'Our apartment plummeted to 50°F, that was the final straw': Penny-pinching landlord charged $650 after telling their tenants they can't use the gas heater, tenants warm the house with the electric oven instead

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jan 19, 2024 7:00 PM EST

Canada is insanely cold. If you've never been to the most northern corners of North America, you might not even really understand what -40°F feels like. Curious about the sensation of having the watery layers of your skin cells freeze on contact with the outside air? Head up to Canada during an arctic blizzard. 

That's why heaters are so desperately important and in our next story, one tenant proves to their landlord the cost of being cheap when it comes to turning on the heat. 

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  • There are moments in the wintertime when even the most desperately stubborn residents will have to turn on the heater. Without a fireplace, wood stove, or solar-powered heating system, it can get inordinately costly to run the heater. Usually, when your life is at stake and the interior temperature of your home rivals a polar bear enclosure, it's time to start thinking about running the heat instead of cutting costs. 

  • Our next story is about a pair of college students living in an unfinished basement in Canada. Like many of us during the formidable years of our early 20's, u/nalorin and his girlfriend were desperate to cut every corner to save a little cash– even if that meant living in the freezing cold. But once that real Canadian chill settled through the house, they recognized an even more daunting foe: a landlord that refused to pay for them to run the heater. 

  • Scroll for the entire chilling tale of how this young couple maliciously complied with their landlord's request, costing him $650 and heating the house enough to keep all 10 of their toes.

