I have a rental house I have rehabbed and I am putting in a new gas fireplace to replace the old one that no longer works. The house in nicer than most in the area so I am able to charge higher rent and have a responsible tenant in there now who is paying for other upgrades for me (e.g. programmable thermostat). My question is on this fireplace should I go with switch ignition or put in a remote that the tenant can just light the fireplace from whereever? My concern is on a rental the remote will get lost once a year at least and I will have to spend $100 each time at least (probably $200) to replace it. I have a gas fireplace in my house I turn on with a switch and it is fine. But I do want to sell this house ASAP or keep raising my rent to get max rent. I am thinking the remote could be nice touch but I just don’t want to replace it every year. What do you think i should put in, a switch on the wall to turn on the fireplace or a remote to make the house more attractive?
For now, while using the home as a rental, you could go ahead and put in a wall switch, which wouldn’t cost that much. If you decide to sell the home, just upgrade it to a remote. My 2.
Agreed. Most tenants would like to have a switch. You can always offer the option of a remote if they’re willing to pay more each month ($10-15 extra?). I’m betting that most won’t, but it’s nice being offered the upgrade.
Hard wired, definitely…its a rental.
if they lost the remote, couldn’t that $$ be taken out of the deposit?
Seems like it should be. The question is whether he’d be able to easily buy a new one. Years from now, that could get to be a headache unless it’s a popular brand and model that won’t get discontinued.