A landlord or HMO manager in England may set the heating programme: the times the system runs and the target temperature. What the landlord cannot do is leave rooms below the temperatures the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) treats as excess cold, which is 21°C in the main living room and 18°C in other habitable rooms when it is −1°C outside. The same government guidance adds one sentence that decides most arguments about locked thermostats: heating and hot water must be capable of being controlled effectively and timed to operate by the occupiers. This page sets out what a timer may do, where a locked control runs into trouble, what each room still needs, and which checks a resident can safely make.
Can a landlord in an HMO set the heating timer and the thermostat?
A landlord or HMO manager may decide the heating programme in an HMO, including when the system fires and for how long. England sets no minimum number of heating hours per day. It sets an outcome instead.
That outcome comes from two places. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires a landlord on a tenancy under seven years to keep the installations for space heating and heating water in proper working order. The HHSRS landlord and agent guide then describes what the system has to achieve: all habitable rooms, bathrooms and WCs heated, the main living room to 21°C and other habitable rooms to 18°C, at an outside temperature of −1°C.
A tight timer is not the same thing as a broken heating system. Section 11 bites when the installation itself fails. A house where rooms simply never warm up is an excess cold question, and the local council assesses that hazard under the HHSRS.
The key sentence for HMO heating controls is in the government's HHSRS guide for landlords and agents in England: heating and hot water must be capable of being controlled effectively and timed to operate by the occupiers. That is the test a locked thermostat or a sealed timer box has to pass.
Is a locked thermostat or a sealed timer box allowed in an HMO?
A locked thermostat in an HMO runs against the HHSRS expectation in England that occupiers can control and time their own heating and hot water. The landlord and agent guide puts it in those words. Whether a council acts in a particular house is a judgement that council makes after an inspection, so nobody can tell you the result in advance.
Residents with no access to any control can raise it in writing with the landlord or the manager first. The government's tenant guide to the HHSRS explains the route to the local council if nothing changes. The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 separately stop the manager from unreasonably causing the gas, electricity or water supply used by residents to be interrupted.
A middle path is common in HMOs. The landlord keeps the programmer, and every radiator gets a thermostatic radiator valve (TRV), a valve that senses room temperature and throttles that one radiator. On the usual 1 to 5 scale, setting 3 is roughly 20°C and the snowflake symbol is about 5°C frost protection. Turning each valve every two or three months stops the pin seizing. Which radiator must not have a TRV is covered in our guide on TRVs on radiators.
What temperature does each room in an HMO have to reach?
Around 21°C is the healthy indoor temperature in the HHSRS guidance for England, and the risk scale below it is set out clearly. Under 19°C the guidance records a low health risk. Under 16°C there are serious risks to the respiratory and cardiovascular system, particularly for older people. Under 10°C the risk of hypothermia is high.
The installation requirement sits next to those figures. The heating must be in good and safe working condition and capable of heating all habitable rooms, bathrooms and WCs, with the main living room at 21°C and the other habitable rooms at 18°C, at −1°C outside. The same guidance says no room should exceed 25°C during the heating season.
Every habitable room in the HMO counts, not only the shared lounge and the hallway. Bedrooms are usually run cooler than living space, in the region of 16 to 18°C, which a TRV can deliver without dragging the whole house down. What a landlord has to provide room by room is set out in heating in every room.
One locked timer or room-by-room controls: which setup suits an HMO?
In a bills-included HMO, both control setups keep energy use in check for the landlord. They differ in who may adjust what, and in how much installation work each one takes.
| Criterion | One locked timer and thermostat | TRVs and room-by-room control |
|---|---|---|
| Who can adjust the heating | Only the person with the key or the code sets times and temperature | Residents set each radiator; the landlord keeps the programme and the boiler settings |
| Rooms nobody is using | One setting covers the whole house, so empty rooms heat with the rest | Each valve can go down to the frost setting, so unused rooms draw less heat |
| Occupier control under the HHSRS wording | Occupiers cannot time or control the heating at all, which is what the guidance expects them to do | Each room is adjustable, and a correctly placed room thermostat still governs the boiler |
| Bedroom comfort | A cold bedroom stays cold while another room overheats on the same setting | Bedrooms can sit around 16 to 18°C while the living room runs warmer |
| Work involved | Nothing is installed; the programmer is simply set and locked | Valves fitted on radiators; a separate zone needs wiring and work by a qualified engineer |
Boiler Plus applies in England whenever a boiler is replaced in an existing home, and has done since 6 April 2018. The replacement must come with time control, temperature control and a boiler interlock. A combi boiler needs one further measure as well: weather compensation, load compensation, flue gas heat recovery, or a smart control with automation and optimisation. A boiler change in an HMO is therefore the natural moment to move from one locked dial to controls each room can use.
