Tenant got a heat pump installed without consent

[Kimmers4334]

I am in two minds about this because it’s an upgrade to the property, but it’s a pretty significant and permanent thing that I’m now responsible for.

So as not to dripfeed, the tenant asked if they could have an appointment to see if the property would qualify for any upgrades. I agreed but was very clear that I’d want to see plans/recommendations before I agreed to having anything installed. I heard nothing further and then the letting agent sent me a certificate for work I know nothing about. There is a good chance I would’ve agreed to the heat pump, but that would depend on me having all the information. On principle I am pretty annoyed that the tenant, letting agent and installation company didn’t actually seek permission to go ahead at any point.
What would you do in this situation, complain to someone (letting agent? Installation company?), see it as breach of contract by the tenant, or just let it go as it does benefit the property?

I’ve not read all the responses but what has happened to the existing boiler?!

Because they will not have a maritime climate like the UK, where temperatures can swing 10 or 12 degrees from one day to the next. Heat pumps rely on using a very slow and steady heat throughout the winter, and then conserving it. They are not suitable for much of the housing stock within the UK.

Even if this were not true, It is the OP's house. You simply do not undertake major works to somebody else's property without their written permission and involvement throughout the process. That way lies madness.

OP, you need to take advice on this fast.

As someone who has had to find my way through a heat pump problem, this is what I'd do (I'm not an expert so don't treat this as fact!)

Find out the name and address of the company who installed the ASHP.

If possible find out if they did all work in-house or did they subcontract out eg. to an electrician, plumber or gas engineer - were they all legit, qualified and insured?

Get hold of the contract for the work.

Identify what work they actually did eg. an energy audit and production of figures to show that a heat pump was a viable solution - you should have seen this, extra insulation, installation of internal heating systems, adaption or replacement of the water tank, removal of an old gas heating/boiler system, installation of control systems or whatever.

Take photos of everything that's been changed. Keep any photos you have of these parts of the property before the work was done.

As far as I know, the government grants are managed by Ofgem.

To be eligible to supply heat pumps through the government grant scheme the installation company has to be registered with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) to make sure they are being managed properly and are technically competent.

But also to be registered with MCS, the installer has to be a member of a Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) approved consumer protection code. I think there are only two of these codes covering heat pumps: HIES (Home Insulation and Energy Systems) or RECC (Renewable Energy Consumer Code). My gut feeling is that not getting the owner's explicit permission to do the work would be breaking a lot of rules.

All of these organisations have long lists of things that the installer must stick to to retain registration/membership status. They must also adhere to a load of legislation and have enough insurance in place. If they don't follow the rules they can ultimately be blocked from offering government grants in the future and there may be other sanctions if they are breaking the law.

I suggest you call MCS - https://mcscertified.com/ - explain the situation and ask for their guidance as to how to move forwards. They should have a record of whether HIES or RECC are the relevant consumer code for your installer. It's a minefield but I found MCS useful as a starting point for signposting to other organisations.

The heat pump (and possibly other components) will almost certainly need an annual service. It may have implications for your landlord electrical safety checks. If a gas boiler has been disconnected, I would suspect you might also need to get the gas safety check redone. If existing gas appliances have been disconnected but the meter is still in place, there will still be a liability for the standing charge.

If, after all, the heat pump has been properly installed and you decide to keep it, you may still need full records of the work for future buyers as well as for your own insurance.

Tell your insurers what has happened. Do you have legal cover as a landlord? This might be time to make use of it.

Is it possible there's a connection between the agents and the heat pump installers? e.g. they're related or the agent gets a kick back?

I looked into getting a heat pump for my UK 30 YO house. Its brick built, cavity wall insulated, double glazed, all the good stuff. Outcome was that the repayment time would be more years than I likely have on earth and yeah the saving would be even less if I wanted to be able to control the heat like you can with a gas boiler.

The vast majority of new builds now have heat pumps. Those houses are much better insulated and designed to work with a heat pump which is different to OPs but it simply isn’t true to suggest they aren’t suited to a British climate. Most new housing stock in the last 5 years or so (atleast) would have been built with a heat pump.

