VIC Tenants being extremely fussy

The first thing is that the tenant is not part of the discussion with the "expert".

How can a larger capacity unit reduce the bill? The only way might be if it was newer and more efficient.

But back to the point. It was advertised as having central gas heating. It does. End of story.

 

With the duct -work depending on the age of the system ,it may well be leaking the way they set the duct most time's it's just duct tape,the unit you could change the gearing and run a more power-full motor is there any fire dampers in this system?...
If this was me ,i would just inform the PM you use to not re-lease the property and qualify someone who is not a serial litigant ..
We are dumb lucky in Qld ,as we may only have 10 cold night during winter ,maybe next IP buy in QLD at least you will not have that problem..imho..

 

You got a report and it says that the unit is undersized with bad ducts.

A lot of the other posters don’t live in Melbourne and may not fully understand how important it is to have good heating in winter here (not to mention spring and autumn!).

if there is a ducted heating system, then I completely understand that it needs to be doing the job.

You mention that the tenant hasn’t given the matter enough thought/time - but they actually waited a whole winter and spring (I was still using my heater in November in Melbourne on some days) in a house that was cold and you did not fix the problem.

I’m not saying you must do anything. If the heater can keep the rooms at 21 degrees Celsius in winter, then it’s probably fine. But if it’s undersized and doesn’t keep the rooms warm, it’s not really fair to blame tenants for complaining.

Having said that, my rental is open plan so I added a couple of doors and draft stripping which helped keep the heat in. The tenants still use an electric heater, and eventually I will need to upgrade the heating unit.

 

An undersized unit will be running full bore all the time (which it is not designed to do) and will not be operating efficiently as a result.

 

It’s a shame the tradie said it is underpowered in the report. Sounds like he is just looking for more work to install a new unit. Your research states that it’s on the lower end of the accepted range for size of the house - that’s still acceptable! Remember a qualified tradesman originally installed this unit and deemed it fit-for-purpose.

$900 in the middle of winter seems reasonable to me if they are wanting to heat the whole house. I wouldn’t renew their lease. Find a more reasonable tenant.

 

The OP isn’t a gas heating professional and his/her ‘research’ was a look online which may just have taken the square metres of the room only.

Other factors for sizing a unit include the ceiling height, whether the walls and ceiling are insulated, windows etc.

 

At what load are they most efficient?

 

I would be getting a second opinion using/referencing the installation standards at the time (have they been reviewed/updated)? Get the insulation repaired, sealing of all joints or replacement of flexible ductwork if necessary, inspection of roof/wall insulation.

 

how would the tenant argue/qualify that it is underpowered if it did get to tribunal?

I have a feeling given that members are generally pro tenant, even without proper evidence, the LL will lose that argument

 

What piece of current Legislation or "Law" have you not followed?

Was the original advertisement "misleading"?

 

Then the GPOs will be in the wrong place or there are insufficient down lights, the tree drops too many leaves, the wind blows in the wrong direction etc.

 

Yep, interesting point - in Qld for example, there are no overarching 'minimum standards' with regards to heating/cooling (I don't know about other states), where we run into problems, with air conditioning, is the air conditioner may be too small a size for the room/area. Now if the air conditioner is working and functioning correctly, and the only misnomer is it's too small, but it was like that when the tenant inspected the property before applying to rent it, and the tenant complains later on that the air con is "not big enough", then it's too bad so sad you should have rented a different property/paid more attention during the inspection before deciding to rent the place. I wonder if the heating scenario is similar, in that as long as the heating unit is working/functioning correctly, then that's good enough - whether it's the correct size for the space, what often gets referred to as 'fit for purpose' is a different story. The lay person, eg. most tenants, have no idea about any of this stuff, what the advocacy groups find is that tenants work on best intentions and don't do their own due diligence, rent a place with insufficient heating/cooling capacity, and now the Government is bringing in rental reforms to [try] define standards to protect tenants who don't know any better and get stuck later on having rented a premise only to find out the heating/cooling is not good enough.

 

To be fair they shouldn't have to know, and the landlord or home owner should be installing equipment that meets the requirements eg, air con that isn't 3 sizes smaller than it should be.

But then again, the home owner may be none the wiser and was told X air con would do the job fine.

It ends up being a never-ending vicious cycle..

 

Some people can't get warm in winter. They're just spoilt. They need to put on a beanie and go for a walk, they'll feel better.

 

Having spent many years living in houses where I needed to wear beanies, gloves and woollen overcoats inside all winter (while my partner wore shorts), I don't agree that I'm spoilt. I've since moved to the tropics, where I enjoy the monsoonal summer with no need for heating or air con (my partner melts here, but he's just spoilt).

 

My take would be to have a look at some passive (non energy bill) solutions.
Does the house have curtains?
( Lots of people have blinds which are great for privacy, but don't keep the heat in.)
Are there big evergreen trees on the North side of the house?
They will 'suck up the sunshine, if also cut them back so the (free) warmth comes in
Draft stripping around doors and windows can be done by most people,
I hope this helps.

 

Unfortunately much of our housing in Australia is also built to a pretty low standard, take double glazing of windows which is standard in many countries and is also great for noise insulation from outside traffic
Many people move here from other countries and are shocked by the crappy windows that let the noise and cold straight in.

 

If house prices were higher, could anyone afford to buy one? Raising building standards costs money and there goes the affordability issue.

 

Its not about raising building standards, the industry has been slowly lowering them.
Many people come here from overseas and are pretty surprised at the low quality of our builds.
The amount of heat lost through a single glazed window is pretty significant, and that translates to significantly bigger heating costs.
Its not new technology, its been around for a while,and we noticed on a big trip through Italy and Southern France recently that virtually every place(many airbnbs) had double glazed windows, they are also great for noise suppression in build up areas