Oil heat

[Jeff Aponik]

Hi gang,
We purchased our first property with oil heat and it's not a good candidate for a conversion. I am looking for some advice on how other landlords handle oil heat with their tenants. This is a single family home, so the tenant will be responsible for paying for heat.

Here are the options that we are considering:
1. We obtain the oil delivery service and put the tenants on a monthly budget bill plan. This puts the responsibility on us to collect from the tenant each month.
2. We require the tenants to obtain their own oil delivery service and run the risk that they allow the tank to run empty.

On a related note, the tank was empty when we purchased the house and we had to put oil in it to confirm that the boiler was operational. Should we make the tenants responsible for some of the cost since they will benefit from the oil that is in the tank at move-in?

I appreciate any feedback from the other landlords out there.

Thank you!

Jeff