its heat to the radiator, cools down and goes into the ductwork into the room/coolant increases in temp. Air speed in A/C is minimal and the air temperature coming out of the unit is lower than the air which goes into the system. There is a heat transfer with hot air being blown out of the radiator on the condensor unit.

I am not an ingunear, and hate being corrected on principle.

 

[vaughan]

Don't argue with an engineer.

 

[WattleIdo]

We had a similar situation in our office recently. We sent out lease renewal with rent increase, tenant said only if the landlord supplies a second split system to main bedroom. Landlord refused.

We told tenant - request refused, please return renewal notice by x day or we will expect vacant possession on day x.
Lease renewal was signed and returned.
Keep if simple.

Agree - converse with your PM about what is considered standard in the area and keep it simple.
You really need to keep in mind that the tenant is under no obligation to sign another lease, as well. By law, she doesn't have to sign a lease to continue living there.
If vacancy is high, the area is hot, and you have a single female tenant who pays on time, get the evap cooling and chill. Now is not the time to put up the rent but when vacancies are tight again, you'll be ready to do so.

 

[spludgey]

I will beg to differ spludgey. That's like saying an abacus is just as good as a calculator when performing complex calculations or a 1970's Datsun 120B is as good as the latest Nissan Xtrail as they are both cars.

First of all, I don't think anyone has ever won an online argument while using Comic Sans!

Secondly, yes it is the same as saying that the 120B and the Xtrail operate under the same principle (assuming it's the petrol version for the Xtrail).
They both have internal combustion engines that burn petrol which pushes down a piston and ultimately drives the wheels.

I'm not going into details, but I stick by my point that in both an air con and an evaporative cooler the fundamental operating principle is the same: Cooling by turning a liquid into a gas.
If you were to compare it to something that uses an endothermic reaction or a peltier to cool, then they would work under different fundamental principle.

 

[S.T]

Don't think there's any such car as a Datsun 120B, it's either a 120Y or a 180B!

 

[Allgood]

Thanks for all the replys, lots of good points raised.

To answer a few questions:
- Vacancy rates in Wagga are very high, but there are oodles of Trashmont and Mount Austin homes bought, renod and still on the rental market. Our house is in a more desirable area (I hope it stays that way!) which is closed to town and near a desirable school so I don't think the high vacancy rate translates to that area.

- This is our 1st tenant in this house, we had a few applications on the first open and she was the pick of the bunch - havent had any dramas with her.

- My worry when advertising it was that it didn't have evap and others did - so I guess that's the reason to go with it, but it was in July!

- I will talk to the PM as advised and see what they say regarding an increase, but either way I think we'll have to put one in on the provision that she re-signs.

Thanks again for the comments.

Regards,
Allgood

 

[Ed Barton]

Don't think there's any such car as a Datsun 120B, it's either a 120Y or a 180B!

My mother drove a '180y' when we were kids - what a steaming pile of excrement it was. However it was better than the previous car (too young to know what - beetle?) - I remember many times at the side of the road waiting for their mechanic friend to arrive because the folks were too poor, or too tight to pay for roadside assistance.

 

[Scott No Mates]

First of all, I don't think anyone has ever won an online argument while using Comic Sans!

Secondly, yes it is the same as saying that the 120B and the Xtrail operate under the same principle (assuming it's the petrol version for the Xtrail).
They both have internal combustion engines that burn petrol which pushes down a piston and ultimately drives the wheels.

I'm not going into details, but I stick by my point that in both an air con and an evaporative cooler the fundamental operating principle is the same: Cooling by turning a liquid into a gas.
If you were to compare it to something that uses an endothermic reaction or a peltier to cool, then they would work under different fundamental principle.

Points for #1

#2 Should've been a 120Y (I must be getting old)

#3 The evap cooler saturates the air with water (the coolant) & blows out vast quantities moist air creating air movement, in an a/c unit the water and coolant don't mix (even in a cooling tower situation) using low volumes of cold air which then recirculates into the a/c unit.

 

[spludgey]

#3

Agree to disagree?