UK Landlord Forum / Life

I'd be grateful for advice please. My tenants have an oil boiler. I get it serviced yearly but the last time the engineer went round he couldn't service it due to there being no oil in the system.  The tenants say they can't afford to put oil in. Apparently when they can, they put in a tiny amount like from a petrol can. This has caused the sludge in the tank to get in the system which now doesn't work efficiently.  The house should be heated adequately but they are not using the boiler at all now.  I'm in the situation where I need to get it serviced but can't due to no oil in it. I offered to put some in and add to their rent but they don't want this.

Write to them, explain that the tank needs 50% filling at all times for you to service it, if they are unwilling to do this you should undertake to decommission whilst they are in the house.

When they move, fill it, service it, and advertise that as part of the cost of moving in they have to pay for the fuel in the tank.

Make sure you are up to date with regs on CO2 alarms though, as if they start using portable gas heaters, this cause all sorts of damage.

Fuel poverty is a thing that really hurts. You got  to feel for them.

Thanks. That's helpful. I can appreciate fuel poverty myself as I can barely afford to put oil in my own tank. The problem is, part of the tenancy agreement is to keep the house reasonably warm and the place IS deteriorating because they are not doing so. There was never a problem there before but now there is mold from condensation.