Every multi-unit building on the market in the areas I’m looking at is set up for the landlord to pay heat. This seems like a cash flow killer, especially since I think that the cost of heat will go up in the future.
I read some old posts on this forum, and they seem to indicate that it is often possible to convert a building to make it possible to put the cost of heat on the tenants. Can you tell me more about this?
Hi,
Generally speaking you have choices, so you can choose what fit's your specific situation.
With that said you can choose between electric baseboard heaters, gas fired furnace, or a through the wall electric heat / ac forced air unit being the primary choices.
If you were building brand new you could install radiant heat in the floor either in electric form or in liquid radiant normally installed in pex tubing in a back and forth pattern across a floor.
What ever the choice it could require electric, gas, or water available or of course a combination of utilities.
Most older apartment buildings do not have a electric feed of sufficient size to support load for base board heating and still maintain general use service within the unit. Most apartments will need to be say 100 amp in order to support general use and baseboard heating. (This is an example and needs a licensed electrician to determine feed size and loads.)
For a forced air furnace conversion we have taken over part or all of a central closet, created a plenum above the furnace and gone through walls to direct heat into every room. The only disadvantage to furnace heat is a need for a vent so either a common closet in all floors create a chase or you have to vent through an outside wall and you will need to create combustion air.
Of course keep in mind you need clearances, gas available from some source, still need electric to run the fan and need to place a thermostat.
These new electric forced air units work as a small heat pump, they have a inside box maybe 1’ tall and 3.5’ wide and about 6" inches deep. They install close to the ceiling level, have a catherator tube and condensation tube which go through an exterior wall and the actual heat exchanger unit is mounted to the wall outside which is usually about 3’ wide and 2’ high.
(It has a vertically mounted fan that forces air over the coils just like a full size conventional heat pump or ac condensor.)
But this unit also requires a 220 volt circuit with depending on size around 30 amps.
The worst thing is all these methods cost big money as a combination of things can be required to convert it over, if you buy your building right you may be able to make a conversion and add value.
This will hopefully help you some, it is really rather detailed but if you think you want to do something talk with an HVAC or Electrical contractor about options and cost’s.
Good luck,
GR
I am not 100% sure here but some stated require landlords to put the heat on if the outside temp drops below 65. NY State has that law, and it also goes for Co-Ops. I never invested in NY but with those type of laws, landlords may have to pay for heat in buildings.
Is it all the apartments with LL paid heat? Or just the ones that are for sale?
It would be difficult to get tenants to pay for heat, if every other building was heat provided.
I suspect that it is just the buildings for sale that have LL paid heat. There’s a good reason for that. Cost of heat goes up and up, and tenants waste heat something awful if they aren’t paying for it themselves.