Questions Thread

[Raj]

22 hours ago, Royston. said:

Thanks guys, moving on 10th Jan and my bill is on the 6th so I'm sure even octopus can't screw me over a few days.

 

Can't even find a reading on my meter and I'd rather leave it since I've already let them know the moving date.

What do you mean by this?

 

 

[Royston.]

i mean i cant find an actual reading like i could on my old meter.

 

just a list of options showing me various data but not an actual reading

 

 

[FoyleFox]

Has anyone installed a ASHP cost effectively under the Gov grant?

Our gas boiler maybe nearing the end of its life, we filled in the Octopus survey for a ASHP and they came back with a quote of about £7k, on top of the grant. Not a realistic option if I can replace the boiler for £2k. Although, it was a very vague survey, it didn't incorporate that we already have a water cylinder etc.

Curious if anyone has installed a ASHP without a £15k cost.

 

[Zear0]

9 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

Has anyone installed a ASHP cost effectively under the Gov grant?

Our gas boiler maybe nearing the end of its life, we filled in the Octopus survey for a ASHP and they came back with a quote of about £7k, on top of the grant. Not a realistic option if I can replace the boiler for £2k. Although, it was a very vague survey, it didn't incorporate that we already have a water cylinder etc.

Curious if anyone has installed a ASHP without a £15k cost.

 

@Dahnsouff

[Dahnsouff]

10 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

Has anyone installed a ASHP cost effectively under the Gov grant?

Our gas boiler maybe nearing the end of its life, we filled in the Octopus survey for a ASHP and they came back with a quote of about £7k, on top of the grant. Not a realistic option if I can replace the boiler for £2k. Although, it was a very vague survey, it didn't incorporate that we already have a water cylinder etc.

Curious if anyone has installed a ASHP without a £15k cost.

 

Yeah, we had it done a couple of years ago, not through Octopus (who I like a lot by the way) but through CB heating and got the BUS Scheme discount of about £5.5k.

We are very happy with it after initial installer failures, nothing to do with the tech.

Our personal contribution was about ~9k (so totally about ~14k) but we wanted to do it for environmental reasons as well as our boiler packing in.

The other point to consider is quite how much money you may save, as I know we have saved far more than I thought we would.

 

 

[FoyleFox]

5 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Yeah, we had it done a couple of years ago, not through Octopus (who I like a lot by the way) but through CB heating and got the BUS Scheme discount of about £5.5k.

We are very happy with it after initial installer failures, nothing to do with the tech.

Our personal contribution was about ~9k (so totally about ~14k) but we wanted to do it for environmental reasons as well as our boiler packing in.

The other point to consider is quite how much money you may save, as I know we have saved far more than I thought we would.

 

 

Thanks, yes, I read through your diary thread.

If the outlay was only a little above the cost of a gas boiler, I'd be more interested. But, having recently invested many ££ in solar panels and a EV I feel I've made an environmentally friendly contribution and, at this point, need to be short term personal finance friendly. My gas bill is £800 approx, so, I don't think we are heavy users. Recouping the cost would take a good few years.

I have filled in a form for a couple of local companies to could come and do a survey at the house.

I just wondered if anyone other than you had committed to a ASHP.

[Dahnsouff]

3 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

Thanks, yes, I read through your diary thread.

If the outlay was only a little above the cost of a gas boiler, I'd be more interested. But, having recently invested many ££ in solar panels and a EV I feel I've made an environmentally friendly contribution and, at this point, need to be short term personal finance friendly. My gas bill is £800 approx, so, I don't think we are heavy users. Recouping the cost would take a good few years.

I have filled in a form for a couple of local companies to could come and do a survey at the house.

I just wondered if anyone other than you had committed to a ASHP.

Certainly sounds like you are doing your bit.  Did you get your EV through Octopus if you don’t mind me asking?

[FoyleFox]

1 hour ago, Dahnsouff said:

Certainly sounds like you are doing your bit.  Did you get your EV through Octopus if you don’t mind me asking?

