First time oil user

Qyburn

propertyrental said:
  

In most cases your solicitor will arrange for you to purchase the oil in the tank.

most cases your solicitor will arrange for you to purchase the oil in the tank.

I wouldn't bother. It's highly unlikely they'll take the oil with them, it's a right pain transferring even 100L in jerrycans. 

dunstonh

when we moved in, we didnt need to buy oil in the tank.   When you are moving, you run it down to last you as long as you need it.    Also, the people we bought from misled us on the amount of oil in the tank as they had the meter set up wrong which made it look like there was more in there than there was.

Tailender_Investor

I won’t be offering to buy oil in their tank. It’s not like they can take it with them. 

But this is my concern. The seller won’t want to spend money on oil they won’t use and so they could be tempted to drain the tank to a very low level. 

Then I move in and have to fork out to fill it up which would be fair enough as I’d be using it. But then I could pay to have any issues fixed caused by them running the tank so low. 

lohr500

Unless they run the boiler to the point where it starts drawing air into the feed pipe, I wouldn't be too concerned. As I think it was mentioned above, the  outlet is usually at least an inch or so above the bottom of the tank. So unless there are years of sludge and/or water contamination in the tank, it won't matter if the level is low. The water and/or sludge sit at the bottom and would be drawn into the boiler feed irrespective of how full the tank was. Even if air has got into the pipework it is a straightforward job to bleed it out yourself if competent or for a heating engineer to do it. 
If you can see into the tank (ours has a +/-7 inch lid) you can determine how much residue is in the bottom. You can syphon the dregs out if it looks bad before the tank is filled.. Then wait for a day or so after any new delivery to let it settle again.

Qyburn

My experience is in Scotland but we get a 7 day warranty on heating system as one of the standard conditions referred to in the offer.

propertyrental

I'm currently selling. I don't know how soon I'll find a buyer, or how long the sale will then take.
Obviously I'm not going to fill the (2500 litre) tank up a I might normally when it runs low in the spring, but equally I'm not going to run it right down and risk running out before the sale Completes.

So depending how much is in the tank as Exchange of Contracts approaches I'll either just hand over the property with a small amount of oil or ask for a contribution if there's a more significant amount.

I'm sure earlier versions of the TA6 Property Information Form actually had a question regarding the amount of oil/LPG etc being left with the property, and its value, but I notice the latest version (4th) does not.

Strange.

edit: Ah! It's in the TA10 Fixtures & Fittings form, section 10 'Stock of Fuel' which gives options: included, excluded, none, or price,. for oil, LPG or wood.