Heating Oil

[Adam2359]

I was just wanting to find out how other properties manage their heating oil orders for the properties they manage? I have heard of options where there are companies who can provide a monitor and order for me to save me the hassle, but I am unsure of the best way to manage this with tenants in terms of passing through these costs. Any advice would be great.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Adam2359 it is hard to help when you give no indication of country but typically for short term guests it is expected that all bills are included. For long term tenants then a contract is needed to specify who is responsible for which bills. Oil is usually done on a full-full basis but you would need a security deposit to protect against the tank being left empty.

[Adam2359]

Thank you for your feedback, apologies for not clarifying but my query was in relation to the UK.

My main query was in relation to how people keep track of the usage to prevent oil from running out when a tenant is in the property

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Adam2359 Again, for short term rentals you will have lots of people visiting to mend things and clean/prepare the property. I am sure these could keep an eye on the oil

[Elisa]

Hi @Adam2359 😊, 

thank you so much for asking this question here!

Have you found answer to your question? 

I’m also tagging other hosts from UK to hear their thoughts: @Tara0, @Helen3, @Jane4673, @Malek40, @Tim3904, @Chamitha0 and @Beverley120.

Thank you in advance everyone!

Warm regards 🌻

[Tim3904]

We used to have heating oil  in a large 1200 litre tank. This lasted maybe 4 months with modest usage, so would simply check it every few months and see how it looked. Average usage should over time be relatively predictable - i.e. colder/warmer.  So we had no real issues with regulating this. 

Your initial point seemed to be along the lines of how to charge guests - i think this cant be done without annoying them, you just need to work out average usage over time and buffer it into to nightly cost. - as was said earlier, guests would expect all basic bills to be included, so include them 🙂

[Lorna170]

@Adam2359  We are in the US, and our property is in the woods.  Our oil tank is filled by a local company who has placed a wireless gauge on the tank and they monitor it.  When the tank reaches a certain level, it messages them and they automatically fill it.  We no longer worry that a guest may run out of heating oil.