No, the EV was just an independent purchase and came with a charger, so we didn't get that through them either - not sure if we're on their 'best' customer list, especially as nearly all of our electric consumption is now on the 7p rate

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

Bizarre question here.

You've just got out the shower or bath and there are no towels. As an alternative, you decide to dry yourself using toilet paper!

How many rolls do you think it would take?

I don't know the answer and perhaps this is a question more suited to the Dull men's forum?

Just wondered, that's all.

[Dr The Singh]

On 30/12/2024 at 20:16, Free Falling Foxes said:

Bizarre question here.

You've just got out the shower or bath and there are no towels. As an alternative, you decide to dry yourself using toilet paper!

How many rolls do you think it would take?

I don't know the answer and perhaps this is a question more suited to the Dull men's forum?

Just wondered, that's all.

@Daggers he know the chav ways to dry yourself without anything

[StanSP]

On 30/12/2024 at 18:16, Free Falling Foxes said:

Bizarre question here.

You've just got out the shower or bath and there are no towels. As an alternative, you decide to dry yourself using toilet paper!

How many rolls do you think it would take?

I don't know the answer and perhaps this is a question more suited to the Dull men's forum?

Just wondered, that's all.

Quick dry with less than one roll to give you enough dryness to go get a towel... 

[Tommy G]

On 28/12/2024 at 16:23, Dahnsouff said:

Yeah, we had it done a couple of years ago, not through Octopus (who I like a lot by the way) but through CB heating and got the BUS Scheme discount of about £5.5k.

We are very happy with it after initial installer failures, nothing to do with the tech.

Our personal contribution was about ~9k (so totally about ~14k) but we wanted to do it for environmental reasons as well as our boiler packing in.

The other point to consider is quite how much money you may save, as I know we have saved far more than I thought we would.

 

 

Have you worked out the payback timeframe?

[Dahnsouff]

58 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Have you worked out the payback timeframe?

No, it was not a primary consideration when we did it, but pretty sure it would be decades despite an initial significant saving when energy prices got quite so high.

It is disappointing that the fact we no longer have gas has been rendered irrelevant due to the electricity unit price still being tied historically tied to the price of gas.

Edited 7 January by Dahnsouff

[Daggers]

3 hours ago, Dr The Singh said:

@Daggers he know the chav ways to dry yourself without anything

Roll on the wife's side of the bed. Job done.

[The Blur]

Coming into Leicester town centre for first time in years for a meal on High Street.   Any parking recommendations- I will be coming with two young kids.  

[Zear0]

13 minutes ago, The Blur said:

Coming into Leicester town centre for first time in years for a meal on High Street.   Any parking recommendations- I will be coming with two young kids.  

Rooftop Car Park you enter from High Cross Street is my go to.  Bang middle of town and actually feels safe at most hours.  Go down to the EV floor and it's dead empty too.

[The Blur]

42 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Rooftop Car Park you enter from High Cross Street is my go to.  Bang middle of town and actually feels safe at most hours.  Go down to the EV floor and it's dead empty too.

 

Yes, I was looking at that or New Street but was leaning towards the former.  Thankyou  😀 

[FoyleFox]

8 hours ago, The Blur said:

Coming into Leicester town centre for first time in years for a meal on High Street.   Any parking recommendations- I will be coming with two young kids.  

Absolutely not the holiday inn. My recent 4 hour experience cost nearly £15

[FoyleFox]

On 07/01/2025 at 14:41, Tommy G said:

Have you worked out the payback timeframe?

I did a calculation for the ASHP I mentioned, it was about 12 years. So, the new standard combi boiler was installed yesterday. Which probably doesn't have much payback either, although I'm hoping having a 96% efficient boiler will save something compared to the 70% one that's been removed.

