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A tenant has won a battle with his “tight” landlord over how to plug his heating after coming up with a clever trick to turn his radiators back on.
Alin Oiste and his two housemates were fed up with their flat getting cold after the landlord of their property in Helmsley, Yorkshire, insisted on controlling the heating with his phone.
The 33-year-old says his landlord locked the system in a bid to save money, so it would only activate when the house dropped below 16 degrees; However, he figured out how to override it.
Video footage shows him removing the thermostat from the wall and storing it in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator to trick it into thinking his apartment is about eight degrees.
Another clip shows him bringing the thermostat inside, after leaving it outside to cool down to zero degrees, and putting it back in the refrigerator for the night.
Alin Oiste won a battle with her “tight” landlord, who put a limit on her heating to save money, setting the thermostat on the refrigerator to turn on the heating.
Alin claims the trick would turn on the heating in minutes and then remove the device in the morning when he and his friends were warm again.
The scheming hospitality worker says he would carefully plan this for around 10:30 p.m. because he knew the owner wouldn’t notice the thermostat’s drop in temperature.
His video has since garnered more than half a million views on TikTok, with users praising his improvisation.
Despite having since abandoned the property, he wants to encourage other tenants to give it a try and beat the cold this winter.
Landlords can control thermostats if they pay the bills, but the Housing Act 2004 says councils could take action if a tenant is not free from “dangers”, including excessive cold.
Alin, originally from Orastie, Romania, said: ‘The first half of the winter the old thermostat worked fine and then in the second half we were all very cold.
“The whole house was freezing and you couldn’t shower or bathe because you would go out and freeze.
“No matter what I put on, the temperature just wouldn’t go above 16 degrees, so I thought, ‘I’m not going to take this.’”
The 33-year-old says his landlord locked the system in a bid to save money, so it would only activate when the house dropped below 16 degrees; However, he figured out how to override it.
Alin explained: ‘My roommate thought it wouldn’t work, but it did. The thermostat didn’t detect how long it had been there, so it kept running until I took it out.
Another clip shows him bringing the thermostat inside, after leaving it outside to cool down to zero degrees, and putting it back in the refrigerator for the night.
“He was doing it to save money on his heating bill, so he was just being strict.”
He explained: ‘By putting the thermostat on the refrigerator, we tricked the homeowner and the thermostat into thinking the house was much colder than it was.
‘My roommate thought it wouldn’t work, but it did. The thermostat didn’t detect how long it had been there, so it kept running until I took it out.
‘During the day, the owner had a business nearby, so I could come in and see why it was so cold in the house, so it was right at night when I got home from work.
‘I knew I wouldn’t be checking at night. She had thought of everything.
“I had it on from 10pm all night until morning and we did that for a couple of months until summer started and there was no need for heat. I wanted to share it because I thought it was fun.”
Alin left the flat in September and has since moved to Scotland, where her landlord allows her to control her own heating.
He believes landlords should allow their tenants to control their own thermostat, adding, “I think landlords should trust the tenants more and let them change it.”
“If no one’s home, there’s no point in having it on so you can turn it off, but it’s a fine line because a lot of people forget.”
“I would tell anyone who is having difficulty getting their homeowner to control their thermostat to try putting it in the refrigerator.”
Her viral video was titled “when the owner overrides the thermostat, but you can easily override it” and has more than 300 comments.
One commented: ’16 degrees? Absolute misery, with a second written: ‘Good job!’
A third added: “Oh you won,” to which Alin replied: “Joke’s on him,” along with laughing emojis.