You’ll need to work out what happens when they leave. Will they take it with them?

Are you able to arrange an urgent visit? Because you really need to see for yourself asap what has actually been done. As lots of pps have already said, you usually need to upgrade insulation and get larger radiators for a heat pump to have a chance of being effective. They’re also enormous so you need to see exactly where it’s been installed and check how suitable the location is. I would have thought there’d be some remedial works needed too internally. What have they done with the old boiler too?
This all seems very bizarre.

Ive been a landlord and I'd say this lies firmly with the letting agent. They are the ones who act as a liaison and should have had you sign off on the work. Otherwise what are you paying them for?

Id be fuming at the agent. Let it go this time (since it benefits you in the long term) but make it very clear if it happens again you'll find a new agent.

but does it benefit the OP?

I like mine, but I live in an area with no mains gas. I wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

This is down to the agent surely?!

Putting aside the eco benefits, It might only benefit the owner in certain other circumstances.

Did the money sums add up in theory? Would it actually work out cheaper overall to run the system that's been installed than whatever was there before (including the costs of annual servicing)?

Was the property actually suitable for a heat pump and is it sufficiently well insulated for cold weather? If it's in a bit of the UK that gets really cold winters, how will the heat pump that's been installed function if winters get colder?

How noisy is the make of heat pump when it's running flat out? Some are apparently noisier than others.

Has the work been done properly by reputable builders who look like staying in business for a long time in case anything goes wrong? Despite the demand, I've recently heard of two renewables companies going under.

Are all the certificates, warranties and other paperwork in place and signed off properly?

Is the whole system one that the owner would have chosen had they had a choice - maybe they would have wanted to look at cooling as well as heating for example, or running a system alongside solar panels and batteries in the future - will the current layout allow for that? Would they have preferred to increase the insulation and replace windows and doors with thermally efficient ones rather than install a load more technology?

Was a structural survey needed before any of the building work was started - if a new water cylinder was installed was the supporting floor able to bear the load?

Did the installers assume that the existing cylinder and radiators (or whatever) would cope without needing to be replaced? Will they actually need to be replaced for the system to work most efficiently? Was that funded by the grant? If not, who pays? If they've replaced radiators, have these been sited where the owner would have chosen?

And so on.

If you let it go then you don’t have led to stand on next time

I have no idea what you mean by that.

These are not good tenants

I wouldn’t want a heat pump in my own place, quite a few people wouldn’t

I haven’t seen anything that would persuade me to want a heat pump so someone putting one in isn’t mine or a lot of people’s idea of an upgrade.

Did live in a rented place for a short time that had a heat pump. Never ever again. I can’t afford it. I needed electric fan heaters and oil filled electric heaters and I was so cold. I hated having to wear my coat indoors all the time and get huge bills each month

Because if you let this go then if you say no to the next thing or you have to keep their deposit because something has gone wrong with the fitting and they take it to court.

The blame will be shifted on to you and you will have to put things right at your own expense

I did rent a place out once and let something go thinking it was annoying but not a big deal and when I kept the deposit because they had fitted something that had caused damage to a floor.

They took me to court over the refund of the deposit and the judge agreed with them that as I hadn’t said no as it was something they told me about after it was done (fitted an extra kitchen unit to house the washing machine that had been relocated and a tumble dryer put where the machine had been) I had let it go.

The washing machine had leaked and a joist needed replacing. The tumble dryer was one that needed the back tube bit to hang out of a window vent so that caused problems and they took the kitchen unit that had been fitted with them leaving damage to the neighbouring end panel and floor.

The blame was put on me and the judge said because I accepted the new kitchen layout by not saying no I was also responsible for the things that went wrong

I should have made them return everything and make good at the time.

Footing the bill for everything was no joke

Now I say this sincerely. Don’t let anything go because you will end up worse off in the long run.

