Different attitudes towards reasonable room temperature at home

DRP

Idiophreak wrote: »

1. Indeed.
2. Warm...as in not cold....as in comfortable in your home...
3. But cash is king. Once you accept cash for putting someone else up, they're a customer, not a guest.

Yes, essentially if there is fundamental disagreement, there is only one solution.

elsien

What's he like as a lodger in other respects?
I don't think he should be walking round whacking up the heating when he feels like it but it does depend on the room/house.
If it's only turned up from 15 when people get home its going to take a while to reach a decent temperature. And my room is the coldest in the house, so where 20 is fine in other rooms, it's not in mine even with several layers on.
So yes its your house, no you don't have done to heat it to 25 whatever he thinks, but if he's house trained in other respects is it worth the hassle of finding another lodger when you could employ the fine art of compromise.
Especially if you need the money and similar issues may arise with future lodgers who may also find your house cold.

katejo

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

The house temperature was one of the few things no lodger ever caused a problem about when I used to take them in...

I tend to keep a house fairly warm, as that's what I like personally.

Now I've got a different house, with a new boiler and wireless-controlled thermostat and those controls are digital (rather than a knob I had to spin to desired house temperature and that I knew wasn't very accurate) I can see that I like my house between 20 and 21 degrees Celsius. That accords with the official recommendations as to what temperature a house "should be" and so I leave it set at that.

In the course of modernising the central heating here I did quite a bit of reading as to what temperatures a house "should be" and they boiled down to "whatever feels comfortable between 18 and 21 degrees", with slightly different recommendations according to what the room was used for (eg kitchen, bathroom, bedroom etc).

Perhaps the way forward here is to print out several different sets of official recommendations as to what a house temperature should be and show them to the lodger and say "There you are, that's our official guidelines as to a house temperature and that's what I follow". That way, you have official proof that you aren't being mean with the heating, but he is expecting to inflict a higher temperature on you than is reasonable.

My other thought is "No lodger would be able to get at the house thermostat in my current house anyway", as I could just unscrew it from the wall and carry it round the house with me, as I required, because it is a wireless-controlled one and therefore doesn't need to be attached to one particular location.

Mine is also a remote wireless controlled one but I wouldn't be mean enough to lock it away as he may be in one day and need to override the programmed setting due to colder weather. I haven't had this problem with previous lodgers and the last one stayed 3 years.

CharlieRabbit01

Catti wrote: »

Gosh - how attitudes vary! If I am cold, I layer up! Grew up without central heating and had to then I suppose. But even now, my OH and I 'heat up' differently. He is always cold when I am baking. So he wears more and I wear less. Simples!!

I also grew up being told if your cold put a jumper, coat, hat scarf etc on.

Which is exactly why in my own home I turn up the heat.

However when I was a lodger if I was cold I wore my dressing gown and if on exceptionally cold days/nights I asked if we could bump the heat up for an hour or so.

john_white

katejo wrote: »

Well I don't do that. My heating is regularly on as described in
my first query. I also don't ration hot water even though I am on a meter. I wouldn't allow a fan heater in case it got left on the room when the lodger was out (safety reasons).

Two facts I have taken from this thread.

1. Thermostat does not go above 20
2. Lodger cannot have seperate heating.

So where exactly is the compromise from your part?

BitterAndTwisted

I can't believe that someone has the heating set to 15 degrees overnight or during the working day. In my house it would be off. No-one needs the heating on when they're in bed unless they live up in the Arctic Circle!

In the OP's situation I'd be giving serious thought to giving this lodger his marching-orders if he won't respect what temp the OP thinks is reasonable. If the thermostat is set to 18 degrees and it's a bit chilly in his room there's absolutely nothing wrong with putting on a jumper or a fleece. No-one, unless they are the bill-payer, would expect to be able to walk around at home in a short-sleeved T-shirt.

I think he's an @rse and his attitude stinks. You should get shot of him before his lack of respect escalates to something worse.

bouicca21

!!!!!! why should op compromise? The only compromise I'd consider in similar circumstances would be getting rid of the lodger.

Mojisola

Idiophreak wrote: »

...but the lodger is *already* paying for a service, which he'd argue the OP isn't providing.

The lodger isn't paying to have everything done his way - he's paying to live in someone else's home and the LL has control over how the house is run.

DRP wrote: »

Yes, essentially if there is fundamental disagreement, there is only one solution.

And that is for the lodger to find alternative accommodation if this room doesn't suit him.

poppysarah

katejo wrote: »

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

Get him to leave.

And make it clear to the next one when you're looking for a replacement that your thermostat rules rule.

honeybean

Sorry I would not put up with it but you do need to talk to him and compromise if he doesn't sorry it's bye bye . There is also no need to have heating on during the night, I manually put on my heating when needed I have never put it on timed waste of money.