I closed on a duplex in Philly end of September and once it got cold I realized the living room and medium sized bedroom in one of the units were not warming up as much as other areas of the unit. I'm considering cutting rent $50/mo for the remaining 3 months for the tenant in that room. Is this a smart move?

Living room (fl 2) has one supply and one return vent, medium sized bed room (fl 3) has one supply vent that isn't pushing as much hot air as other supply vents. As mentioned, I have one tenant in the medium sized room and I'm in the master bedroom (fl 3) in the same unit currently, which has a supply and a return and heats up just fine.

Measuring the temperatures with central heat on a cold day at 70 degrees on the thermostat it can heat the medium br to 65 and the living room to 68. I bought a space heater for the tenant's room and another for the living room to buy some time. Space heaters + central heat can heat the living room to 70 and the bedroom well above 70. I basically told the tenant that if I could not figure out the heat situation within a reasonable time (he moved in on nov 15th and is on a 6 mo lease) then I would get baseboard heaters for both living room and his bedroom as a workaround. I've been told this is a very expensive workaround solution by some contractors after I had already told my tenant this.

So far I've had several HVAC people out. One company said to do some mastic and foil tape sealing in the ducts in the basement to fix. Did that and didn't change drastically. It has also been recommended by another company that I tear down drywall to assess the issue with my confirmed flex duct system and potentially add extra supply ducts. This seems like a super expensive solution I'm not willing to entertain at this moment. Still planning on addressing the root issue of course but losing $150 instead of potentially paying over a grand to update my service panel and purchase baseboard heaters on top of the increased electric bill does not seem feasible as a short term solution.

Would love some advice!

Thanks,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

0 Votes