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?

This is really shocking, you definitely need to get a proper response from both the Letting Agent and the installers/suppliers. You definitely need to know the equipment is safe, who to raise any issues with. If it's been done via a grant there will definitely be paperwork sent to the grant organisation.

Agreed. This is awful.

Do you have access to legal help via your property insurers or your landlord insurance (if you have that)? I've never rented out a house so I don't know what's normal for landlords to do. I would get a lawyer involved, especially if you are dealing with fraud. A stiff legal letter to the installer, the agent and the tenant giving them a clear deadline for providing the information you need and making it obvious that all of them are being contacted, could save you a lot of time in the long run.

The grant making body, presumably Ofgem, will have a record of who signed what documents. Can you speak with them? When I've called them in the past, they've been really helpful.

MCS have to be involved in order for a firm to access grants. They need to know if one of the heat pump companies certified by them may be breaking rules. You will potentially be protecting other consumers as well.

You can't just let all of this go without being 100% sure that the work is properly under warranty, is safe, and has all the certification needed. Without it, you might find problems in selling the property in future. You also need to be sure that the building is insured in the state it's in at present and that you are protected as a landlord incase anything goes wrong and you could be held liable.

I know lots of people have said let it slide now that it’s done, but one of my main concerns now that I’m fairly sure the blame lies with one or more companies, is the actual safety and standard of the equipment

as a landlord I’m sure you are aware that government oversight and regulation are getting increasingly stringent, particularly where safety is concerned. I know about gas safety certification, but what about heat pumps? what if, at some point, you are required to obtain certification for this equipment? By which time the useless letting agent, the tenant, the commissioned company and the sub-contractor will have vanished.

I would suggest you talk to your gas safety engineer and get him to inspect the work and, unless he is able to certify it, I would seek competent legal advice.

OP, I'm sorry for you having to go through this! I have had something similar happen to a house that I was selling, but was empty. (obviously not an inside job, but work done to the outside of MY HOUSE by the people who were hoping to buy MY HOUSE - and we hadn't even exchanged contracts yet, let alone completed!)

My advice (IANAL): this is possibly criminal damage by both your tenant and whoever did the work, theft of a heating system, breach of contracts with both letting agent and tenant, invalidation of your current insurance (if someone is injured due to this work, you would not be covered by public liability), possibly fraud if your tenant signed your name to anything, and a perfectly legal reason to get rid of your tenant.

Make sure every communication, however small, is in writing, and screenshot every text or otherwise online communication you send and receive. With dates.

I don't know if there is a window for these things, but most agreements for work to proceed (I know you didn't agree to this) have a 14 day cooling off period. You might even be able to use that. Write to all the parties concerned to say that you will be initiating legal action. Today.

A Letter Before Action from a solicitor would probably give them all a kick up the backsides. That would be my second action. Monday.

Good luck!

I had a friend who this happened to. She was selling her late Mum's house.

Yikes, I'd never heard of anything like it, in 30 years of buying and selling houses! And neither had the estate agent or my solicitor's firm. It got to the point that I told my solicitor that if they didn't buy the house, I'd be pursuing them for criminal damage.

Interesting that I'm not the only one! What happened in your friend's case? Did she manage to sell? (I did sell, thank goodness).

Not even then. They can only get evict in order to sell and would have to show that they had made serious attempts to sell. And then only re-let after one year. The RRA has made eviction near impossible and very expensive.

OP, forgot to add: if by some miracle you do get rid of your tenant, you will still need all the official paperwork on this fiasco if you want to sell on. And, if you can't prove that your property has a properly-installed, correctly-functioning heating system, this may limit the number of potential buyers because they may not be able to get a mortgage. Never mind the lack of building regulation paperwork!

Until I see this I can’t prove where the blame lies - but if everyone refuses to send it (or there is none) then moving forward will be difficult

This is why you may need professional legal advice and letter writing.

A PP suggest trying landlord insurance but you may have to stump up and get proper legal advice so it is taken serioulsy and you do get any documenation there is.

What I wouldn't to is just accept it - you need to know what has been put in what liablities that causes you. As this shouldn't have happened I expect everyone will drag feet and be vauge - and you may need someone official a solicitor with property knowledge to push past that.

IANAL but I am a landlord and at this point I would be getting legal advice.

they were lucky and the buyers did actually buy and buy for the asking price. They asked for a key to go and do some measuring, Agent asked my friend who said yes but agent didn't keep an eye on what was happening. They started ripping off wallpaper and taking up floorboards. My friend was in the middle of selling and buying for themselves and didn't live where their mum had lived. A lesson for us all!

