Anybody know about grants for central heating and windows?

Well, I now have a dilemna.....

I have had some of my tenants for some years now, and I know I should view it strictly as a business, but still with a business hat on, I also realise that putting rents up makes people move on and gives me void periods, so I keep the rents down and have very happy tenants with NO voids at all.

But my dilemna is, in one property, I could get another £200 pcm on top of a £700 pcm rent.
If I get a HB claimant in, I could then get the boiler replaced, presumably for free.
I could then either keep the HB claimant, if they were on a reasonable rent, or get some new working tenants on at least £900pcm, maybe more.

I guess the answer is, put the rent up and if he moves, then continue with plan of new, free boiler, if he stays, pay for it myself.
Is it legal to increase the rent by almost 30% in one hit?

What do others think about this plan please ?

Charge the market rent or just under and provide a better service than your competitors, that's my motto. Landlords are business people, not charities.

Yes, only u can make that decision. I think we all have similar problems with not enough rent on existing tenant. But heart rules head sometimes, I too have no voids normally, longest tenant about 15-16 years now. Many at 10 years plus.
To me now, rather do without the hassle of form filling, swapping tenant etc., for a few quid extra rent.

But on all mine, tell ‘em when they move in, WILL be giving a rent increase every year,1st one not be more than a few quid a week, just like the council do, just like your DWP benefits & wages (normally) increase every year. Council rents in the 60’s were £2-3 a week-If they din’t increase, they’d be in the bob now.
So 1 year later, when I give ‘em Rent Increase (RI), they love it-Honest. They was expecting it. And some years, when I get behind with paperwork, they are ringing me to ask when I’m coming round with RI.

And I too have approx 10 houses where tenant on wrong kind of benefits & we just cannot the new boilers in (I’m very happy when they want to do a house swap with me into a boiler that’s already been done), annoying that I’m gonna’ have to be paying out me own pocket soon, but so be it, grateful for the ones I’ve had.

I wouldn’t do your plan meself, but I would do small RI every year.
I think u can put rent up big in one hit if u han’t done it for years, but I ain’t expert on that. With HB rents, u have to be careful if the rent u r putting it up to, will be paid by some HB loophole, then u have to have answers why.

Reply to the comment left by "Jeremy Smith" at "12/02/2014 - 20:04":

Forgot to mention, it is perfectly legal to increase the rent up to the market rent, regardless of what percentage increase that might represent.
.

Ok, thanks for those answers Mick and Mark.

Mick, did you infer that the "free boiler scheme" might be coming to an end soon: "I'm gonna' have to be paying out me own pocket soon" ?

I can't think of any further benefits I can offer the tenant to justify a large RI.

He's just a single guy, in a two bed place, so I'm effectively covering his "2nd bedroom tax" - just like the council used to do !!

I don't have a one bed place to offer him, maybe I should buy one and move him into it ?
....I just can't help but to appreciate my good tenants !!
....especially after some of the nightmare stories you hear, as per other threads here.

PS. In Germany it is illegal to increase the rent by more than a certain percentage per year, so I've been told.

Reply to the comment left by "Jeremy Smith" at "13/02/2014 - 12:10":

No, I'm gonna have to buy new boiler out my own pocket cause current tenants don't get right benefits.
As I know it at moment, last October, they stopped doing FREE radiators too, so that funding got pulled. I've been told boiler funding here for another 2 years, but who knows, things change all the time, look at Solar Power tariff's, how Govt bought that forward.

I'd buy him flat if numbers add up. So many sayings, but another one 'If u don't buy the flat today, probability is, u gonna' pay more for it next year'.

Reply to the comment left by "Mick Roberts" at "13/02/2014 - 14:20":

Thanks Mick,

Are there benefits that don't qualify then?
Does just being a job seeker count, or do they have to have kids, or on DLA, perhaps ?

There's load of benefits that don't qualify, u can find out off most big providers now, they're all jumping on the free boilers bandwagon-giving u crap boilers too some of 'em, so be careful.
But simply, if they are on Child Tax credit (CTC), earnings below 15k, u can get the FREE £1400 fitted boiler.
Or some disability benefits.
Normal JSA no kids don't qualify.
U got kids & on JSA, good chance, but as I said CTC is the one.
Other permutations are here or ask the company:
http://www.vinshire.com/free-boiler.php

Hold on everyone! With regard to loft insulation!
There is a structural problem with the way this is done.
I have two identical houses.
One is finished & tenanted.
The other I am renovating.
I wanted minimum disruption to the tenants and had their house done for free. The problem is that the council pass the work on to a national provider who have financial targets to meet.
The use cheap labour to do the surveys.
Then they use what I would regard as virtually slave labour - the desperate at the absolute bottom of the market - to do the work. If these guys turn up for a job and can't do the job because, for example, the appointment has been made on the wrong day and they can't get in, then they don't get paid! I mean they get nothing.
These blokes rely on a fee for every house and they need to do four houses a day to make a minimum income.
You can guess what you get. It's the very young & totally empty headed.
These were the people who did my rental property.
My second house I did myself but it cost me more as I had to pay a admittedly low cost of £60 for the discounted insulation.
The grant system is totally stupid.
Now roll on 12 months.
I get a complaint from my tenant that there is a water leak in the loft as her bedroom wall is wet at ceiling height.
On lifting the loft door it rained on me! I mean large drops of condensation just kept dripping from the totally saturated underside of the entire roof. The central ridge beam was starting to turn green.
I had none of these symptoms in the second property a few doors away which I did myself.
After some time and debate, the installers came out at their convenience and fitted an almost skill free product called Easyvents. These effectively introduce an air gap in the roof under-felt to increase air flow (and enable any flying insects to get in!).
Well they couldn't even do that right! They ripped much of the felt in installing the Easyvents, the weather changed and disguised the problem for another year. I then checked again and it was worse than ever! Also some of the Easyvents had been so badly installed that they fell out onto the loft insulation.
So the installers sent out another chap to install more Easyvents. He did the job in five minutes and ripped more under-felt. I managed to get him to go back up in the loft with me before he left. This guy was genuinely way too thick to do the job or follow a conversation. He told me, amongst other rubbish, that all lofts pour with condensation sometimes.
By this time the central ridge beam was turning a healthy green with mould.
I rang the "management" to complain and made them an offer.
Send me one box of Easyvents and they would never hear from me again.
They told me that there were 25 Easyvents in a box and readily agreed.
I actually got 20 Easyvents because the "management did not know how many there are in a box.
These people have simply not got the ability to do the job that they are doing every day and apart from cavity wall insulation, this is all they do for a living.
Buy the discounted grant product and do not use the "free" labour to install in!
Alternatively you will eventually have no tenants at al and need a new roof!
In this life, if something is referred to as "free" but actually funded by the taxpayer, it is often a liability.

Reply to the comment left by "Paul Shears" at "14/02/2014 - 21:29":

Well Paul,
Thank you for sharing that,
it has reminded me of the cowboys that came to fit me a new boiler, installing the gas pipe at 'floorboard' level, ie where a floor board should slot back into the floor
Apart from that, I had to also re-do some other pipes which were all crossed over, causing stress on the joints.

Thanks for the link Mick, and I will have Paul's story at the forefront of my mind if I get any 'free' deals.