Looking at houses in the country - there are a few out there we like - cottages which have oil fired heating.
I realise i will need to replenish the oil and that its not all that cheap - but thats a by issue.
I move in with X in the tank ... i get it filled - i use y then i move out and leave Z in the tank - which may be more or less than when i moved in... whats the score with that - it strikes me as an easy way to end up out of pocket.
is there a protocol for working out what you have used when you want to move out ?
If the landlord fills the tank when you move in and you fill the tank when you move out. This involves less arguing, but does not always happen.
Was looking at moving into a cottage with oil fired heading, and decided against it because of the cost.
The current tenants said that the tank was pretty much empty and they weren't going to top it up before they left. When they moved in, it was apparently half full (They reckoned it cost about 400 quid to fill the tank from empty!), so they must have profited by around 200 quid from the last people in there.
How about agreeing with the landlord before hand? Easier if it's got an old fashioned sight guage on the tank - you could just put a mark on the guage (though I guess that doesn't help you work out the difference when you move out...)
just agree with the landlord whether the expectation is that the tank is left empty or full.
clearly full is better for you because you only pay for what you use rather than leaving half a tank you paid for but didn't use.
whichever it is make sure the tenancy agreement covers it to avoid retained deposit later...
If the landlord fills the tank when you move in and you fill the tank when you move out. This involves less arguing, but does not always happen.
aye thats the sensible option . ill press for that in writing - ensures no arguing !
you could always take the oil with you when you move out.
(not so easily done with LPG)
We rent and have oil heating - it was full when we moved in.
I reckon it's a decent way of heating the house TBH and isn't too expensive. Been here four years though with no sign of moving out!
aye - there a couple houses i really like BUT i am just thinking 50 miles daily is just tooooooo far by bike 🙁
Be-aware that there are oil thieves out there, quite a few tanks get drained, or just punctured for the sake of it, and you then have to pay for the repair and refill.
so assuming that - house insurance is going to be more expensive then ?
Not much, if at all - and anyway as you're only renting, the oil tank is the landlord's responsibility to insure as it's his property.
we rent out our house, we had a new tank fitted and it has a electric watchmen which reads the amount and so the agent just notes the reading and when the tenant leaves if it is lower than when they moved in they get billed the difference
http://www.which.co.uk/advice/home-heating-systems/oil-central-heating/index.jsp
The oil issue is less of a problem than the landlord not wanting to spend money on routine maintenance of the boiler.
BS5410 Part 1 requires oil fired appliances to be serviced periodically in accordance with the manufactures instructions.
I'm not sure how good the Watchmen thing is for this. I think it only measures the depth of oil, not volume. That's ok with a simple metal tank, which is a plain box, but most modern tanks are moulded plastic with lots of bumps and internal voids. This means that the volume for a given slice of oil at the top is more than the same slice of oil at the bottom, if that makes sense.
i would just insist on a full tank on moving in, in the understanding you leave it full when you leave.
get it written into the contract
macavity - cant be any worse than at the moment ....got a non working combi just now ....
just handed my notice in on current place !
If they agree to have at least 500 litres in there then you can always time it so your last purchase (of say 500 litres) will leave you with what you started with when you up sticks.