Problem Tenant - Who pays for the oil?

My luck with decent tenants has finally run out and I have been landed with the tenant from hell.

The house is at a low to medium specification and priced accordingly. The tenant was well aware that the property was in immaculate condition throughout before they moved in but were also aware that the house was not equipped with modern appliances. However the appliances that were in situ were all in perfect working order. It suited the tenant as they are receivers of rent allowance and did not want to contribute a large sum of their own money towards the rent each month. Happy days or so we thought.

In October, I got a telephone call from the tenant to say there was a problem with the oil central heating.

I called in a plumber whose diagnosis was - there was an airlock in the system, due to the tenant allowing the oil to go too low before replacing the tank with more oil. The plumber said it would take at least €100 worth of oil to fire the boiler to confirm he was correct. The tenant was not in a position to pay the €100 and of course I had to fit the oil bill. The plumber was correct and the problem was all down to the tenant allowing the oil to empty before topping it up.

Without going into a further rigmarole, this has happened on numerous occasions since October and the tenant has allowed me to purchase the oil citing the case of always having no money.
If I refuse, I am told they will get their own plumber and issue me with the bill.

I am also been threatened with Threshold, the Council and Social Welfare.
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And wait for the best, and no this is not a belated April fools, but I am now in receipt of a letter telling me they cannot cook and have been diagnosed malnourished by their Doctor. You could not make this up. [/FONT]

Kerrigan said:

The plumber said it would take at least €100 worth of oil to fire the boiler to confirm he was correct.

[FONT=&quot]they cannot cook . [/FONT]

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I find the bit about the plumber needing to use up €100 of oil very odd. I've had the same problem in the past with a tenant leaving the tank empty and causing an airlock but my plumber fixed it in a jiffy.

Why can't they cook.

Now for the really troublesome bit, the letter, who sent it to you, the tenant, sounds like either you are a bad landlord or he is on the game.

You should have got the plumber to fit something to the oil tank that prevents it running out.

Kerrigan said:

Without going into a further rigmarole, this has happened on numerous occasions since October and the tenant has allowed me to purchase the oil citing the case of always having no money.
If I refuse, I am told they will get their own plumber and issue me with the bill.

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... and herein lies the problem.

Your tenant sees you as a soft touch and will continue to look to you to pay for the plumber and the oil each time it happens.

When it happened first, you should have informed the tenant in writing of the plumber's diagnosis of the problem and warned the tenant that if it happened again, they would be responsible for the plumber's bill and the oil.

See if you can get something in writing from the plumber and send a letter to the tenant now stipulating that you are not responsible if they cause airlocks by failing to keep the tank topped up.

As for the cooking facilities, you are obliged by law to provide:-

"Facilities for cooking and for the hygienic storage of food, for example, a 4-ring hob with oven and grill, fridge-freezer and microwave oven."

If they don't have the above in good working order, then you're in breach of your obligations as a landlord. If you do, then you need to inform the tenant that what they have meets the minimum rental accommodation standards.

The oil running dry is common enough problem. But €100 worth of oil is over 100litres so sounds like that is the min you can buy from oil supplier. It is worth getting one of those oil level devices which attach to tank and have warning plugged inside house to show when down to minimum, works a treat. In contract they should be responsible for keeping oil at min level, so no airlock allowed.

You are being scammed as they get €100 worth of free oil each time this happens and then run it out and then more free oil, etc... Notice to quit is required here and get em to move on or you will be broke

everton said:

The oil running dry is common enough problem. But €100 worth of oil is over 100litres so sounds like that is the min you can buy from oil supplier. It is worth getting one of those oil level devices which attach to tank and have warning plugged inside house to show when down to minimum, works a treat. In contract they should be responsible for keeping oil at min level, so no airlock allowed.

You are being scammed as they get €100 worth of free oil each time this happens and then run it out and then more free oil, etc... Notice to quit is required here and get em to move on or you will be broke

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+1 plenty of other good tenants out there

Some petrol stations/oil co. depot's sell drums of home heating oil. Top up with that.

Kerrigan said:

I am now in receipt of a letter telling me they cannot cook and have been diagnosed malnourished by their Doctor. You could not make this up. [/FONT]

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You need to get round there at least twice a day and rustle them up something hot & nutritious.

Hopefully once returned to good health after this prolonged regime of harassment culminating in attempted murder by starvation,you wont spend too long in jail however the only fair thing to do in order to avoid the wrath of the PRTB and Threshold is to sign over your property to the tenant...

Throw yourself on their mercy and hope for the best,failing that throw in 5k as a sweetener.

Joking aside,the tenant had you pegged as a mug from day one and you reinforced this perception by buying them near enough a full tank of heating oil.

Not too sure there is much you can do now to shake off that perception but you really need to put your foot down forcibly on this absolute nonsense.

In future when dealing with tenants go through the ground rules,explain in a polite but business like fashion that breaches of the agreement will not be tolerated.

Do so in a manner that underline this forcibly.However this only works if in fact you have weeded out all the chancers and bogeys to begin with.

This only comes with experience...mark this one up to it and learn from your mistake,we have all dealt with these types when we started renting out properties.You wont be burned again.