To expect to be allowed heating on in winter.

[SundayNightLights]

My sister is living in shares accommodation. She has just sent me a screen cap of text messages from the live in landlady saying that the tennants can not touch the heating or the boiler. I know it's only September but it's going to get a lot colder. I'm worried as my sister is a very meek person and finds it hard to stand up for herself. Is this allowed?

I should mention though the the land lady lives there she is only there once every few months for a night or so at a time.

Clarify what this means. I also read it as 'don't fiddle with heater', not that you're not allowed any heating on.

If it's really the case that they're not allowed heating, I would look for a new place to live. It does not make sense to buy oil heaters when the house has central heating.

It takes a lot of electric to heat up oil heaters. They are much more expensive to run. You are better off with a storage heater and a winter duvet in a bedroom, unless you do spend all day in there. There are a lot of good electric heaters available that are a lot cheaper to run.

We banned our lodger (long since gone) from touching the heating in the end. He would wake up at 1pm, put it on full blast, leave for work at 2pm, so he wasn't getting any benefit from it, and leave it on so my poor dog was roasting for the rest of the afternoon until I came home.

He did have a heater for his room, though.

I wouldn't survive in some of your houses, my heating has been on for nearly two weeks and unless it gets hot again, will probably be on until April.

Yabu.

Most shared houses will all Inc bills it won't be on yet.

Don't buy an electric heater, they will probably be banned and can be dangerous. Buy an electric blanket if cold or a hot water bottle.

If the landlady spends one night there every few months she does not live there and is probably breaking multiple rules. I would find out exactly what those are and having them ready

I was thinking the same. She is probably trying to claim that the tenants are in fact lodgers and so have no rights. But she doesn't live there so they are in fact tenants.

Anyway heating is always an issue in shared houses. But if your sister isn't happy with how it is handled then she needs to move.

I suggest she contact Shelter too.

There was a right stingy arse on the week the landlords moved in recently where they wouldn't let the tenants up the thermostat. Or generally do anything. They they looked utterly perplexed as to where all the damp had come from

I keep an oil filled radiator as an extra heater in case of a problem with heating. These can be used with a plug in timer and are safer than a small convector heater left to warm up a bedroom. Try using an electric blanket, one that is a mattress protector is brilliant, pop it on for an hour or leave on all night, getting into a warm bed on a cold night is brilliant, also ensures when air is damp in wet weather your bed is warm and dry.