You can just leave your tenant’s heating system to run. Correct? No annual maintenance, no cleaning, no degradation of performance. You can’t? Really?
Your Duties as a Landlord
If you’re a landlord you’ll know about the responsibilities you have, to ensure a safe and efficient heating system for your tenants.
It’s your duty as a landlord to make sure the heating system you provide your tenants is both sufficient and operational and can provide a minimum indoor temperature of 18ºC in sleeping rooms and 21ºC in other rooms.
This means both regular maintenance and cost for traditional heating systems. If your properties are heated by gas, then you’re tied into an annual gas safety inspection. You also have a gas boiler losing efficiency rapidly.
As a landlord you’re also responsible for any repairs required to the boiler, heating and pipes. As I’m sure you’re aware, Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, if your tenant is without heating and / or hot water this is treated as an emergency repair and as a landlord you should ensure repairs are completed within 24 hours.
There’s a lot of responsibility and potentially a lot of headaches with the maintenance and upkeep of a traditional heating system.
Fuel Poverty
If you have installed convection based electric heating into your properties (whether that is a form of storage heater, or a fan heater, or oil filled electric radiators for example) then you run the real risk of tipping your tenants into fuel poverty.
Fuel poverty for your tenants generally results in one or two scenarios;
(i) You have a high turnover of tenants in your properties because the day to day living costs are too high for them, or…
(ii) Your tenant does not properly heat the property resulting in real maintenance issues over time and regular redecoration caused by damp and black spot mould.
What’s the Alternative?
So, what’s the alternative? Ideally a highly efficient, low maintenance heating system that your tenants find easy to use.
Is there such a thing? There is.
A heating system which can be wall or ceiling mounted, which can offer fine tune control, room by room, rather than from a single thermostat. A system which reduces condensation (and therefore black spot mould) and provides your tenants with a much more comfortable atmosphere to live in. One that can also save them money.
Jigsaw Infrared heating is a highly efficient form of electric heating. It does not work the same way as convection heat which is reliant on creating a convection air flow meaning the whole volume of space must be heated before your tenant feels any benefit.
Infrared heating warms people and objects first, whilst gently heating the structure of the space. Heat loss is much reduced resulting in your tenants feeling warmer sooner and for longer.
Jigsaw infrared heaters contain only one moving part, a sensor rated for 100,000 cycles meaning annual maintenance for this heating system is limited to wiping the dust off – something your tenants are more than capable of doing.
Infrared heating (combined with our smart electric water heating) means that you can consign boiler maintenance and gas safety checks to a thing of the past. Not only that, but you can do so knowing that you are improving living conditions and heating costs for your tenants.
Would you like to know more? We’d be pleased to help: www.jigsawinfrared.com.
(Pictured, right: Jigsaw premium aluminium infrared heaters 800w on ceiling)