I have a heatpump and am generally a fan.

however it not just an install and plug in job. It needs proper heat loss calculations and probably replacement of most radiators to work properly and save you money. The government grant has given rise to all kinds of cowboy installers that don’t know what they are doing. Sadly it may well be that this heatpump will cost you more money to run, though you should get your own expert in to survey, it might be fixable, especially if you’re open to solar

presumably he ripped out a perfectly good boiler? Not a good move from the tenant at all and surely against his contract.

'I have a heatpump and am generally a fan'

Yes we have one too, I like it.

Still intrigued how a tenant got a government grant and why they'd pay the surplus which is thousands.

So, is there now an unsightly gap on the wall/empty cupboard where the boiler was?

indeed we got a grant but still paid thousands. That included radiator and pipework and insulation upgrades which it looks like didnt happen here. Possible that it was not needed in this case but seems very unlikely.

Sorry, I was answering @BeenzManeenz who said that the OP had benefitted. I totally agree with you and I wouldn't let it go either.

But hate has quite literally nothing to do with clear breach of contract? It's business, not a friendship. Laws are in place to protect both parties, and legally things of this magnitude have to be agreed on. You know, agreed on with the person who owns and is legally liable for the house and any subsequent safety/planning/maintenace issues...

Up until recently I worked for an energy charity and we did lots of ECO4 applications and encountered plenty of installations with issues.

Apologies if this has all been covered by PPs. It is correct that the landlord could get the grant to install a ASHP and in my case it was always done directly with the LL as it's quite a process. OP beyond the ASHP what else has been done? Insulation, bigger radiators, solar etc? Is it a property with cavity walls or solid? I'd be surprised if you are not also responsible for the systems upkeep regardless of who had it fitted.

We encountered endless issues with ASHP and solar grant funded installs. The companies doing the install wanted to be in and out and on to the next one while the grant money was still about. So we found it installed in unsuitable properties, with no back up and no service plans. On a recent Radio 4 programme a self-funder called in to explain it had taken him two years of tinker with the settings to get the best from his system. Grant installations won't even get a single follow up, maybe a 200 page technical manual if they're lucky.

One client's electric bill went through the roof despite an ASHP and solar because within an ASHP is a back-up immersion system for when the pump can't generate enough heat. Thanks to not being set up properly the pump couldn't cope and the house was being heated by the immersion alone. We've had electric being generated by the solar panels that was going into the grid without any benefit to the client. Another client had had the whole lot installed despite the house being unsuitable. The roof was visibly sagging under the weight of the solar panels and the pump design had a known issue and failed at the first sign of cold weather at £400 a time. And the pump had been placed to make the install easier and some engineers refused to attempt access to repair.

For a lot of people afforded a grant and the system working well there are still potential issues. Getting a gas boiler serviced is like getting a Ford Focus serviced. An ASHP is much more complicated, like getting a fancy sports car serviced, so there are fewer engineers and they are much more expensive.

When Guy Martin did a recent Channel 4 programme on the zero energy cost home he featured a typical 30s semi being made energy neutral. It cost over £100K and they took the house back to four walls to achieve it. You don't have to go to those lengths to make an ASHP worthwhile but it still requires considerable work and ongoing input to make them really worthwhile. A quick fix they ain't.

Whatever the OP decides to do I fear this won't pan out well.

I'd agree, it's only vaguely 'a bit' cheaper than a gas boiler at current pricing levels, and seems insane to chuck a perfectly working boiler.

If you add a house battery to the system and get one of the EV or similar tariffs that give you a really cheap night rate electricity, it can work out a lot cheaper and pay for itself much sooner though;

Idea is that the battery is large enough that you're almost always running off cheap night rate electricity and only pay 1/4 of the normal rate. It's even more of an upfront cost though.

Two more downsides for the OP to worry about:

• Heatpump servicing is needed yearly, is far more expensive than boiler servicing as hardly people in the business yet.
• If the install wasn't planned, specced and done well, bills could be higher for all future tenants.
• Where have they placed the heatpump itself, and the big water tank required? Is half your patio gone?