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When my son owned his house he had a contract with a oil co. They serviced the furnace & kept the tank full & topped off monthly he got a monthly bill that he paid. & For this he also was never empty. You have the contract for the furnace that I understand so why not the del too! The you pay for the 1st fill up & the tenants pay you for all top offs, basicly what they use monthly? My girlfriend did this for 30 yrs when she rented out mobile homes...when the oil co del they left a copy on the tanants doors as to how much they owed & had used the co sent a copy to my friend...when rent was paid they also paid for thier oil use.
Katie
In a peerfect world, that would be my best situation. However, this tenant is on section 8, and gets the fuel thru the county. So the oil co would deliver like you said, if the tenant put up a deposit of $450 ; she dosnt have that.
I would prefer automatic deliveries also, but she just donst have the money for it.
Seems to me that (a) your lease was poorly written and (b) you rented to a Section 8 participant when you weren't fully aware of what that entails. Better luck next time around!
I've had problems with section 8 in the past. We no longer accept it. Better to have someone who can afford the required utility bills than to end up in your situation. Hope things go better for you!
update ; yes, she learned the hard way. She has since filled up again as her emergency fill was only 50 gallons. Now the tank is 1/2 full so we are ok for a while again. She admitted that she has learned the lesson and will only use the co that we have.
Gyspy ; its hard to get tenants here on long Island ; I tried for about 4 months. Its an older property and while its quite and cosy, everyone wants the up to date things, for cheap rent.
dorothy
IMHO, the only absolute way to control it is to pay it yourself (and up the rent) or structure the lease to ensure that no other company can come and fill it up (i.e., that you'd have to order it on their behalf). People break contracts and agreements all the time, a signed piece of paper may give you legal recourse if they (the renters) renege, but that doesn't always stop people from doing what they want. But yet I also wonder if including the cost of oil in the rent is the best option. If they don't use the temperature controls efficiently, it could wind up putting a huge hole in your pocketbook.
I certainly don't envy any of you with rental properties. Though some are very lucky - to have to worry about so many things would send me to the funny farm in a mighty big hurry.
We rent a single family home in Maryland...for 5 years. In our lease is specifically states how much oil was in the tank and who we had to get it from. During our second winter we had a check that bounced to them. 2 days later they put it through again and it cleared. Ever since then they have treated us like dirt. Very rude on the phone when we order, and they insist on only cash...which of course presents its own problems in that now I have to leave work to meet them...not sticking an envelope of cash on the door! Anyway, this winter with 100 gallon costing almost $400 we said forget it...we are no longer ordering from them - we told the landlord that we've had it with being treated like crap for so long over 1 check which cleared within the week! He said no..that it would violate our lease and besides he gets a discount when he gets the oil delivered to HIS house. Asked him about his contract with them...aren't they supposed to provide service as well? Maintenance? Twice now something went wrong and the entire house filled up with smoke and leaving soot EVERYWHERE. Landlord didn't pay for us to stay somewhere, or even to have the house cleaned. We did everything ourselves...But there's been zero maintenance from him for the house in general as it is...but that's another rant all in itself.
But we've had it, and started ordering from another company. Hoping to relocate to S.Carolina this summer anyway.
Are we completely in the wrong here?
Sounds like you have a bad landlord. We have always dealt with problems as they come up immediately.
dorothy
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