Different attitudes towards reasonable room temperature at home

katejo

I have a newish lodger who moved in in early February. My house has a decent central heating system with a remote control thermostat and I maintain 15 degrees C during the night (and working day) and 18-20 in the morning and evening. Last week I noticed that my lodger had turned the thermostat up to 25 degrees (unbearably hot for me apart from the cost and environmental factors!) and he has his radiator thermostat on the maximum. Meanwhile he walks round in a short sleeved top and is reluctant to put a jumper on!
I tackled him over it yesterday evening but he wouldn't give in. His view is that it is the landlord's duty to provide whatever temperature is required. His rent is currently inclusive simply because that has always seemed easier to me. It would be hard to work out a reasonable contribution. He has already made clear that he couldn't or wouldn't pay a higher rate.

I am thinking of saying that he can't stay beyond August as I can't face having him when it is genuinely cold!

Has anyone else had this attitude from a lodger? How have you resolved it?

dominoman

Tricky one.

I think all you can do at this point is put your foot down and politely say that you have always had the temperature at this level and that is where you'd like to keep it. He must understand that higher temperatures mean higher bills. If he makes a fuss say that unfortunately he will have to leave or pay more, as the arrangement was made on the basis of your current house setup.

The waste would annoy me too. I walk past a council building on the way to work and in winter they crank open the windows if it is too hot! At tax payer expense of course.

donfanatico

Do you mean the valve on the radiator is turned up to 25? Does the room actually get this hot?

I wouldnt worry about it too much anyway as the heating will shut of anyway once the temp gets to where its set in the room there the thermostat is

EDIT: sorry i reread your post and it is the room thermostat that he had turned up, if it remote controlled can you not keep the remote somewhere so he cant turn it up?

pmlindyloo

dominoman wrote: »

Tricky one.

I think all you can do at this point is put your foot down and politely say that you have always had the temperature at this level and that is where you'd like to keep it. He must understand that higher temperatures mean higher bills. If he makes a fuss say that unfortunately he will have to leave or pay more, as the arrangement was made on the basis of your current house setup.

The waste would annoy me too. I walk past a council building on the way to work and in winter they crank open the windows if it is too hot! At tax payer expense of course.

I agree

It amazes me that people walk around indoors in t shirts and the like refusing to put on a jumper.

It is your house and I think the temperatures you quote are quite reasonable.

Perhaps a small fan heater/similar in their room might solve the problem - I don't believe they work out very expensive - better than heating the whole house.

Idiophreak

katejo wrote: »

I have a newish lodger who moved in in early February. My house has a decent central heating system with a remote control thermostat and I maintain 15 degrees C during the night (and working day) and 18-20 in the morning and evening. Last week I noticed that my lodger had turned the thermostat up to 25 degrees (unbearably hot for me apart from the cost and environmental factors!) and he has his radiator thermostat on the maximum. Meanwhile he walks round in a short sleeved top and is reluctant to put a jumper on!

Hmm, have mixed feelings on this. I won't put a jumper on inside. I'm inside. I wear jumpers when I go outside. If I were renting a room and it was always so cold I felt I had to wear more layers, I'd not be happy.

...but, that said, I'd melt at 25'. As above, does the house really get to that temperature, or is he just turning the thermostat up because he's cold?

DRP

katejo wrote: »

His view is that it is the landlord's duty to provide whatever temperature is required.

that is plain wrong and wouldn't be acceptable to me if it were my house and neither would i expect this to be the case if I were lodging.

I would make things clear to him and give him the option to stay or leave.

AndyT678

I had a flatmate who complained that she was cold then moaned about the cost of heating when the next bill came!

For me 18 would probably be OK but there's no way my wife would accept that. 25 is clearly too hot.

Some sort of compromise maybe...

Middle of the road temp or contribution to the bill?

phoebe1989seb

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I agree

It amazes me that people walk around indoors in t shirts and the like refusing to put on a jumper.

.

This ^^^

We only ever have the heating on at night and it's often blooming cold during the day in our old stone house, but I just add jumpers (or do stuff ) till I'm the right temperature

At the end of the day it's your house and imho you should be the one deciding what temperature it should be......

Mojisola

katejo wrote: »

I tackled him over it yesterday evening but he wouldn't give in. His view is that it is the landlord's duty to provide whatever temperature is required.

His rent is currently inclusive simply because that has always seemed easier to me. It would be hard to work out a reasonable contribution. He has already made clear that he couldn't or wouldn't pay a higher rate.

I am thinking of saying that he can't stay beyond August as I can't face having him when it is genuinely cold!

If I were you, he'd be getting notice to leave well before next winter.

Keeping his room warmer than you like is one thing - changing the temperature on the thermostat for the whole property is not acceptable! If he wants to control his environment and run up big bills, he should be renting a one-bedroom flat rather than being a lodger.

bouicca21

Has he ever lived independently before? Reminds me of my two when they were teenagers. It was amazing how quickly they learned to wear jumpers once they moved out and had to pay their own bills.

SRT81

katejo wrote: »

I tackled him over it yesterday evening but he wouldn't give in. His view is that it is the landlord's duty to provide whatever temperature is required.

And if he was renting a property from you, with bills inclusive, then fair enough.

But he's not.

He's lodging in your house, where you also live.

I'd simply tell him that adjusting the thermostat temperature is against your house rules for lodgers.

Basically, if he doesn't like that he knows where the door is.