Can my landlord choose what heating system to install.

diystarter7

JGB1955 said:

His house, his choice.

Hi

I fully agree with you but are there no rules where the heating has to be cost-effective, EG, not being very expensive to run to an average level?  Just asking but I'm with you, but asked as I vaguely recall reading up something like that where a LL was offering eletric heaters but can't recall if that was the main heating or just to add additional heating.


If I was the LL of the property, I'd weight up the costs of installation, costs of maintaining them and possibly in the back of my mind resale value.

Electric heaters have a lot less maintenance costs and if we were buying a house to let with no heating/CH oe ery old CH system, I too would consider electric heating as cheaper to install, less to look after and newer heating systems are relatively cost-effective in a well-insulated property.


OP, please see if any grants for the T's or LL's available and tell the LL or consider paying all or some of the costs and see what the LL says. Also ask if they could add draught excluders etc as that helps a lot.

Good luck

anselld

Even with panel heaters installed so long as they have some automatic time control you can go on an Economy 10 tariff, 10 hours off-peak heating in three chunks per 24 hours.  So long as insulation is half-decent that is sufficient to keep reasonably comfortable.

markin

_Penny_Dreadful said:

saheath said:

We have an old back boiler. My landlord has previously said that the cheapest option for him would be to install electric heating. What rights do we have to refuse as like most we want a combi gas boiler?

The way things are heading (Net Zero by 2050) I don’t think it’s unreasonable for your landlord to choose an electric system over a combi boiler. Has he said what kind of electric system because there’s a big difference between modern fan assisted storage heaters with an economy 7 tariff and panel heaters? 

There was an interesting case (Liverpool City Council versus Kassim) where the council hit the landlord with an improvement notice after he installed electric panel heaters in the property which the Upper Tribunal (Land Chamber) found breached the Housing Act 2004 by being so expensive to run they caused excessive cold in the property whereas if he’s gone for modern storage heaters he’d have been ok.  

The property does have to meet a minimum EPC rating of E although oddly there’s nothing to say the landlord needs to get a new EPC because he’s changed the type of heating in the property.  

Nothing to stop the tenant getting a new one to show the council.

diystarter7

markin said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

saheath said:

We have an old back boiler. My landlord has previously said that the cheapest option for him would be to install electric heating. What rights do we have to refuse as like most we want a combi gas boiler?

The way things are heading (Net Zero by 2050) I don’t think it’s unreasonable for your landlord to choose an electric system over a combi boiler. Has he said what kind of electric system because there’s a big difference between modern fan assisted storage heaters with an economy 7 tariff and panel heaters? 

There was an interesting case (Liverpool City Council versus Kassim) where the council hit the landlord with an improvement notice after he installed electric panel heaters in the property which the Upper Tribunal (Land Chamber) found breached the Housing Act 2004 by being so expensive to run they caused excessive cold in the property whereas if he’s gone for modern storage heaters he’d have been ok.  

The property does have to meet a minimum EPC rating of E although oddly there’s nothing to say the landlord needs to get a new EPC because he’s changed the type of heating in the property.  

Nothing to stop the tenant getting a new one to show the council.

Excellent point.

Thnaks

EssexHebridean

I’d agree with the replies saying you need to know more about the type of heating the LL is talking about as “electric” is very vague. If he starts waxing lyrical about “ultra efficient” panel heaters or using words like “German technology” and “clay” then be very worried indeed - as his choice will be about to cost both of you a fortune - him because he’s fallen for paying a lot of money for standard electric heaters, and you because you will struggle to heat the place economically. If however he’s talking about an ASHP or modern HHR storage heaters, then that’s a different matter entirely. 

It should be noted that E10 is now very much considered a legacy tariff by many suppliers and isn’t always easy to get on to - whereas E7 is still offered as a standard option by most. Something else to consider on that is whether your electricity meter will support time of use tariff options - even a SMETS2 cannot necessarily allow E7 switching without the right hardware installed. 

diystarter7

anselld said:

Even with panel heaters installed so long as they have some automatic time control you can go on an Economy 10 tariff, 10 hours off-peak heating in three chunks per 24 hours.  So long as insulation is half-decent that is sufficient to keep reasonably comfortable.

Hi

A very helpful post along with the other poster about getting their own EPC if they wish

As others have said its the LL's choice but as I have said it has to be reasoanble and long as its not just plug in hearters, IMO, the LL will get a decent heatig sytem that costs a lot less to look after and the T will get a brand new heating system that can be installed with a lot less upheaval and a rarel breaks down and if it does often its the one rad only

Therefore, advantages for the T & the LL

Thnaks

_Penny_Dreadful

Murphybear said:

We had an old back boiler in a property we rented.  There was a scheme where people on certain benefits could get a new boiler for free.  Tenants can get this with the landlords permission.  I can’t see many landlords turning down a free boiler.  

There is the Green Deal scheme but the boiler, or whatever other work is done, isn’t really free because there is a Green Deal payment element added to the tenant’s energy bills which is supposed to be covered by the energy savings made. If the tenant moves out the Green Deal element gets added to the next tenant’s energy hills until the work is eventually paid off. 

There’s also a ECO4 scheme but that’s only for homes that have never had central heating so I don’t think the OP would qualify. Plus there are a number of other caveats that make me wonder how anyone qualifies. 

FreeBear

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Murphybear said:

We had an old back boiler in a property we rented.  There was a scheme where people on certain benefits could get a new boiler for free.  Tenants can get this with the landlords permission.  I can’t see many landlords turning down a free boiler.  

There is the Green Deal scheme but the boiler, or whatever other work is done, isn’t really free because there is a Green Deal payment element added to the tenant’s energy bills which is supposed to be covered by the energy savings made. If the tenant moves out the Green Deal element gets added to the next tenant’s energy hills until the work is eventually paid off. 

There’s also a ECO4 scheme but that’s only for homes that have never had central heating so I don’t think the OP would qualify. Plus there are a number of other caveats that make me wonder how anyone qualifies. 

The Green Deal scheme was shelved a long while ago and it failed to deliver (low take up, overpriced work, etc). The next con scheme in the pipeline is the ECO+ (not to be confused with the ECO4 scheme). It is due to start in April, but nothing of consequence has been announced yet, so likely to be yet another train crash..

ECO4 is funded by the energy companies, and the delivery mechanism is well established. Eligibility criteria is constantly changing as the funds get squeezed.

There are also Warm Homes grants available from local councils which might help - The usual proviso if you already have central heating is that the boiler has packed up. With a functioning back boiler, you may not qualify.