To be tired of neighbour controlling the temp of my radiators?

[BibiBlocksberg]

Background, I live in a town house that is divided into two flats by addition of a fire door in the hallway.

Everything else is just like it would be in a normal house.

Including heating which has hot water tank & programme panel upstairs in my part & boiler downstairs in neighbours part.

Problem lies with downstairs neighbour turning the temperature on the boiler down to one she is comfortable with.

Which results in my radiators running lukewarm at best. No issues w (bleeding, sludge, rust etc as confirmed by a professional & boiler temp adjustment has been confirmed by neighbour previously.

Each time i report this to LL she has a word w downstairs & temps improve for one or two nights then back to lukewarm radiators.

Nearly 11pm & I’m freezing, wandering around in thermal long sleeve top, jumper, leggings under trousers & scarf & still not warm.

AIBU to be annoyed at my home temperature being subject to my neighbours heating preferences & how would you go about solving this once & for all?

Surely this does not constitute ‘reliable’ heating under LL responsibilities?

We had something similar when we rented a house for a while, it had an annex to it and landlords son lived in that. We found out that all the heating was controlled in the annex. We had no say In the heating being on or off and as we were in a large 4 bedroom house with wooden floors it easily got cold whereas the annex was tiny and took less to heat up. The final straw was when the oil run out landlords son forgot to order more and was away! We were so grateful to complete on our new home and get out. I don’t think they deliberately deceived us over the heating set up I just don’t think it occurred to them to mention it.

@lisaandalan

I'd go and knock and say can you keep the heating on at whatever degrees you are happy with yourself and say if you don't keep it at that I will not only go to the landlord, I will take legal advice. I would knock at night every time she does it and hopefully she will get fed up. I would not wait until the morning, you need to disrupt her life. X

The OP does not have any legal right to insist on the neighbour having her heating in her home at an uncomfortable temperature to her for OP's benefit, and if she harasses the neighbour repeatedly, she will be the one facing legal action. Which would serve her right.

@lisaandalan

I'd go and knock and say can you keep the heating on at whatever degrees you are happy with yourself and say if you don't keep it at that I will not only go to the landlord, I will take legal advice. I would knock at night every time she does it and hopefully she will get fed up. I would not wait until the morning, you need to disrupt her life. X

Why do you think that the OP has more of a right to have the temperature at the setting she wants it at than the other neighbour?

Knocking at night every night to disrupt someones life to get what you want would basically be being a nuisance neighbour and it would be the OP who could be in trouble legally, not the neighbour.

Very odd advice to go to tell someone you're taking legal action against them and then keep harassing them every night too.

The OP does not have any legal right to insist on the neighbour having her heating in her home at an uncomfortable temperature to her for OP's benefit, and if she harasses the neighbour repeatedly, she will be the one facing legal action. Which would serve her right

But she's not asking for that at all. Simply that if the neighbour doesn't want the heating on in her flat, to achieve this by turning the radiators down, not the boiler. If her radiators are off/on low, they won't emit heat even when the boiler is running so the OP can heat her flat.

The set up is ludicrous, and if it's so bad that the downstairs neighbour doesn't even have basic radiator controls, then the OP should ask the landlord to provide these, so there is some independent control between the two flats.

If they refuse this, plug in radiators would be another solution. But this is likely to cost more, whether due to purchase costs or because electric heating is generally more expensive to run, so the sensible first step is to use what they actually have to it's best advantage.

But she's not asking for that at all. Simply that if the neighbour doesn't want the heating on in her flat, to achieve this by turning the radiators down, not the boiler. If her radiators are off/on low, they won't emit heat even when the boiler is running so the OP can heat her flat.

The OP has said that the radiators don't have a thermostat and can only be on or off. There is no option to turn them down low.

If you have the "panel" does that mean you have the settings and thermostat. Altering the boiler is maybe all the downstairs flat can do (I guess open windows but that may not feel Dave on ground floor etc).

Sounds infuriating all round.

Can the landlord put one of those locked plastic boxes /covers around the boiler controls so that the tenant can't mess with them?

Both flats need TRVs fitted to the radiators and the tenant downstairs needs to be told to leave the boiler alone.

OP has lived here happily for 6 years. I wouldn't be threatening the LL re the heating being illegal. The OP will struggle to find a new place which accepts pets - the LL could replace the OP in 5 minutes!
I'd just tell LL that neighbour keeps turning off the boiler and so you are getting some plug in heaters. If it's expensive that will motivate LL to deal with the issue. Or LL might just suck up the extra cost. Either way your problem is solved. At least you control the hot water - that's a bigger issue to me.

Are you sure the neighbour is actually turning the boiler down or do you just mean the thermostat? Getting the landlord to fit thermostatic valves on all the radiators might solve this.

What temperature is your flat currently? Worth getting a thermometer to check as this might aid negotiations with your landlord and/or neighbour.

I would be telling the neighbour, that you are about to purchase several electric ovens and that's going to drive the cost of the electricity very high. Have some proof of temperature in your rooms so you can show her and the LL why you need to do that.

@Needmoresleep

You wear TWO layers of clothing, INDOORS?!?!?! What on earth for? Have you never heard of heating?!

Have you never heard of global warming? Have you never heard of fuel bills!

This is the most astonishing statement I have read on MN for a while.

I would hate to have the heating on overnight. It is healthier not to.

I am equally happy to wear a base layer, thick socks and if need be, a jumper, during the day. Easily afforded by the savings on gas and electricity.

OP should buy an oil filled radiator. Lidl often stock them. The set up is crazy but her neighbour is not to blame for wanting less heating.

Yep, I was knocked for six by this statement. Almost unbelievable.

Can you not put thermostatic valves on your radiators?

Zombie thread resurrected by a spammer.

ZOMBIE THREAD BACK BECAUSE OF SPAM POST^^^