Housemate and water

[EnidBlytonFan01]

I realize this thread is very similar to the other one trending right now on a lady saying her DH was turning off the hot water.

For several weeks, I've noticed the water to be icy cold in the shower yet when my housemate (I'll call him Tom) has a shower, it's always working fine. Then, I realized yesterday, he'd turned off the boiler in the evening (usually it's on but error light is flashing) so I turned it on to use it.

I get a barrage of rude abusive texts from him calling me an idiot and him stating he turns it off because another housemate likes to have showers past midnight (which disturbs his sleep) - he claims the landlord allows just him to change the settings of the boiler whenever he likes as he's discussed this matter with them. Previously, he took and hid the landing light bulb in his room because that other housemate was leaving it on all night so every act of revenge he does affects me just as much as it does her and it's really not fair as I follow all the rules etc.

Even this morning, he's used the bathroom, then presumably messed with the boiler settings and then I heard him running the taps hard to get rid of any remaining hot water and now he's left. The boiler isn't turned off this time but as often, the red error light is flashing and I can't get it fixed (tried clicking to reset, switching it on and off, etc. as there aren't many settings that can be changed with the boiler dials).

I've got a cold and now I'm stuck with no hot water because of him. The downstairs loo does have hot water (different water system) but there's a lot of us in the house so I don't always want to be using the downstairs one when technically I should be using the upstairs one.

I've obviously notified the landlord about this but usually he's fairly on the fence even with extreme stuff like this. :/

Anything else I can do?

The landlord is on your side so it will be sorted out in the future. A lock on the boiler cupboard with the landlord or a trusted neighbour holding the key.

Deliberately putting her at risk of injury using the stairs at night?

Now come on, don’t get carried away. Keep it sensible. Most of us manage to use stairs at night without breaking our necks.

What A Knob.

I hope your LL sorts the twat out

It really should be easier to get rid of house sharers that are knobs!

Stay safe, OP. This sounds like a nasty man.

What a tosser. Is the midnight showerer a tosser as well?

If he isn't, a simple agreement not to shower after 11 pm or similar should sort the problem and the hot water can stay on.

If they're both tossers, you may be caught in the crossfire of a spaffing contest, which is never a nice place to be.

I hope the LL tells the hot water tosser he's not getting his contract renewed.

Id text him everytime saying the boiler error light is flashing and saying there is problems and say you will have to leave otherwise.

I would also tell the LL about Tom removing lightbulbs and keeping them in his room. It is completely unacceptable behaviour not to say, very worrying and creepy.

I would be very concerned about what he might do next!

If he moved in after you then he’s an even cheekier fucker swanning in and dictating to you all when you can and can’t shower. I think I’d call a housemates gathering and tell him that as the newest resident to the arrangement his behaviour is totally unacceptable and is stopping you enjoying the benefits of the tendency - hot showers - that you are paying for, so he either stops or you’ll be looking into getting him evicted (there must be a clause in the contract that means he can be booted out for wilful damage or something, so have a look). Get all of the other tenants on his case as well as the landlord. Who the actual fuck does he think he is?!

What an absolute twat. I remember your other thread. He needs to live on his own, he’s too angry to be inflicted on others.

i remember your last thread about the light bulb.
I hope you spoke to your landlord about that?

Did you tell LL that the boiler is now not working/error message?
Don't fix that stuff yourself just ring the LL every time.

This guy needs to leave though. He obviously wants to live like it's his own place so he can bugger off and find one.

How old is Tom? I could understand this a bit in a very young silly immature person like 16-20ish, but not in an adult man. He sounds barking mad.

Complain to your landlord about what your room mate is doing, and you can’t stand having him here any more. He might get his notice handed to him in a plate

You’re gonna have to move out.

Most houseshares however great in other regards end because of weirdos like this. I had a similar situation in my last (ever hopefully!) house share with a vindictive bitter old bloke blocking my and another housemates cars on the drive because she would come home late at night and apparently disturb him (coming home from her nursing job which she’d fully informed us of on moving in). He didn’t work so didn’t even get up in the mornings 🤷‍♀️

He’d been there for years like 10 years and when I told the landlord why I was leaving (not just the car thing, other bullying behaviours) the landlord said I wasn’t the first to leave because of him and he was considering doing something about it

Funny how it’s always men too isn’t it..