  • 01
    "That's simply too cold!"
    via canva
  • 02
    r/pettyrevenge Posted by u/nalorin Don't turn on our natural gas boiler in winter? Fine, we'll use electricity! I was just reminded of this, while responding to another thread. It happened over 15 years ago.
    via nalorin
  • 03
    My ex-wife and I were both students, near Calgary, Alberta and rented a basement suite that the landlords had converted from an unfinished basement garage space. Rent included utilities and Internet. The only problem: the house was on a boiler and, when they walled-in the suite to separate it from the garage, they installed the thermostat in the garage, instead of in the suite.
    via nalorin
  • 04
    This led to several problems the following winter. Every time the temperature got below minus 10 °C (about 15 °F), our suite would plummet to 12-14 °C (54-57 °F). We brought it to their attention each time and for 12-48 hours after that, it was a balmy 20-22 °C (68-72 °F) in our apartment.
    via nalorin
  • 05
    This kept happening, though, and we kept complaining... After the fifth or sixth time, we told them that we couldn't even keep things comfortable with a space heater. We added that it would cost a few dollars a month more in gas to heat our apartment properly. Running a space heater would cost much more than that.
    via nalorin
  • 06
    They apologized and, once again, we had heat for a couple days. Then we had a cold snap and the temperature dropped to -40 °C (-40 °F) outside and our apartment plummeted to 10 °C (50 °F). We were so cold that we started wearing our COATS (not just sweaters or even jackets) inside.
    via nalorin
  • 07
    That was the last straw. So my wife and I decided to stop complaining and take matters into our own hands: we bought a large box fan, opened the oven, and placed the fan on its door. We turned on the oven and, within an hour or two, had a reasonable 19 °C (66 °F) in our apartment. We kept the temperature around 18-20 °C (64-68 °F) throughout the cold snap- about 2 weeks.
    via nalorin
  • 08
    Some warm weather followed for the next few weeks and then we got a knock on our door... It was the landlord: Turns out, their electric bill was $650, up from their usual peak of $100! Now, something to know about the law in Alberta: if utilities are included in rent, you CANNOT charge the tenant for overages, whether reasonable or not. You can only sue if they were wilfully negligent. I
    via nalorin
  • 09
    pointed this out to the landlord and they threatened to sue (idiotically believing us to be the negligent ones). I replied that I'm sure a city inspector would be happy to hear about your illegal basement suite in which you didn't even have the decency to install a thermostat and how, as a result, we've had to endure temperatures closer to freezing than to room temperature, and then threatened to counter-sue, and finished with "who do you think is gonna win that fight?" Suffice to say, we had a
    via nalorin
  • 10
    BooterTooterBravo. I love how -40 is the same C or F 197 Reply Share 42 CorrectSuccotash218. ...Except I almost never have a temperature that low to talk about... ... Reply Share nalorin OP. Move to the Prairies in Canada! Then you'll get an opportunity nearly every year!
    via BooterTooterBravo
  • 11
    mrcalistarius I was doing some training for fabrication equipment in Connecticut, lived in alberta, born raised and currently in BC. The two gentlemen i was talking to from the Carolina's were adamant that temperatures of -40 weren't possible
    via mrcalistarius
  • 12
    tarpfitter I needed this today. 27 nalorin OP Reply Share Did it warm your soul? 23 Reply Share tarpfitter It warmed my belief that we can all stick it to the man! I wish I had a third of your resourcefulness.
    via tarpfitter
  • 13
    kagato87 LL got off cheap. The laws here in Alberta are very clear on this matter. Reply Share….. 25 nalorin OP Yup. Part of me hoped he would try to sue me. I knew I had a such a rock solid case that, as long as I wasn't an arrogant in the courtroom, it would've ended very badly for him. And the judge likely would've assigned punitive damages that would be much worse than a slap on the wrist.
    via kagato87
  • 14
    panicboy333 I don't understand... I assume the garage would not be heated, so if you set your dial to 20, the heating would come on and stay on until the thermostat in the garage got to 20, which it never would because there's no heating in the garage, so wouldn't it have the opposite effect of making your apartment unbearably hot?
    via panicboy333
  • 15
    Suitable Eggplant639 Did you stay long there after that or did you have to find a new place? I'd assume the relationship soured quite a bit after that.
    via SuitableEggplant639
  • 16
    nalorin OP I left my ex the following summer (a little more than 3 months before our lease was up) after getting fed up with some unresolved problems that --for the sake of my ex, I will not disclose them here-went unresolved throughout the 3.5 years we were married.
    via nalorin
  • 17
    I didn't have much going into the relationship, so I just took about 25% of our shared cash and the few possessions that were mine before meeting her and left her with everything else (after having paid over $14K of her student loans during our relationship). I didn't want to give her any reason to contest the divorce the following year... The last thing I wanted was a lengthy emotional battle where only the lawyers win.
    via nalorin
  • 18
    SnooFloofs1805 Lol. Won't disclose them here and then tease us with the second paragraph. Seinfeld moment! George: You ask me to have lunch, tell me you slept with Elaine, and then say you're not in the mood for details. Now you listen to me. I want details and I want them right now. I don't have a job, I have no place to go. You're not in the mood? Well you get in the mood! No disrespect to your situation at the time.
    via SnooFloofs1805
  • 19
    Don Vago The small flat that i briefly lived in during the early 80s had a coin operated electricity meter, fitted and operated by the landloard, who had the bill in his name. Being his own meter, it was set to a usurious rate & when the temps dropped, i was feeding it 50 p coins like a one-armed bandit.On moving in i noticed that the glass on the front of the meter was cracked & a small triangular piece was missing. I pointed this out to the landlord, who said don't worry it's safe, no problem.
    via Don_Vago
  • 20
    nalorin OP That's an odd system. Such a billing method is illegal in Alberta, AFAIK. Alberta had a deregulated energy market, so you can buy your power from whomever you want, but I believe the provider has to be a registered utility provider. That's some swell revenge, though!
    via nalorin
  • 21
    bananapanqueques I don't miss living in a (very illegal) 1/3 basement. The rent was lower but the windows didn't open and our heat was a single baseboard radiant heater without thermostat. Close to but not as cold as Alberta, thankfully.
    via bananapanqueques
  • 22
    incendiary_bandit I grew up in Calgary and now live in Australia. Fun fact... In winter my apartment will drop to 10deg C sometimes as there's zero heating or insulation. All single pane windows too. I'm in Brisbane, Melbourne rentals have been measured to be as low as 5deg C sometimes in cold snaps. Newer places might have reverse aircon units, but all I have is a few ceiling fans, and a portable aircon I bought myself.
    via incendiary_bandit
  • 23
    Bigstachedad. I can only dream of a house where the thermostat is set at 70-77 degrees in winter. I have it set at 67 degrees and wear a sweater and coat. My average utility bill in winter is $225 per month.
    via Bigstachedad
  • 24
    nalorin OP Honestly, even 18°C/64°F would've been fine for us. We were happy (initially) to wear sweatclothes to make up the difference. But when it's so cold that your feet are constantly getting cold, even with shoes on, and you have to break out coats because sweaters and jackets aren't enough to keep you warm unless you're constantly moving around? That's simply too cold!
    via nalorin

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