Communal heating?

seashore22

My daughter is bidding for social housing at the moment and has seen a new flat which is considerably more expensive that other older properties and also has communal heating. We have no experience of this type of heating and would appreciate some advice, pros and cons etc. She will be on a tight budget and is wary of taking on a property which is expensive to run.

Thanks.

Owain_Moneysaver

Run away quickly.

Communal heating can be very expensive, especially if it's unmetered so no-one has any direct incentive to reduce consumption.

Cakeguts

Find out if the cost of the heating is why the rent is so expensive. She may be paying for the heating as part of the rent?

seashore22

Thanks for the reply. That's what I suspected. Such a shame because a new property should be more energy efficient and less expensive, or that's what I hoped.

seashore22

Cakeguts wrote: »

Find out if the cost of the heating is why the rent is so expensive. She may be paying for the heating as part of the rent?

On homesearch it says that property benefits from communal heating and who provides it. Nothing about heating costs included. I think that's too much to hope for.

NaughtiusMaximus

Cakeguts wrote: »

Find out if the cost of the heating is why the rent is so expensive. She may be paying for the heating as part of the rent?

I know 3 people who rent flats in buildings with communal heating and in all 3 cases it's included as part of the rent so presume this is the norm.

seashore22

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

I know 3 people who rent flats in buildings with communal heating and in all 3 cases it's included as part of the rent so presume this is the norm.

Is that likely to be true for local authority rentals as well? If so that would help a lot.

NaughtiusMaximus

seashore22 wrote: »

Is that likely to be true for local authority rentals as well? If so that would help a lot.

Of the 3 people I know, one is in a council tower block, one is in retirement flats and the other is renting from a housing association.

seashore22

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

Of the 3 people I know, one is in a council tower block, one is in retirement flats and the other is renting from a housing association.

Thank you, that looks promising and the flat may be possible after all. Might be worth checking with the housing association.

WibblyGirly

If it is included in the heating, I'd enquire about who has control over it or how it works, I hate being cold in winter so wouldn't want to pay all the extra in rent to find out it comes on at 12 degrees for 2 weeks in January.

Taiko

It should have its own meter, as per Heat Network Regulations.

You're going to be trapped into whatever the landlord is paying though, which may not be favourable.

If you've got any information available, or even a link to the rent advert or something in the block, I'm happy to advise as someone experienced in dealing with these systems. A good one is great, but an unoptimised one is costly.