Central Heating Dilemma

40RWX

Please Help!

I have just purchased a 3 Bed Semi Detached house in Mexborough.
I plan to rent this house.
It currently has coal central heating with a parkray back boiler.
I was planning to install a gas supply and a new G.C.H. system.
However - the gas mains instalation quote is £5500 .So as the new heating is probably £2500 ,Altogether its a few quid!

Would I be better off with electric heating?
I just wouldn't want to put off any tenants by the high costs of electric heating.
I'm worried I might install an electric system and then I might have to install a gas supply at a later date due to high running costs which are paid for by the tenant.

Thanks for any advice received:)

macman

Electric heating on standard rate will cost approx 3 times as much to run. Only you can decide if the increased rental value of a property with gas CH will justify the upfront investment and higher maintenance costs.

ilikecookies

Difficult one.

If I were in your shoes I'd probably try to rent it out as-is and see what happens.

In the current climate I suspect you will find a tenant but it depends on the local market. For example, you may struggle if your property is the only one in your area for rent that doesn't have GCH. But alternatively if there are few properties to rent in your area then it shouldn't make too much difference.

I'd start at the normal rental price for your area and if no-one bites you could apply a bit of a discount. Still if you find no-one will rent it then I guess you'll have to go down the GCH route which will be costly and disruptive. That said it will certainly make the property much easier to sell in the future that's for sure so it's really just a question of whether you do it now or in the future.

tberry6686

If you opt to go for the gas install then remember to take into account the cost of annual safety check and servicing. It appears that modern boilers only have an expected service life of 5 -10 years so you also need to factor in the cost of replacement of the boiler too.

I looked at installing gas central heating to my house house last year but the figures didn't add up - worked out that break even for switching to gas was in the region of 30 years for me when all costs were taken into account.

macman

You'd be better off short term with electrcic heating. Your tenants certainly wouldn't. It depends what market you are renting to. Given a choice of properties, I'd go for the one with gas CH and DHW every time-especially since I wouldn't be paying any direct maintenance costs on it.
And when you come to sell the property, gas CH will make it infinitely more marketable. It's the one feature that most people will want.

southcoastrgi

OP are you sure your have your figures correct ? £5.5k for a mains gas connection doesn't sound right to me, if it really is have you thought about LPG

Calor
Avantigas
Flogas
Uklpg faq