UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi

Can anyone recommend a central heating thermostat you can limit the maximum temperature on? I don't want to stop them being able to change the temperature, but I do want to be able to stop them going above 22 degrees. I did a property inspection yesterday and they had the heating on at 30 degrees, windows open and no one home!

Is this a shared house?

I would advise you NOT to do that.

I had a case where LL installed a module linked to an App they controlled remotely, they set the hot water temp to warm but the radiators were hardly on at all.  Then when they wanted to evict they did no many bad things it would take hours to write it up.  Suffice to say they were in breach of Landlord & Tenants Act.

The Tenants did find a way around it by flipping something on the boiler manually.  The Tenants also bought 3kw Electric heaters for their rooms just to cost the LL more as they were fed up with waking up cold, so they put these on a timer. 

The first lesson is do not have a Tenancy Agreement that includes utilities, seek to end one if you already did it.

Lesson two is to get a smart meter in pre-payment mode and put energy in the name of the Tenant, let them move to whichever company they want. They will then learn the cost of 30 degrees and will learn that turning boiler down to about 53 degrees for radiators and maybe 42 degrees for hot water will save them money. If you do this make sure you use a 90 degree for one day a quarter to nuke bugs.

Some people have a fair use policy in the terms that include energy but they are messy.

You have no right to dictate what temperature they set and if you included energy then so be it, if they call the Council in you will start a nightmare for yourself and it serves as evidence when they seek rent repayment etc.

Also, you have no right to enter the property when they are not home, except in emergency and they can insist only on authorised Gas Safe etc.

Quote from: HavenHomes on October 24, 2024, 03:04:04 PMHi

Can anyone recommend a central heating thermostat you can limit the maximum temperature on? I don't want to stop them being able to change the temperature, but I do want to be able to stop them going above 22 degrees. I did a property inspection yesterday and they had the heating on at 30 degrees, windows open and no one home!

Quote from: jpkeates on October 24, 2024, 03:44:01 PMIs this a shared house?

It is a separate flat, but the whole building (4 flats) are run off a single oil boiler.

Quote from: David on October 24, 2024, 06:17:54 PMI would advise you NOT to do that.

I had a case where LL installed a module linked to an App they controlled remotely, they set the hot water temp to warm but the radiators were hardly on at all.  Then when they wanted to evict they did no many bad things it would take hours to write it up.  Suffice to say they were in breach of Landlord & Tenants Act.

The Tenants did find a way around it by flipping something on the boiler manually.  The Tenants also bought 3kw Electric heaters for their rooms just to cost the LL more as they were fed up with waking up cold, so they put these on a timer. 

The first lesson is do not have a Tenancy Agreement that includes utilities, seek to end one if you already did it.

Lesson two is to get a smart meter in pre-payment mode and put energy in the name of the Tenant, let them move to whichever company they want. They will then learn the cost of 30 degrees and will learn that turning boiler down to about 53 degrees for radiators and maybe 42 degrees for hot water will save them money. If you do this make sure you use a 90 degree for one day a quarter to nuke bugs.

Some people have a fair use policy in the terms that include energy but they are messy.

You have no right to dictate what temperature they set and if you included energy then so be it, if they call the Council in you will start a nightmare for yourself and it serves as evidence when they seek rent repayment etc.

Also, you have no right to enter the property when they are not home, except in emergency and they can insist only on authorised Gas Safe etc.

Quote from: HavenHomes on October 24, 2024, 03:04:04 PMHi

Can anyone recommend a central heating thermostat you can limit the maximum temperature on? I don't want to stop them being able to change the temperature, but I do want to be able to stop them going above 22 degrees. I did a property inspection yesterday and they had the heating on at 30 degrees, windows open and no one home!

It's a complicated situation. It is supported living accommodation and it is the staff doing this. The tenants have learning disabilities and it all comes off the one oil boiler, so cannot have the bills in their names. The bills are split and charged back to the tenants, so it is really for their financial welfare as bills they are having to pay are being increased by staff who don't think about this. It was really for a back up measure. I thought it might have been simpler, that someone just sold a wall thermostat that just went to lower number than 30. Maybe someone needs manufacture one.

I have visited quite a number of purpose built temporary housing and supported living accommodation.  The ones I have seen all had massive central boiler with hot water on demand and under floor heating.  I would have expected they had a means to control the heat as many have sensory issues, but they all included the heating in the rent which was extraordinarily high.

In your circumstances you can probably give them a local thermostat but centrally turn it down unless asked to increase it.  It depends on your setup, whether you have radiators or other heating like underfloor.  I have not used the consumer devices but I imagine that it would be a lot of management to use apps in such a facility.

Perhaps look at hotel type systems such as the following, maybe look at access control so you know if they are in or out and can reduce heating as such times.

https://www.se.com/ww/en/work/solutions/for-business/hotels/guest-room-management.jsp

and

https://www.geniushub.co.uk/solutions-for-hotels/

Quote from: HavenHomes on November 05, 2024, 03:31:49 PM

Quote from: David on October 24, 2024, 06:17:54 PMI would advise you NOT to do that.

I had a case where LL installed a module linked to an App they controlled remotely, they set the hot water temp to warm but the radiators were hardly on at all.  Then when they wanted to evict they did no many bad things it would take hours to write it up.  Suffice to say they were in breach of Landlord & Tenants Act.

The Tenants did find a way around it by flipping something on the boiler manually.  The Tenants also bought 3kw Electric heaters for their rooms just to cost the LL more as they were fed up with waking up cold, so they put these on a timer. 

The first lesson is do not have a Tenancy Agreement that includes utilities, seek to end one if you already did it.

Lesson two is to get a smart meter in pre-payment mode and put energy in the name of the Tenant, let them move to whichever company they want. They will then learn the cost of 30 degrees and will learn that turning boiler down to about 53 degrees for radiators and maybe 42 degrees for hot water will save them money. If you do this make sure you use a 90 degree for one day a quarter to nuke bugs.

Some people have a fair use policy in the terms that include energy but they are messy.

You have no right to dictate what temperature they set and if you included energy then so be it, if they call the Council in you will start a nightmare for yourself and it serves as evidence when they seek rent repayment etc.

Also, you have no right to enter the property when they are not home, except in emergency and they can insist only on authorised Gas Safe etc.

Quote from: HavenHomes on October 24, 2024, 03:04:04 PMHi

Can anyone recommend a central heating thermostat you can limit the maximum temperature on? I don't want to stop them being able to change the temperature, but I do want to be able to stop them going above 22 degrees. I did a property inspection yesterday and they had the heating on at 30 degrees, windows open and no one home!

It's a complicated situation. It is supported living accommodation and it is the staff doing this. The tenants have learning disabilities and it all comes off the one oil boiler, so cannot have the bills in their names. The bills are split and charged back to the tenants, so it is really for their financial welfare as bills they are having to pay are being increased by staff who don't think about this. It was really for a back up measure. I thought it might have been simpler, that someone just sold a wall thermostat that just went to lower number than 30. Maybe someone needs manufacture one.