Tenants keep running out of oil!

[Ryan Luby]

Small problem we are having with tenants which I wanted to start a discussion about.

In one of our properties our tenants do not have access to the basement for some safety concerns and so they can't go messing with plumbing or electricity... our problem is.. since they can't see the oil tanks in the basement our tenants are running out of oil, and are not consistently ordering enough oil to not have this problem again.

Each time this happens we have to service the boiler, and remind them to order more oil. I have thought about potentially writing into the lease that they need to be on some sort of subscription with an oil company so they get regular deliveries...

But I'm curious about what other people do with problems like this?

How do you encourage tenants to stay on top of these things?

- Tenant handbooks, addendums to your lease structure etc..

and what other problems have you come across and how have you learned to correct them?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[Colleen F.]

We have a little plug in remote oil tank monitoring gauge in the kitchen.  I don't think it was very expensive, we plug it into an outlet and there is something wired to the tank.  Gives you the gauge reading. Could also put them on auto delivery.