Who services the heat pump in a rental, and how often?

The split follows the general rule of tenancy maintenance: the landlord owns the asset, so professional servicing, repairs and eventual replacement are the landlord's, while day-to-day care, mainly keeping the indoor filter clean and reporting problems early, sits reasonably with the household using it. Setting that expectation in writing at the start of the tenancy avoids the version of this question that arrives mid-winter with a dead unit.

A sensible rhythm

• Indoor filter: cleaned every month or two in heavy use, it is a vacuum-and-rinse job, and a clogged filter is the single most common cause of "the heat pump doesn't work anymore".
• Outdoor unit: kept clear of leaves, vegetation and stored items, checked at routine inspections.
• Professional service: periodically, yearly is the common recommendation in heavy-use or coastal and geothermal areas, less critical but still worthwhile elsewhere.

Why this touches compliance

The heating standard is a capacity requirement, and a neglected heat pump loses real-world output: dirty filters and coils can cost a meaningful share of performance, which is the difference between reaching temperature on a cold night and not. A unit that was compliant on paper and cannot do its job in July serves nobody. Keep the service invoices with the property's records; they support the compliance statement and they matter for warranty claims too.