Boiler Grants & Tenants

Special Feature - Boiler & Insulation Grants & Private Tenants

Not a match made in heaven unfortunately.

After 5 years of dealing with private tenants to upgrade their boilers and insulation, I have had to adopt certain measures in order to get the job done.

My Dilemma

Getting a grant whether for boiler or insulation through to completion and installed in a rented property has always been extremely challenging to say the least.

You would think that there would be a lot of enthusiasm from both tenant and landlord, not to mention gratefulness.

However, my findings have been that the landlord usually wanted it all done for him / her and would not lift a finger unless he had to!

Tenant apathy was also a big problem with little interest in helping the landlord improve his property.

Failed applications

When I first started out, I had loads of failed jobs much to my frustration!

As a very conscientious type of person, I had many a sleepless night too!

These failed jobs were usually down to:

· Unable to contact tenant.

· Incomplete paperwork.

· No access to property for surveys or install.

· Tenant refusal.

I could never understand why the tenant would be so unenthusiastic towards a measure that would benefit them financially (smaller heating bills) and make their home more cosy.

The Penny Drops finally

After much deliberation and research which involved speaking to many tenants I finally put my finger on the reasons why.

These include:

· A lot of tenants I have come across do loathe their landlord and do not wish to help them in any way.

· Failure to do repairs to the property, high rents, lack of interest in property maintenance have all taken their toll on the tenant / landlord relationship unfortunately.

· Lots of tenants move on after 6 months (after running up lots of arrears!) so do not want to do something that will only benefit their landlord or new incoming tenant.

Why should they care!

I do find that the majority of my clients are short term tenants.

I wonder why!

No Tenant Incentive.

Many landlords have happily accepted their free / discounted boiler without making small provision for the tenant whose benefits have made this £2000 gift to them possible.

A small gift voucher or discount off the rent would have done wonders for the goodwill of the relationship.

The Answer

I do like to react to problems quickly and put a fix in place.

I do have this nailed now and very rarely get a problem with rented property's.

(What a clever boy am!)

When I get an enquiry from a tenant, I always insist that the landlord calls me as I explain that we are only allowed to deal with the property owner.

No landlord call = deleted enquiry.

If the landlord calls I again explain that our installers will only deal with the property อาคารพาณิชย์มือสอง ราคาถูก owner and that he will have to be at the property for survey and installs.

Any resistance = deleted enquiry.

I will only supply landlord numbers to my installers so that the landlord HAS to be involved if he wants the boiler or insulation measure.

My Findings- Has it worked?

This has worked out really well as I have found that landlords:

Will not want to miss out on a £2000 boiler

Will not be so quick to cancel if asked for a contribution if they have had to put themselves out and attend the property for surveys.

They will have to get up early to catch me out!

Summary

If you are working as an energy surveyor / lead generator and want to ensure all your grant applications get installed AND you get paid... Only deal with the landlord.

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