Warmfront and Private LL - GCH

Gorgeous_George

My tenant is looking at fitting GCH using a warmfront grant. I'm happy for this to go ahead (obviously) and will keep you posted on how it goes.

The warmfront website advises that they will cover £2,700 worth of work and fit a combi with up to 5 radiators. This may be a little tight for a 4 bedroomed house but I would add to the system if necessary.

I'd already priced up fitting GCH. mrcentralheating.com could provide the (best/highest btu) condensing boiler and 10 radiators for around £1,400 and I could have had these fitted for £1,100 - £1,300 (not bad for 4 or 5 days work). The total would fall within the grant of £2,700. Obviously, if I pay for GCH, I might reflect the additional costs in the rent - especially as I'd be paying a monthly servicing contract and annual CORGI rip-off check.

Just waiting to see what warmfront offer.



GG

Ken68

What would there be to service on a new setup,other than guarantee work.
Corgi rip off charge in my area is £60 plus extra for other appliances. You could stand that out of the increase value of the property.

Gorgeous_George

Ken68 wrote: »

What would there be to service on a new setup,other than guarantee work.
Corgi rip off charge in my area is £60 plus extra for other appliances. You could stand that out of the increase value of the property.

I would pay British Gas a monthly fee to service (annually) and provide LL's gas safety certificate. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong but my tenant will be covered if it all goes belly up.



GG

HugoSP

Geroge, there is a long Warmfront thread somewhere on this forum, I suspect you've already seen it.

The main complaints with the system include waiting times. I doubt that your CH system will be in by Christmas.

If there is some kind of heating system there you may not get th CH grant but they'll repair your night storage heaters for free - NICE! , or if you have an open fire they may class this as OK!

We got our boiler replaced only because the one that was faulty basically died and was uneconomic to repair. The CH engineer asked me over the phone what type it was and simply wrote it off over the phone! I was still stuck with the old pipework and rads though.

When they check for insualtion, make sure you remove all the old stuff that really needs replacing anyway. If it is up there they may not replace it, or if you think the whole grant will go on CH then don't worry too much about this area.

Another complaint is the quality of workmanship. My plumber mate told me that the boiler was wired in incorrectly, a fact backed up by the Potterton engineer who had to fix it under the guarantee. We ended up rehashing our whole CH system and that fault was corrected. Pity about the way the warmfront contractor butchered the boiler casing though.

The guys I got on well with above all were the ones that put up the loft insulation. They were brilliant. Their attention to detail was great. They even stuck insulation to the underside of the loft hatches.

Check how long the guarantee is for the system. They guys who came to do a safety check on ours reckoned that all their installations came with a 5 year guarantee - you wouldn't necessarily need the BG cover, just the LL certs.

david29dpo

Your have to use the warmfronts own fitters who charge double. My parents have got the £2700 grant and warmfront want £3900 to fit the heating. I can get the same thing done for £1900. Its a rip off. Most of the grant goes in there admin fees.

Ken68

If you have it done yourself, George, would probably be a legit business expense. Deductible from the rental income.

Gorgeous_George

It's my tenant who is applying so I'll just wait for them to contact me and will keep you posted on how things go.

Ken68 wrote: »

If you have it done yourself, George, would probably be a legit business expense. Deductible from the rental income.

I think it would be deductible against CGT if the property was sold as it would be a home improvement. I don't think I could off-set against any rental income. The servicing contract cost (about £20 per month) would be off-set against rental income.

The worst case will see me installing GCH at my own expense but at least I'd ensure the installation met my standards.



GG