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?

If it were me then I would want an gas-fired central heating system put back into the house and everything made good. It is absolutely impossible for you to know the long-term implications of having this system in place - maintenance costs, running costs, impact on the fabric of the house, impact on rental value and house prices. The only way to put things right is to put you back to how it was before.

Umm, if the tenant signed all the paperwork in the section labelled Landlord, is that forgery? Does this add another layer? Particularly involving a government grant?

I would want the heat pump etc all removed, an equivalent to what was removed to be put in and all decoration put right. I would evict the tenant and then bin the agent that is supposedly managing it.

I think the landlord bit was blank and the tenant signed the bit labelled tenant.

Op I would want the old heating system replaced like for like.

Not only do you have increased service costs, toube got a badly installed system, and no idea if it's even suitable for the property.

It will quite possibly be significantly more expensive for your tenants to run too.

In my opinion, a “fair and reasonable” package of compensation means correcting all mistakes made when installing the heat pump, so that you have a fully functioning and certified heating system which allows you to rent or sell the property in future. No way would I be looking at bringing back a boiler, seeing as plans are to phase out gas as much as possible in the future. If you can obtain a correct installation of the heat pump, water tank etc., and seeing as you now also have solar panels, in the long run the tenant will actually have done you a favour!
As for electricity and service costs, I get the impression many posters don't actually have any personal experience. Servicing and running a heat pump definitely does not cost more than servicing and running a gas boiler! Installation is what's hideously expensive, hence the government subsidies.

If it's a draughty, poorly insulated property, it absolutely can have higher running costs than mains gas. The solar pv will mitigate that hopefully, but that's no help if the property is fundamentally unsuitable for an ASHP and never gets warm enough, and they end up needing supplemental heating.

The only opinion on whether the property was suitable for the ASHP seems to have come from the company that have had financial gain from the gov grant, I wouldn't trust their opinion as being reliable at all. And as it sounds like the installation was ballsed up too I'd not trust any of it, personally.

An independent assessment of the installation and also a draft EPC report would be worthwhile if OP is minded to keep the ASHP so she knows exactly what she's got.

Mine does - I paid around £60 a year to have my gas boiler serviced and I pay over £200 a year for the heat pump one.

I looked into it when i needed a new boiler and found the same.

I would totally have stayed on mains gas but we moved and only had storage heaters, and it was a choice between that and oil, so... but I definitely wouldn't have ripped out a perfectly good gas boiler!

it occurs to me to wonder who paid the balance of the cost for the kit and installation? I wasn't aware that you could get 100% grants....also what the deal is with the solars?

What do your CH/gas safety engineer and your solicitor advise?

Please tell me you asked the engineer to inspect the new system and obtained legal advice…

Tell them you want the whole lot removed and your house put back to the condition it was before but better!!

No the tenant didn’t sign as the landlord. It’s very clear on most of the docs that they are the tenant, the landlord bits are completely blank. So my name isn’t on anything and no one has signed as me. The installer has taken full responsibility and hasn’t even hinted that it was the tenant’s responsibility. But the tenant didn’t inform the letting agent or double check about permission

This

No way would I have a heat pump and all the extra charges they bring with them. Atm my gas bill is around £9 per month as it is just for hot water. (That’s including any standing charges).We are payg. and I am aware that payg is supposed to be so much more expensive but given the hash we had with the all electric house we rented and it’s still not sorted 4 years later I am loathe to change to pay monthly.

If I were to go into rented again I would actively avoid a house with a heat pump. I like my heat to be tropical so turning on extra electric appliances to keep warm would mean extortionate bills.

Given the bills I was paying I would rather spend it on getting a better house.

Do you have legal cover with the house insurance?

It’s specialist legal advice that’s needed here not house insurance cover

sorry this had happened @Kimmers4334 this is going to take a lot of time and money to resolve. It all sounds proper dodgy

I realise that it needs to be more specialist but when you take out buildings' insurance there are often add on extras which can include enhanced legal cover. This might just provide funds to cover work with more specialist lawyers. If it's, in effect, a free source of legal help, it may be worth exploring.

Looking to see if I had extra legal cover on my house insurance was the first thing that was suggested to me by one of the renewables regulatory bodies, possibly MCS, when I encountered problems with my heat pump powered system. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken out that extra cover at the time. I've just renewed my policy and now I've added it on.

@MidsummerMoment i agree. Not a pop at you That would have absolutely been my advice on previous threads

i did try it once with an issue I had with a small incident, new back door, and they were rubbish. I’d have got better advice from AI.