Is this correct? Tenants Moving out-Heating Oil (Portland: transplants, apartment)

[broadbill]

Hi All;

Thanks for keeping a great forum going! I've been lurking for awhile and is my first post.

My wife and I are recent transplants to the Portland Maine area and are in the process of buying a house in the area. We've been renting for the past year but will be moving into our purchased house in June. In an amazing stroke of good timing (rare for us), we'll be able to move into the house just as our lease is up. The problem is that we have been responsible for heating costs in our apartment and currently have 5/8 to 3/4 of a full tank of oil in the basement. I know of no means by which we can return or otherwise move the oil to the new home.

In addition, I cannot find any provisions in our lease about how we should be reimbursed for leaving this much oil with the apartment. Interestingly, the lease we signed is an exact copy of the Maine Attorney Generals model landlord-tenant lease ... I was quite surprised that such a provision was not included in this "model" lease. A call to the attorney general's office confirmed that indeed no provision is in the lease and basically it is up to the tenant and landlord to "work something out"....this was the attorney generals' office exact words.

I'm quite amazed at the short-sightedness of the attorney generals office, but I thought I would ask if anybody had faced a similar situation and how it worked out for them. Any ideas would be great. Thanks for the help!

[K-Luv]

I have never been in this situation but; one one hand I can see that since you bought the oil, it should be yours, and I can see why you would want to take it with you considering the $$ that you probably paid for it (and what you will pay next winter)--that stuff is gold! Then again, if you sold your car would you remove the gas before you handed over the keys? How much oil was in the tank when you moved in? I think that it would be fair to leave the same amount. If it was me I would siphon it out into 50 gallon barrels.

[msina]

I agree with K-Luv. When we moved into our rental the tank was so empty we had to have the furnace primed. At the price of oil now, if (when) we find something to buy I will be sure not to leave a lot of oil behind. I will ask our landlord first if he would like to buy it.

[genmomto5]

When we bought our house we paid the old owners a pre-agreed estimate for what oil should have been in there. I think we got a few gallons free doing this but it was in our purchase agreement. Call your landlord and ask what they think would be fair and if they are reasonable about it good. If they aren't reasonable, call the oil company and ask them if they have a provision for this. They may be able to work out a deal by which you get a break on your first tankfull at your new place and the new tenants pay them for the remainder.

[Maineah]

Turn the heat up to 80 and open the windows!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

When a buyer buys a home he pays cash price for the fuel in the tank on the day of closing. I know of one buyer who had two interconnected tanks with each being 7/8 full. That's 481 gallons at $3.50 a gallon or $1,684.

I think K-Luv has the right idea. Leave them 1/8 of a tank and don't spill any or your deposit is gone and then some.

[flycessna]

Sounds a little premature to worry about this before even asking the landlord about it. Turning up the heat to burn the oil seems a little counterproductive

There is state law the governs property tenants leave behind....you bought the oil....so that would be considered property and that law would apply. I am suprised the AG's office didn't tell you that.

I think if you were polite and such the Landlord would be willing to make a deal with you.

[broadbill]

Thanks for all of the replies:

I did consider taking it with me....I just couldn't handle the scale of stuff I would need to do this (50gal barrels and such).

I was surprised that there isn't a provision in the lease as I do know there is one for buying a house, as we are going through the process now.

My guess that it does fall under the abandoned property clause and it's the landlords property to sell if I leave it, unless we figure something out otherwise.

[Acadianlion]

If your new home is going to use fuel oil for heat also, why not ask the new oil company to come and pump the tank at your old rental house and then deliver a new, full tank to the new home.

Oil companies have trucks that have pumps that will suck as well as blow. It will probably cost you a little bit, but it will likely save you the cost of roughly half a tank of oil.

[Maine Writer]

We ask tenants to take moving into consideration when they're putting oil in the tank. We've had a couple of tenants who would have been happy to fill the 500 gallon tank right before leaving if we'd been required to buy the oil. We would make a decision on purchasing the oil based on the individual and circumstances.