 

If anyone does need a new boiler, I can recommend these people (and get you a code for £250 off).

https://heatable.co.uk/

[Otis]

4 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

I did a calculation for the ASHP I mentioned, it was about 12 years. So, the new standard combi boiler was installed yesterday. Which probably doesn't have much payback either, although I'm hoping having a 96% efficient boiler will save something compared to the 70% one that's been removed.

 

If anyone does need a new boiler, I can recommend these people (and get you a code for £250 off).

https://heatable.co.uk/

So now you have a ASHP & a combi boiler?

Why would you do that?

[FoyleFox]

Just now, Otis said:

So now you have a ASHP & a combi boiler?

Why would you do that?

No, that would be really expensive   I asked a question about ASHP a few weeks ago, there was a discussion and a few other questions. We have had a combi instead.

[Otis]

1 minute ago, FoyleFox said:

No, that would be really expensive   I asked a question about ASHP a few weeks ago, there was a discussion and a few other questions. We have had a combi instead.

Ah, got you 👍

[jgtuk]

Any private landlords on here who know the law?

 

My Father in law was the landlord of a property in England. He passed away suddenly last year and the house has been left to my wife and myself.

Everything in his will has gone through probate and cleared but the rental property is being held by the solicitor until we decide whether we want to sell or become landlords.

The current tenant has been there for over three years and is a model tenant.

Here’s the problem - he’s been paying way under market rent (about 30% less) so it will be difficult to sell with him as a sitting tenant with such a low yield (around 3.4% Gross) so we either need to increase his rent by 30% or serve him notice to vacate to allow us to either sell, use ourselves or remarket.

What's the protocol for increasing the rent? What forms do I need to serve him notice?

The only existing contract I can find is an AST dated 2021 and I know the laws have changed since then.

Any advice from anyone who understands these things would be appreciated.

 

[ajthefox]

39 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Any private landlords on here who know the law?

 

My Father in law was the landlord of a property in England. He passed away suddenly last year and the house has been left to my wife and myself.

Everything in his will has gone through probate and cleared but the rental property is being held by the solicitor until we decide whether we want to sell or become landlords.

The current tenant has been there for over three years and is a model tenant.

Here’s the problem - he’s been paying way under market rent (about 30% less) so it will be difficult to sell with him as a sitting tenant with such a low yield (around 3.4% Gross) so we either need to increase his rent by 30% or serve him notice to vacate to allow us to either sell, use ourselves or remarket.

What's the protocol for increasing the rent? What forms do I need to serve him notice?

The only existing contract I can find is an AST dated 2021 and I know the laws have changed since then.

Any advice from anyone who understands these things would be appreciated.

 

I don't know too much but it's worth being aware of the Renters Bill which would change potential terms for an eviction or make a sale less appealing for another landlord for the same reason. I imagine it's a few more months for that to pass but I've no idea how long this typically takes and from memory I think there is some opposition to parts of it at the very least.

 

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3764

 

This mentions a Section 21 which it seems you'll need for an eviction.

https://www.rollits.com/news/blog/no-fault-evictions-set-to-come-an-end-in-2025/

Edited 27 January by ajthefox

[jgtuk]

32 minutes ago, ajthefox said:

I don't know too much but it's worth being aware of the Renters Bill which would change potential terms for an eviction or make a sale less appealing for another landlord for the same reason. I imagine it's a few more months for that to pass but I've no idea how long this typically takes and from memory I think there is some opposition to parts of it at the very least.

 

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3764

 

This mentions a Section 21 which it seems you'll need for an eviction.

https://www.rollits.com/news/blog/no-fault-evictions-set-to-come-an-end-in-2025/

EEK, that doesn't look good.

We don't want to be landlords to be honest, the tenant and his family are really nice people though and we will probably have to evict them to sell.

The other option would be for us to keep the property, become landlords but increase his rent by a substantial amount just to stop it costing us anything and we wouldn't make anything until we did sell, then subject to CGT.

The property has management fees as well as maintenance, insurance etc.

Horrible system we have...

 

Thanks for that info though