Originally Posted by
Brynhilde
Wow!! Thanks fellow SC's for the overwhelming amount of responses!
The size of the house is approx 1650 sq, we have oil heating with Bluewave Energy. I learned a few things from the company after inquiring about this bill... they come to refill automatically so when they receive a notification from the furnace that it's empty, they refill shortly after. Also the billing history of the house shows that they refill the tank on average three times per year and I was told to expect another heating bill next month/early March for approximately the same amount ($891). When we moved in, the tank was almost full and we paid $290 to have it filled to the top in October and did not turn the heat on until November. So from November to Dec 12 (when Bluewave filled the tank), we apparently used 800L of fuel. Bluewave told me that we are almost out of oil again and like I mentioned a few sentences ago to expect another bill next month.
Landlord is cheap, more frugal and unreasonable than anyone who posts here (not to say anyone here is unreasonable but you get what I mean).. he says its our problem despite us discovering in September/early October that there is no insulation in the exterior walls of the house, windows leaking, etc,. He claims he cannot afford to change windows or fix insulation. In other words, he just cares about the $$$$ coming in. Tenants downstairs say their bathroom is very hot while the rest of their unit is semi-warm to cold. We experience the same upstairs except it is mostly cold.
We called Toronto Municipal Standards office to have an officer check out the heat situation and were told that as long as the furnace is on, they cannot do anything :lol: We cannot afford to move right now, hubby got laid off just days before we got this bill. From what I know about Landlord & Tenant law, there is not much we can do other than filing with the board to get the problems fixed. Anyone who has experience with Landlord and Tenant Board in ON knows that this can be a lengthy process - landlords are permitted to ask for continuances so it can take months. Only in the most serious circumstances (e.g. house falling in, multiple hazardous situations at once, etc) will the Board order rent to be paid to them directly so Landlords in ON are winners usually when it comes to these situations. Nothing in the LT law says that we have to pay this bill but I believe we can be sued in civil court for not doing so. A very horrible situation to be faced with - I know based on your responses and my own experiences with renting/home ownership that this bill is NOT normal.