Paying high rent is tough, but an unreasonable landlord can make things tougher, which is what one Ohio tenant claims to have in their apartment. In r/Tenant, Reddit user Puzzleheaded-Can4111 says he pays $1,100 a month, with utilities included. Suddenly, his landlord installed a Nest Thermostat. Puzzleheaded says he didn’t think much of it at the time, but little did he know the drama that this smart device would cause.
“Turns out he controls it from his phone,” Puzzleheaded wrote, claiming that his landlord changed his apartment’s temperature within five minutes of him attempting to cool down the place. After a bit of arguing, the landlord put his foot down: “He said he’s paying for utilities so he gets to decide what’s reasonable and that I was ‘running the AC into the ground’ at my old setting.”
Needless to say, Puzzleheaded questions whether this is even legal for his landlord to do, considering the $1,100 is high for him already. “I shouldn’t have to lay there sweating at night because my landlord is watching my thermostat from his couch,” OP remarked in frustration.
Reddit Offers Suggestions for the Ohio Tenant, Some More Nefarious than Others
“Change your wifi password. Without internet access the nest cannot be remotely controlled,” suggested a commenter. Though others argued that this Ohio tenant might not be in charge of his wifi, as it might be included in the utilities. Still, plenty more Redditors joined in and recommended strategies for OP in his kerfuffle against his landlord.
“You need to outsmart your smart thermostat. Put a floor lamp with an incandescent bulb right next to it so it gets nice and warm,” chuckled a user. “Run your hairdryer at the thermostat- it will cool constantly if it thinks the temperature in there is 90,” wrote another.
A few others were a bit less ‘aggressive’ with their approach, saying that Puzzleheaded should just buy a portable A/C unit for his bedroom. Some mentioned that he should take a closer look at his lease on whether his landlord actually has legal control of the thermostat.
Puzzling as it might be, Puzzleheaded has not responded to any comments or added additional details about his lease or what the resolution would be. Still, many disagree with the landlord’s reasoning, regardless of what’s ‘legal.’ As one commenter put it, “’I’m paying for utilities so I decide’ is not how any of this works when someone is paying $1100 a month to live there.”
