Heating system - necessary for rental?

Folks,

I have recently acquired a 3 bedroom Californian bungalow in inner Melbourne which I plan to rent out for the long term.   It's in good overall condition however probably needs some modernisation of kitchen and bathroom.   But what I'm really concerned about is the heating situation.  

The only heating is a gas wall heater in the living room.   At the rent I have in mind ($380-$410), I'm thinking I should probably install gas ducted heating for the house.   Does this seem reasonable or should I not worry about it ?   Price quotes I have seen are between $3000-$5000.

Hi poordeveloper

I can't really answer your post from a landlord's perspective, but I can give you some tenant feedback.  My husband and I (and 2 young children) currently rent a lovely house that is excellent in all respects except cooling and heating.  Cooling is simply a ducted evaporative system, which in the hotter weather simply makes the house stuffy.  There is no permanent heating system in place  and the house is quite cold already and we haven't even reached winter.  The house has absolutely everything else we could want, we are excellent tenants and had intended staying long-term.  However we find the hot and cold living conditions very uncomfortable and as such I will keep an eye on other rental opportunities. 

Look at it from whether you would be comfortable living there without the additional heating.  If not, why would a tenant?  Personally if your budget allows I would install the heating now whilst the place is empty. Hopefully it will pay for itself as tenants will be happy/comfortable living there and less likely to move on due to discomfort.  Hope that helps (although it is only my opinion and I am no expert!).  :-)

Heating isn't the only issue in Melbourne, there are also some lovely 40 deg days as well. It may be worth considering installing 2 or 3 split system reverse cycle air conditioning units or a few window rattlers (lounge/dining and bedroom rooms) - depending upon your layout you may be able to get away with some shared cooling between the rooms or supplement it with some ceiling fans. If you make the main living area and the main bedroom comfortable then you will hear very few complaints (the tenants pay the running costs of the power, ensure that you service the units summer/winter).

You will need to check that you have adequate power as well to handle the additional load.

Put an ad in the paper and see if you can find a tenant with the property as it is. I generally use the internet putting the rate higher than I even expect to get, then I drop it gradually until I find a tenant. The last time I did this I had tenants interested immediately.

Putting ducted gas heating will make the property more attactive for any tenants and you could charge more. You can claim a capital improvement tax deduction for the expense. You will need to do your sums to work out if it worthwhile. Personally I would do a little as possible at first and gradually improve the place over time as money comes available. The reality is there are tenants out there that will rent the place depending on the price.

My first priority would be the bathroom because it can lead to more expensive problems. ( I am fixing some loose tiles in one of properties tomorrow) Also in my experience, tenants will not keep the bathroom clean if it is not in a good state. You may only need to paint the ceiling, door and window frame; fix any loose tiles and I definitely recommend that you give it a really good clean. These are all things you can do yourself at not much expense. If it already has a ceiling fan it is quite cheap to get it changed to a heater tastic although I wouldn't recommend trying it yourself.

Hi poordeveloper

Given that the house is in a premium location, I would be wanting to get the best tenants I could and that would mean adequate heating and cooling.  If I was renting in inner suburbs I would expect that at a minimum.

Reverse cycle splits should to the job though.

Cheers

K

Thanks for the replies people.   Everything else in the house is in very good condition or will be renovated so I think I'll bite the bullet and install heating as I would really like to find some long term tenants and keep them happy.   It already has a wall air conditioner in the living area.

I've had the split cycle a/c heaters in properties I've rented and been pretty unimpressed with them - mainly because they've been fairly noisy and I'd need at least three to heat the house.   I also find them kind of ugly but thats just personal opinion.

Are you talking about split system A/C ? (the type with a wall unit plumbed to a sperate outside unit with all the noisy stuff in it)

The wall unit of a split system should only generate low level fan noise.

Some kind of ducted heating will make the property more rentable (not a big issue with demand the way it is at the moment) and allow you to command more rent.  Personally I think it also helps maintenance by reducing damp and related issues.

At our own place we have evolved pretty much like Scott describes.  Gas ducted heating at first,  A/C to living area and some good ceiling fans.  Seems to work a treat.  Recently went to double glazed windows, awnings on sun side and some more insulation.  THe last bits seemed to improve the efficiency of everything by 20-30%.

Chaser - do you run the evaporative cooler with a few of the windows cracked open.  Those things need airflow and you dont close the house up like you do with A/C,  otherwise you are just pumping the house full of humid air and it gets stuffy as you say.   We did the same thing at first when we lived in Sydney eons ago until a mate coached us on how to use it properly.

Hi All

I'm considering placing an offer on a house in Canberra which is in a good area but has a slow combustion heater and the old small brown electric heaters in the wall.  Would this put prospective tennnts off due to the hassle of dealing with wood and is it a worry for me as a Landlord as it is messier.

I quite like wood heating but I would think we are a minority.

Anny

Split Systems - So Easy - So Cheap

Make it easy/comfortable for your tennants and reap the rewards..!!

Wood Heaters - OOhhh Sooo Romantic until you need to light the fire, go outside and get more wood, keep it going, collect/buy wood... Sounds like BIG Trouble.

I remember when i was young and a tennent we nearly burnt a house down. It was Damn cold and wood heaters take so long to warm up after getting home from work we used to have containers of diesel with a dash of super fuel in the house to spice things up a bit. I bet you can guess what nearly happened...

I have a few IP's and the first few jobs after settlement is new spit systems. They = More Rent $$, Happy Tennents that wan't to stay and best of all they won't resort to there own devices to try and warm your house...

Lets also not forget the great tax benefits..

Yarpos - we do have the windows cracked open.  Luckily we have some great neighbours who we met early on and they filled us in on what to do.  :-)  Unfortunately all our other properties have been PPOR's with reverse cycle air and so we were used to a certain level of 'chill' during the hotter summer days.  Personally I feel that evaporative units just can't compare in the hotter weather.  I only wish this place wasn't a rental - I would convert the ducted evaporative to reverse cycle given half a chance!

A number of years ago my brother-in-law lived in a house with a number of other young guys.and the place had an open fireplace.  They got sick of the repeated need to get wood and re-stoke the fire, so they decided to put a whole sleeper down the chimney.  They climbed up on the roof and dropped it down only to unbeknowingly knock some bricks loose in the wall of the chimney.  They had a lovely warm fire that fed embers into the roof cavity through the holes left by the dislodged bricks.  This caused a fire in the ceiling and the whole house ultimately burnt to the ground!  I wouldn't like to have been the agent making the call to the landlord.  :-)  Extreme case I know, but enough years have passed to make it a funny family story!

Indeed i would not like a wood heater in my rental house.

I have also seen a whole sleeper on the loungeroom floor. Slowly, Slowly getting pushed in as it burns away..

It's Split Systems for my IP's. That's for sure.