Bills included in an HMO: can the landlord limit how much heating you use?
Bills included is the reason most HMO heating runs on a fixed programme, because the landlord carries the energy cost rather than the room. Setting times and temperatures is allowed. Making money on the energy is not.
Ofgem's maximum resale price rules cover anyone who resells gas or electricity, and name landlords supplying tenants in rented accommodation. The charge may not exceed what the landlord paid, standing charges included. The rule has applied since 1 January 2003, and the method of working the figure out must be soundly based and transparent. Ofgem issued a call for input on reselling gas and electricity in October 2025, so the framework is under review.
A bills-included arrangement does not lower the heating standard. The HHSRS temperatures apply in the same way as in a house where residents pay their own energy bills.
Why a tightly timed hot water cylinder in an HMO causes a problem
A hot water timer trimmed to the minimum in an HMO collides with the temperatures legionella control relies on. HSE guidance says hot water should be stored at 60°C and should reach 50°C at the outlets within one minute. Legionella bacteria lie dormant below 20°C and do not survive above 60°C. Landlords of residential property have duties in respect of legionnaires' disease.
Monitoring has its own rhythm. Sentinel outlets and the stored water temperature are checked monthly, cold water tanks at least every six months, by a competent person. Scalding is the counterweight to a high storage temperature, so outlet temperatures matter as much as the cylinder itself.
Cylinder thermostats and immersion heaters are not resident territory. Manufacturer instructions for unvented cylinders give a recommended thermostat setting of 60 to 65°C, state that the factory-set thermal cut-out must never be bypassed, and require the electrical supply to be isolated before a cover is removed. Setting or resetting those controls is work for the appropriate qualified engineer, not for someone in the house.
What can a resident in an HMO check safely, and what needs an engineer?
Four checks are safe for a resident in an HMO when a room stays cold, and they often explain the problem without anyone opening anything.
- Boiler pressure on the front gauge, typically around 1 to 1.5 bar with the system cold.
- Thermostat and programmer settings. If the timer is off, the heating stays off however cold the house is, because the timer overrides the thermostat. The heating also never comes on when the set temperature sits below the actual room temperature.
- The reset button, usually near the display or built into a dial.
- Bleeding a radiator, with the boiler switched off and cooled down first, because very hot water can come out. System pressure drops afterwards, so check the gauge again.
Thermostat placement explains many cold HMO rooms. Beside a door or an open window the thermostat reads too cold. Above a radiator, next to a television or inside a small utility cupboard it reads too warm, and the heating barely runs. A hallway or the main living room is the usual position.
Everything past those four points belongs to a Gas Safe registered engineer: the flue, seals, the condensate run inside the appliance, ignition faults and anything behind the boiler casing. The annual gas safety check on each appliance and flue the landlord provides is a duty under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended. The record is kept for two years, goes to existing tenants within 28 days and to new tenants before they move in. The detail for shared houses is in gas safety in an HMO, and you can arrange a landlord gas safety certificate (CP12) for the property with a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Sources
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11 (repairing obligations)
- The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006
- Landlord and agent guide to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
- Tenant guide to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
- Ofgem: guidance on maximum resale price for gas and electricity
- Ofgem: Reselling Gas and Electricity, call for input (October 2025)
- HSE: hot and cold water systems and legionella temperatures
- HSE: legionella and landlords' responsibilities
- HSE: gas safety check records and what to keep
- Baxi: Boiler Plus requirements for boiler replacements in England
- Viessmann: radiator valves explained (TRV settings)
- Ideal Heating: why is my boiler not working (timer overrides the thermostat)
- Heatrae Sadia: PremierPlus unvented cylinder installation and user manual