Oil refused at a two- or three-family. What the owner has to do, and by when.
If you own the building, start here. If you rent, skip to the tenant section.
What the code requires
The State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410.180, sets the heating season at September 15 through May 31. A town's board of health can shorten it by posted notice, to start as late as September 30 or end as early as May 15. During the season the owner has to keep every habitable room and every bathroom at 68 degrees or more from 7 in the morning to 11 at night, and at 64 or more overnight.
Portable space heaters do not satisfy the requirement. The code has no exception for a dealer that stopped delivering.
Who has to buy the oil
Section 410.210 says the owner provides the oil for heat and hot water unless two things are both true: the oil comes from a separate tank that serves only that apartment, and a written rental agreement makes the tenant responsible for it.
Both, not either. In a two-family with one tank feeding both floors, the owner buys the oil, whatever the lease says.
Where each apartment does have its own tank and the tenant buys the oil, a refused delivery still comes back to you. The tank and the oil line are the building's equipment, and fixing them is not something a tenant can order.
How fast it moves
No heat is on the code's list of conditions deemed to endanger or materially impair health or safety. A tenant can ask the board of health to inspect. Once it has inspected, the board has 12 hours to issue an order, and the order gives the owner 24 hours to make a good faith effort to correct it.
Separately, chapter 186, section 14 covers an owner who is required to furnish heat and willfully or intentionally fails to. The civil exposure is actual and consequential damages or three months' rent, whichever is greater, plus the tenant's costs and attorney's fee.
This is a plain summary of the sections linked above, not legal advice.
What to do, in order
- Read the gauge on every tank in the building and write the readings down with the date.
- Call for a tank check and a fill: (781) 325-8378. Say it is a rental with tenants in place and how low the tanks are. The dealer on this line delivers to older tanks after looking at them and takes emergency calls.
- Tell the tenants in writing what happened and when the delivery is coming.
- Ask for the result of the tank check in writing. It shows the tenant, the board of health and your insurer what you did and when.
- Put the building on automatic delivery so the question does not come back in January.
Why the refusal usually happened
The common reasons are the same as in a single-family: the oil line, the condition of the tank, or the tank's age against the company's own cutoff. They are set out here.
The state oil line rule applies to buildings with one to four units, so a two- or three-family is covered. If the copper line lies on the basement floor without a sleeve or an oil safety valve, that is likely the "not compliant" you were told about, and it is a small repair. What the rule requires.
Old two- and three-families often have two tanks piped together, or an outside tank. Mention either one on the call.
If you are the tenant
Tell the owner in writing today. A text or an email is fine and gives you a time stamp. Pass along this number if the owner needs a dealer: (781) 325-8378.
If the heat is not back within a day, call the board of health in your town and ask for an inspection. The town pages on this site list the number for each one. The state's own page on winter heating law explains the rest.