Honestly, unless you have reason to believe that Tom will be moving out soon, I'd probably start looking for a new place. Even if your landlord sorts out the water situation, someone who is as petty and vengeful as Tom seems to be will not make a pleasant housemate. He's not likely to suddenly see the error of his ways and turn into a nice, reasonable person.

It all depends on how badly you want to avoid moving compared to how much of a jerk Tom is in other ways. It's fair that you should have to move just to get away from him, but if it makes life easier in the long run, I'd rather do that than long-term for principle's sake.

*not fair!

It’s good that the landlord is on your side but have you actually spoken to your housemate about this first? It doesn’t sound like you have? And if he is as aggressive as you write then running to the landlord to tell on him might make the situation worse. Where is the boiler that it disturbs him so much anyway? Unless it is in his room surely it’s not that loud!

He sounds like the very incarnation of a flatmate I had years ago as a student.

It was a shared house with the landlord (who was also a student), when the landlord moved to London, this dick decided that he was now "man of the house" and what he said goes and me and the other girl had to fit around his convenience and comfort.

In the end, we managed to get another woman to move into the landlord's old room and together we spent our evenings cursing him.

We made his life so unpleasant behind the scenes (small lego pieces mysteriously appeared on his bedroom floor, his milk went sour quickly, his toothbrush often fell into the dustballs in the corner behind the toilet) while being sweet as pie to his face, that he was driven quite mad.

He moved out the next month.

When all else fails there is always witchcraft.

you can get sensor bulbs nfor the hall way
www.amazon.co.uk/LED-SMART-Light-Bulb-bayonet/dp/B00EZ6XNUE?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I can remember my houseshare days, and yes, it is always the bloody men causing the problems. Skid marks not cleaned off the loo, not washing their pots, nicking the iron and ironing board to live permanently in their room, shoving so much rubbish into the kitchen bin, because they can’t be arsed taking the bag out, that the bin bag rips and the bin has to be cleaned...by one of the women!

Even when a female housemate semi-moves in a boyfriend it’s usually a nightmare because the boyfriend thinks that the house should run his way.

If your landlord doesn’t engage with this, OP, you will need to move. It’s not worth living somewhere you can’t relax.

I knew the landlord would not have given consent. Keep a record off all Tom's texts etc and as others have said, report it every single time. Who the hell does he think he is? I am sure it will be him who end up moving out first due to unreasonable behaviour. You have the longer track record so you are the better tenant.

I think Tom needs to go and live his own if he can't cope with others and be a reasonable human being.

Tom is a loony toon. Hopefully he'll get so upset by other people doing awful things like showering and using the stairs that he will either move out or his brain will explode.

I always stuck to all-female houseshares when I had to do this for this reason and also ones that had no overnight guests without permission policies due to flatmates bringing dickhead boyfriends to move in.

I'd honestly start looking for another share, preferably all females, because this man won't get better. I'd tell the LL, too. 'Moving due to this aggressive, bullying, overbearing bloke who scares me. You're going to find yourself losing tenants over him.'

@Cailleachian I admire your evil genius

It's good that your landlord has taken your side on this, OP - hopefully a word in Tom's shell-like will knock his behaviour on the head. Make sure you report each and every time he does something detrimental to your ability to use the house or to the house itself. Every removed bulb, switched off boiler, lack of hot water...report it all. If nothing else, leaving tenants with no hot water is not acceptable: www.thinkmoney.co.uk/news-advice/broken-boiler-in-rented-house-your-rights-0-8494-0.htm

Reporting it every time - together with words like 'untenable' and 'unacceptable' to drop a heavy hint that you'll go if this doesn't stop - may well see Tom's tenancy terminated. Any decent landlord would be mad to lose good tenants over one that's causing problems. If your landlord is happy to keep Tom, well they're not worth your custom.

ha ha! can't wait to hear about Tom's face when LL gives him a proper rollicking!!