water heater rental - contract

SunnY S

SunnY S

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if you buy a house, and the previous owner was under "contract" for a hot water heater that the new owner has no knowledge about, does the new owner have to take over a contract he didn't agree to or Sign, and technically doesn't even know about?
 
Both houses I've owned had rentals in them that I ditched almost immediately. I had to remove the heaters and return them to their depot though.
 
These rental companies are savage. The contracts transfers over with the house so you do need to pay the bill. You need to talk to your real estate agent about disclosure of that during the sale and you might be able to get some recourse with the former owner. More often dealing with the contract is a condition of sale before purchase. I actually have to pay the company to take the f****** tank back to them

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That should all have been transferred/cancelled as part of the sale. The real estate lawyer that handled the sale should have done that, assuming there was one. If there was a lawyer they should be the first contact to get it resolved, at their expense (since it was missed). If no lawyer was involved I would suggest you contact the rental company and work out a new arrangement and good luck with that.
 
Normally you are stuck with the bleeping contract. Apparently there is a window of opportunity when you buy. Something like 48 hours after closing to get out of it. Miss the window or make a single payment and you are stuck with the original contract that they wont give you a copy of.

I am in the position where I likely have to pay $1100 to buy out our tank so I can take it to the dump. The only other way out is if they decide it is beyond economical repair. If they think you are going to cancel, that number almost has no ceiling.

It used to be much more reasonable (~$50 to buy out a 10 year old tank or you could take it back to the depot and pay a $20 break fee). They realized extortion was more profitable and changed things quite a few years ago.
 
My dads new house came with one and same thing they told him to remove it himself and bring it back to them...he never signed a single paper or contract regarding it, couple of conversations later the company sent someone to his house and picked up their water heater.
 
I’ll be Devil’s advocate. We had a rental heater through the utility company here in Kingston. One night, late on the wife noticed a trickle of water in the cupboard where the heater was. Determined it was from the heater. Quick call to the utilities emergency number, then a transfer and 30 mins later a plumber turns up, removed the old heater, installed a new one shipped in that evening from a depot. Didn’t finish until really late on that night. No charge to us.

Charge isn’t outrageous but that’s maybe because the local utilities company sources these things. The plumber said the heater was close to completely failing and if it had we would have had serious water damage.
 
jc100 said:
I’ll be Devil’s advocate. We had a rental heater through the utility company here in Kingston. One night, late on the wife noticed a trickle of water in the cupboard where the heater was. Determined it was from the heater. Quick call to the utilities emergency number, then a transfer and 30 mins later a plumber turns up, removed the old heater, installed a new one shipped in that evening from a depot. Didn’t finish until really late on that night. No charge to us.

Charge isn’t outrageous but that’s maybe because the local utilities company sources these things. The plumber said the heater was close to completely failing and if it had we would have had serious water damage.
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I pay about $500 per year for tank rental. Tank is about 8 years old. Buyout is 1100. Bleeping bleep bleep. Even if I needed an emergency call every 5 years, I would be way up owning. I dont need emergency plumbing calls, I can deal with it.

Next water heater will be a heat pump for lots of reasons.
 
I see listings advising whether there is rental equipment in the house. I think it is a negotiating point at the time of sale. However in the local madness of $million homes a small monthly charge tends to be overlooked. It really adds up.

I suspect the rental agreement would be worded like a lien on a car. If you knowingly buy a vehicle with a lien they go after you if payments aren't kept up.

A good lawyer should have noted the rental equipment if it was listed. If it wasn't listed it could be considered non disclosure and thrown back at the seller.

It can also cover a furnace and air conditioning.
 
My tank is apparently from 1998 and the enbridge tech that showed up said it should be a $75 disposal fee and that’s that.

I’ll find out on Tuesday as I want to replace it with a modern tank. Said due to age it should be no issue cancelling the contract at $16/month. Apparently current ones are $70/month (approx).
 
mimico_polak said:
My tank is apparently from 1998 and the enbridge tech that showed up said it should be a $75 disposal fee and that’s that.

I’ll find out on Tuesday as I want to replace it with a modern tank. Said due to age it should be no issue cancelling the contract at $16/month. Apparently current ones are $70/month (approx).
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Pretty sure my contract is nearer that lower end which is why I’m not in a rush to swap it out. Had a good chat with the plumber that did the swap out and he said we were getting a decent deal as his emergency call out fees and heater swap costs were pretty high. Add on to that we got an updated and more efficient heater.
 
raginduck said:
it should be covered in the sales contract. If the new owner agreed to take over rental.. it's theirs... If they didn't... It's the old owner's problem.
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Everyone contract I have seen pushes the rentals on. The old owner doesnt want to deal with those bastards.
 
I just got rid of my rental. Decided to have my own installed. I was paying $20/m on a 34yr old heater that was on the way out anyway. They wanted $30/m (with possibility of price increases over the yrs) for a new heater. I've only ever made one call for it in 12yrs. They wanted $110 to drain & remove or $65 to come pick up an un installed unit or free drop off. My installer dropped it of for me as part of the install of the new unit.
 
Thanks for the responses.

The place is 2 years old. We are the third owners.

My lawyer didn't mention anything about a water heater rental and to this day I have never personally received a bill.

I've heard from others in the complex that the WH is a rental under contract.

I hate surprises. And I don't feel I should have to pay for something I didn't agree to.

When I bought the place it had brand new appliances. Heating, ac and furniture. Will I get a rental bill for this too?
 
[QUOTE="SunnY S, post: 2795528, member:

When I bought the place it had brand new appliances. Heating, ac and furniture. Will I get a rental bill for this too?
[/QUOTE]
What does contract say? My contracts have included assumption of water heater rental. My BIL bought a house advertised with a new furnace. The sellers left out that there was an $8000 loan on a 5000 furnace that they were not intending to pay. Not in the contract so it was sellers problem to pay off the loan.
 
When my tank goes I'll replace with an electric for a number of reasons due to the location in the house. There's just the two of us so a decent electric shouldn't have recovery problems. Once the old gas one is out I can replace the electric myself. Payback should be about two years. I will look at the heat pump ones but I think the location will be an issue as well.

A buddy is trying to get a contract broken on a tankless system. Once the heater was installed they informed him that to maintain the warranty he needed to put in a water softener on a 15 year contract as well.
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