To become increasingly livid at the neighbours leaving the communal hall lights on overnight?

[Jodiewa]

Seriously! This Irritates me every single morning when I leave my flat and see he’s left the hall lights on for twelve hours plus. He rents and I am a leaseholder so in my mad mind he doesn’t have to pay whilst I do! I don’t want to be this person. AIBU? Thanks.

The light and green fire exit light are on 24/7 in our lobby which is shared by 2 flats.
A previous building I lived in, 3 flats across 3 floors, had a push button light switch where the lights would come on in the stairway for about 1min. I think there was also a green fire exit light above the front door.

The cost will be included in his rent (which is probably much more than you pay) so he will be paying for the communal hallway lights.

I think you should investigate the actual cost before you lose your shit over this. Also how is care of the communal areas funded and managed? I don't think that any one resident or tenant can go around doing stuff without agreement

I've lived in a number of flats and the communal stair lights are always left on overnight. Surely it's a safety / security thing?

Tell him then! What a pointless thread

@thickthighs73

Tell him then! What a pointless thread

Do you understand the concept of AIBU? She's asking if she is being unreasonable. There's unanimous agreement that she is, so there's no need to tell him, and now hopefully she'll realise that...

@ChangeChingyChange

Also if you're a leaseholder you're not paying for it exactly- you pay ground rent/service charge etc I'm sure you don't actually have to pay an electric bill. If he doesn't pay the service charge then his landlord does so it's still evenly split.

The electricity bill is included in the service charge the OP pays. If the bill goes up, the service charge also goes up! So yes the OP as a leaseholder IS paying for the extra electricity this guy is using.

@emmathedilemma

I've lived in a number of flats and the communal stair lights are always left on overnight. Surely it's a safety / security thing?

Everywhere I've lived has had indoor communal lighting on timer switches.

Leaseholder
Building lights on all night. Glad of it.

I agree about using a timer switch. Who pays the communal area’s electricity? Does it have its own meter supplying?

YABU.
I'd prefer them on for security and safety reasons.
Maybe he's coming very late or going out very early and needs them on?
It's wasteful in daylight, so suggest timers that go off in daylight (may obviously need adjusting in the summer)

We've got movement sensor ones and they are great! Perhaps you could have these fitted?

I thought it was totally normal for communal lights to always been on? I’m any flat I’ve lived in or any hotel I’ve stayed in this was the case. Or there are motion sensors at least.

In any flat*

I'd have a timer switch fitted too.

Communal lights should be on at night. I know several people who got severe injuries through escaping fires down flights of stairs in a flat because they couldn’t see where they were going. So the lights should be on.

Those timer switches going on and off would annoy me.

It's so little money and much better for safety and security to have them on.

Especially if you come in with shopping, baby wrangling, no hands free to a dark hallway.

The timer switch would annoy me more.

Maintained lighting is only required if there are more than 2 stories.

@user1471538283

We've got movement sensor ones and they are great! Perhaps you could have these fitted?

Not ideal as if you need to get away with a baby for example, you can end up not being able to get them to switch on. We had a fire in my block and I was very glad the lights were just on.

It is a big block with people working all sorts of hours.

Are a lot of you coming home to a dark hallway? I did in my previous place but it would really bother me now.

His landlord doesn't pay service charges like you do? Do you think those charges aren't factored into his rent? Get over it.

I'd prefer communal areas to be lit at all times. Could you put lights on a motion sensor?

I’d be so annoyed if I had to leave in the middle of the night and had to fumble around on the pitch black trying to see down a communal hallway.

YABU.

As for service charge, I assure you that would be factored into his rent

In our old flat, the hall light didn't come on until like 8pm, but it's dark by 330pm in winter. Not only could it be dangerous, but we could never see our keyhole to unlock our door. Yabu.

In practice the motion sensors never cover the whole area equally well, so you often end up having to move around in the dark for a bit to make them come on. Same with switches - is there one right next to his door, OP? Or are you expecting him to fumble around in the dark between the light switch and his door?

There'll be a legal obligation for emergency lighting. So if there isn't any, you may need to have the large lights left on.