You said it is a period house, did they get planning permission or at least check it wasn’t required? I live on the edge of a National Landscape area and had to confirm that I had contacted the planning department to confirm permission was not required. Is it the same for older houses. Is the house sufficiently insulated to benefit from an ASHP. Honestly @Kimmers4334 you need legal advice from a property lawyer.
My other concern that in order to meet the requirements of the Warranty we needed to have a maintenance agreement in place- have you done this or is the tenant paying, suspect not.

That’s pretty awful. Your agent needs to get their act together. I think advice to get a proper legal opinion is well founded. This sounds incredibly messy and like everyone is going to try and pass the buck. Ultimately you need a way to pin it on the people with the resources to set things right.

How horrendous for your friend!

For me, it was extra complicated because they had actually installed fibre broadband services on the exterior of the house, and created an account in their names, which meant that not only could I not close the account, I wouldn't be able to sell the house to anyone else either! The service provider wouldn't even speak to me about it until I threatened legal action. And I was the owner of the house! I told them it was criminal damage, and I would sue them as well as the prospective buyers.

So I kept that in reserve and when the buyers wanted to have a survey done, I made the estate agent stay there for three hours, glued to the surveyor, and said that if they let anyone else into the house ever again, I would sue them also.

I was livid! Luckily they bought the house, but I live in dread of it happening again.

wow! yes its scarey what can go wrong! as the OP has learned!

OP, I really hope you can get this sorted!

At least now I know I'm not the only one! 😬

I agree with looking into whether you have legal insurance, this is potentially an expensive dispute to rectify.

There are forums like HeatGeeks on facebook, reddit etc that can give background information on heat pumps, installation, servicing, expected lifetime etc.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already, but once a heat pump has been installed, it's not legal to switch to a less environmentally-friendly heating system, so for instance you can't revert to gas or oil . The original heat pump installation is heavily subsidised (currently by £7500/ £9000?) , but you'll be responsible for the replacement.

Forums online have some nightmare stories about companies installing the heat pump then going out of business, and nobody wanting to service it because it hasn't been installed correctly /the rest of the system (radiators etc) aren't suitable. Also if installed in the wrong location neighbours may have a valid noise complaint.

You cannot let this go.

You could consult a lawyer, but you could try first to find out who the funding agency is - a name and a physical address.

Then write a letter to them setting out the circumstances in which this work happened. Send a copy to the letting agency, the tenant, and the contractors. Tell them this was installed without your knowledge or consent and ask how the project was funded. If there's an irregularity I think some bureaucrat who might be held responsible would be likely to pursue it.

Thanks everybody for your advice.
I have also emailed Ofgem asking to see the grant paperwork, but I think that might be fruitless. It says on their website that for a SAR you need two forms of evidence that you live in the house and the paperwork isn’t available until 3 months after it’s been submitted…!

The grant company is owned by a well known energy company so I’m hoping they would be interested in this mess (although they could just say it’s a different company and so not their problem)

I am still waiting for basically any facts about the situation before I can even get legal advice so I hope Monday will bring some information

I would tell them and the agents that your annoyed they installed it without your permission and put in writing that there shouldn’t be any more installations without consent. Don’t pay for it either should stop them doing anything else. It’s an upgrade for sure but why would you do this in some body else’s house has it been professionally installed with a warranty or a cobble from a mate they are trying to make money from, Ask the agent to clarify this. if they do anything else I would ask them to leave due to breach of contract.

No paperwork yet but I have seen photos. It’s a heat pump, small radiators and solar panels. I know this word is used a lot on here but I’m genuinely livid.

In answer to a PP, it’s not a period house as in listed and of historical interest, it’s just pre-WW2. So quite old, and designed to be heated with fires in every room, and probably not to have heavy things secured to the roof.

I just want to shout at someone right now 😂

Oh no, thats not good. Time to get some legal advice pronto I would say. Could you start by reposting this in legal perhaps?

Honestly, at this point I would be writing to the CEO of the energy company, including all the details and photos you have and asking whether you should be sharing this with the media. This is so egregious that it's going to take somebody with real clout to deal with it. Don't assume it will be ignored - I once got the CEO of Home Depot (B&Q equivalent here) to sort out a problem I was having with a store about a large refund they should have given me and were refusing for a very minor technical reason.

Write a proper mailed letter not just an email, but send copies of it to the letting agent. You might also consider copying in your MP. This is a very serious issue.

When might you be livid enough to send in the guy who did your gas safety certification - or your usual CH engineer - to check out the installation, so you would actually know what you’re dealing with?