Tenant requesting hvac replacement

[Mano G.]

Hello,

This is my first time on biggerpockets. We own an investment property and rented it since two years. Our property manager moved on to another job and now we are trying to take over property management ourselves starting this month.

The tenants currently living at the property complained about the hvac not working in August and our property manager had a hvac cmp come in and replace a few parts and thermostat. However the tenants complained that it's not cooling enough on the 2nd floor. This is a townhome with 2 floors and fully finished basement. The 2nd floor has fans in every room. The ac and furnace are both 16 years old. We had a hvac maintenance done in Sep and also called in our home warranty to look at the hvac. Both again replaced several other parts like capacitor, cleaned blowers etc. and mentioned the system is working fine. The maintenance company however did suggest replacing the unit in the next couple years. 

Now its in 50's at night here and the tenants are complaining that hvac is not heating the second floor and basement enough. We called the hvac cmp again and they will probably come out on monday to look at it. They will probably  just suggest replacing parts again or  replacing the whole unit. We already spent almost 2 grand trying to fix the system and the tenant doesn't seem to be happy about it. The system is working but i think it needs to run longer and is probably not very effective as a new unit. Should we have the unit replaced? Since this is our first time we are not sure how to handle such requests. Appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you!

[Glenn Treadwell]

Hello  Mano,

      I would think even with temperature in 50's that the second floor would be warmer than 1st floor, did HVAC crew check to make sure the duct work to 2nd floor vents still connected?  Should be blowing from all vents nearly equally. Sometimes a house will have a damper on duct work to limit air flow to section that may not need as much heating and cooling,  that would need to be check also in this situation to insure it has not closed more somehow. If ductwork is fine and unit keeps giving problems, and since it is aged I would probably replace it.