@transparent 

With the abolition of S21 long term tenants will hopefully have an incentive to support home improvements, whereas currently they have none.   This isn't something that has been discussed much sofaik, but it seems to me that this monumental change in security of tenure has the potential indirectly to help improve our housing stock.

Our current tenant pays us monthly rent, the purchase of heating oil is their responsibility as is their elecricity usage.

Previous tenant started to pay rent then lost their job during Covid and stopped paying rent, they had to go.

@paultheheating ‘It’s an ill wind that does nobody any good’. On that basis, Covid was a very ill wind indeed. Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @paultheheating

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the purchase of heating oil is their responsibility as is their elecricity usage.

So in that case they do have an incentive for you, as the landlord, to install a system which can reduce their energy bills.

A great many heat-pump installations are sub-optimal and can end up with high electricity bills.
However, you have the advantage that you're communicating with Forum Members here well in advance of the first step (the 'Heating Survey').

You have time to consider how a decrease in electricity bills might be reflected in a contribution from the tenant towards the capital outlay.
Surely there must be a potential solution along those lines?

thanks for your reply, tried to explain that tenants for us appear transitent, currently three tenants in the same number of years, first were police but they were moved by their job second were the lost job crew and now have paying tenants but do not know how long they intend to stay.

as landlord I need a ROI on my investment and at the moment cannot see how this can be achieved as tenant has made it clear that they will move on if rent increases.

OK. Got it.

As a fellow rural West Country resident, this is an issue which I would definitely be talking through with my ward Councillor.

Local Authorities are under pressure from national house-building targets.
But they also realise that their obligation to provide housing is heavily dependent on the private rental sector.

Before they get into the Council Chamber for formal meetings, it's essential that they receive 'briefings' from the members of the public who they represent.
That gives 'clout' to what they say.

Your situation must be fairly typical of landlords in your area, but most only speak to their Councillor when it's election time.
Without you speaking up, the only data on which your Council's strategy gets formed is statistics from the Officer in charge of Housing.
Those stats are unlikely to reflect the situation on the ground for landlords who would like to attain Net Zero (carbon emissions).

Local Authorities have opportunities to apply for funds, which we rarely hear about.
To do so, they will need evidence that the problem exists.

You can email your Ward Councillor(s) with the URL for this Topic, which will of course add to the weight of evidence.

Thank you for those that replied, am disappointed that grants are not available for bivalent systems, as wanted to do the best thing for the environment without making a massive loss of revenue.

I guess that in summing up the received replies the best optimised all components ashp system with the best installer could be used as a stand alone alternative to our oil boiler but I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to select all the best components and run the risk of loosing the tenant if their heating cost is increased at all.

Did also look at HVO conversion for the boiler but the tenant will not pay £ 1.70/litre for 3000 litres of HVO or double their current oil price and as we have 1200 litre tank the price would be even higher. 

@paultheheating I wonder if you are being a bit pessimistic.  A friend of mine moved from an oil boiler to a heat pump.  Oil is so expensive compared to gas, that his bills have gone down significantly.  If you find the right installers, they should be able to advise you well.

I certainly would avoid a hybrid system.  It's the worst of both worlds and probably too complicated for a tenant to operate.

Could you possibly consider installing a hit pump in your own house as a stepping stone to putting one into your rental property?

Thanks for the suggestion, but farmhouse is grade 2 listed, not double glazed, stone walls and not suited to ashp as too big and not insulated.

Tenant property does not have gas.  On balance it is not worth the risk to replace oil boiler with ashp, as you say " if you find the right installer" and they get everything right I could just be down ten grand and no advantage as tenants do not want to pay any more rent, so no pay back for me.

Am sure I am not the only landlord that would like to do the right thing, but we are not a charity and loosing a tenant and getting a new one costs several months lost rental.