Options for managing tenants heating oil tank

Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 0 votes

We have a multi family rental unit which uses oil for home/water heating.

Our tenants are responsible for purchasing their own heating oil.

We are trying to figure out a way to determine when/if our tenant is running out of fuel.

Our maintenance person has communicated that one unit has repeatedly run out of fuel, creating an increase service cost on their boiler.

I know there are WiFi options to meter usage. Unfortunately we do not pay for (or manage) WiFi for this property so that is not an option.

We don’t need to need to see a “live measurement” of the tank. We are simple looking for a documented method to determine if a furnace issue was the result of our tenant running out of fuel (thus sucking sludge into the system.

Any suggestions????

Nathan

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Frank Chin

Investor · Bayside, NY · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

@Nathan Sherwood

We have rentals with oil tanks and tenants responsible for payment. We ran into problems with tenants having financial problems and ran out of oil, and the expense of fixing the system as a result. The tank had to be inspected and cleaned as oil dries in an empty tank and clog the pipes and furnace.

We had the tank auto refilled, the oil company sends me the bill, and I in turn bill the tenant. A little more work, doable, and safer in the long run. The tenant agrees to it and it's written into the lease.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Nathan Sherwood:

You are going about this the wrong way. It's the tenant's responsibility to maintain the oil levels. If they fail and it requires a service call, that's also their responsibility.
Give all your tenants a written notice that is clear about their responsibilities. They must maintain the oil levels above 10% (or whatever you decide). If the oil runs out and results in damage to the system, the tenant will pay for the repair.
I also recommend you be clear about this in your written lease for future renters.
If there are repeated violations, terminate their lease and start with a new renter.
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Frank Chin
Investor · Bayside, NY · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
@Nathan Sherwood
We have rentals with oil tanks and tenants responsible for payment. We ran into problems with tenants having financial problems and ran out of oil, and the expense of fixing the system as a result. The tank had to be inspected and cleaned as oil dries in an empty tank and clog the pipes and furnace.
We had the tank auto refilled, the oil company sends me the bill, and I in turn bill the tenant. A little more work, doable, and safer in the long run. The tenant agrees to it and it's written into the lease.
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Nathan SherwoodPro Member
OP
Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 0 votes
2y
Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Nathan Sherwood:

Thanks and that makes sense (and is similar process to some of our other units)
The issue is we would like documented verification that the tank has gone below the established threshold (ie 10%).
This documentation would allow us to avoid a he-said-she-said type situation.
You are going about this the wrong way. It's the tenant's responsibility to maintain the oil levels. If they fail and it requires a service call, that's also their responsibility.
Give all your tenants a written notice that is clear about their responsibilities. They must maintain the oil levels above 10% (or whatever you decide). If the oil runs out and results in damage to the system, the tenant will pay for the repair.
I also recommend you be clear about this in your written lease for future renters.
If there are repeated violations, terminate their lease and start with a new renter.

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Bill B.
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes
2y
I was going to suggest Frank’s answer. Sign them up for auto-refil, at least during the winter months, and bill the tenant. Or just have the tenant billed directly if they will also send you a copy of all invoices to prove they are being paid.
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Henry T.
Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
ah, (I remember) the typical problems with oil.
sludge, injectors, its the furnaces fault, he did it, its your responsibility, another service call?
Go gas or electric if you can.
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Frank Chin
Investor · Bayside, NY · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Bill B.:

I was going to suggest Frank’s answer. Sign them up for auto-refil, at least during the winter months, and bill the tenant. Or just have the tenant billed directly if they will also send you a copy of all invoices to prove they are being paid.

I had at one time had the tenants billed directly including the water bills. The tenants,3 single girls never bothered to pay the water bills billed to them and moved out. Found out later they didn't pay their electric and phone bills either. Because water was provided by the municipality, the past due water bills were later transferred to my tax bill account with accompanying penalties as I didn't learn about it till months after they moved. I complained but was explained I'm not the "bill to" party, so they don't have to notify me.
Nowadays, everything is online, so all I have to do is log into my account, download the online bills and forward a copy to my tenant via email or by smart phone, all done in a minute. Billing the tenant directly to save yourself some work and trouble in fact creates its own problems with me not knowing what's going on.
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Colleen F.Pro Member
Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
2y
@Nathan Sherwood my most recent oil tenant found a company whose "service plan fee" included a cleaning fee and was about equal to the cleaning fee I pay for my furnace. I reimburse them the fee. That includes some of maintence that you may run into. I think a like 1 restart is included.
The other thing we did is place a temperature sensor in the boiler and it alerts us if the boiler temperature goes below a certain level. I think 145. We did this in a MF not to solve the same issue but as an early alert of problems, it might work for your problem. We have a phone app but that might require wifi have to check. You could offer the other tenant a discount for allowing you to tap into their wifi for this.
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