Landlord caused a change in thermostat settings

[superposter123]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? - Illinois

Hi,

We are renting a large commercial space and since we are renting the largest portion, we agreed to pay all utilities. In December we had set all thermostats to 60. When we came back from break in January, some thermostats were changed up to 80 while others were at 70. The place was a sauna and the utility bill is now astronomical.

We are not sure how the thermostats changed, but know that it wasn't us. We confronted the landlord who has access to the space. He said it was not him nor his partner that touched the thermostat and that he won't be responsible for the bill. However, he did confirm that he left a door open in the back all this time. This door leads to another tenant's space with the reason that this was to condition the other space. There was a large electric fan turned on in the door to move air.

What are our rights here? Clearly, it is impossible for us to prove that it was the landlord or anyone else who turned up the thermostat, but given that he left the back door open, I would imagine this moves at least some of the responsibility to him since he enabled unsupervised 3rd party access to our space.

Looking forward to your advice.

 

[justalayman]

How is this other tenants space heated normally? Is it typical that door is left open?

Does the thermostat in your space also affect the heat in the other tenants space?

Did you set the thermostats at 60 when you left? If so, what are they normally set at?

Have you spoken to the other tenant asking if they had anything to do with this?

 

[superposter123]

Answers in line:

How is this other tenants space heated normally? Is it typical that door is left open?

He doesn't require heating since he only uses the space for storage. No, this door is supposed to be closed, we had our landlord add a lock to the other door to our space because we don't want anyone else to have access to it.


Does the thermostat in your space also affect the heat in the other tenants space?

There's one thermostat per heater. There are several heaters distributed across our space.

Did you set the thermostats at 60 when you left? If so, what are they normally set at?

Yes, we set ALL thermostats to 60 and actually checked twice. We also have text messages of our conversation in which my teammate confirms that he just ensured all thermostats are set to 60 (the last time any one of us was in the space in Dec. ). We always keep them at this temperature to save $$ and because we don't need heat in there.

Have you spoken to the other tenant asking if they had anything to do with this? No we have not. Our landlord said he would reach out to him.

 

[justalayman]

Something doesn't make sense then. If the other unit doesn't require heat, just who would not only open the door but set up a fan to blow air into the other unit?

You didn't answer my question about the temperature setting clearly. Are the Stats normally set to 60 even when you are using the unit?


And if you do, it's odd you would check each one and especially even texting each other to ensure they are set to 60. If they are always at 60, a cursory glance seems appropriate. Making the effort you did suggests you don't always keep them at 60

 

[FarmerJ]

You might be free to install locking covers over wall mounted thermostats ( check your lease) ,I imagine you are free to install a nanny cam type of camera that would trip with motion and record all entries into your space since I cant see why your lease would bar you from adding security measures. ( check your lease) Id say maybe you should find a wireless type security system that can monitor temperatures and send that information to you via the web or somehow where you can check the temperature via a phone.) If by chance your LL or anyone else entered with out giving you any notice and changed your settings with a nanny cam set up then you would hopefully get a good enough of a video to identify the person.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? - Illinois

Hi,

We are renting a large commercial space and since we are renting the largest portion, we agreed to pay all utilities. In December we had set all thermostats to 60. When we came back from break in January, some thermostats were changed up to 80 while others were at 70. The place was a sauna and the utility bill is now astronomical.

We are not sure how the thermostats changed, but know that it wasn't us. We confronted the landlord who has access to the space. He said it was not him nor his partner that touched the thermostat and that he won't be responsible for the bill. However, he did confirm that he left a door open in the back all this time. This door leads to another tenant's space with the reason that this was to condition the other space. There was a large electric fan turned on in the door to move air.

What are our rights here? Clearly, it is impossible for us to prove that it was the landlord or anyone else who turned up the thermostat, but given that he left the back door open, I would imagine this moves at least some of the responsibility to him since he enabled unsupervised 3rd party access to our space.

Looking forward to your advice.

Is your concern one of an ongoing situation or is your concern that you simply cannot afford to pay the astronomical utility bill that arose from this one action? If its the latter I honestly do understand as I am very familiar with utility bills for warehouse/commercial spaces.

Unfortunately, if your main problem is this one bill, then the situation is simply not going to be resolved in enough time to deal with that. Your only option is to contact the utility company and try to work out a payment plan with them.

In the meantime, you can try to find out who jacked up the thermostats and you can work on ways to make sure that this never happens again...as others have suggested.

Obviously only someone who had access to the space could have done it. Your story is a bit unclear when you talk about a door being left open...was it left open so that any member of the public could have entered or was it left open so that only someone legitimate could have entered?

However, for the future I would suggest that even during holidays you make it a point to stop by and check out what is going on in the space.