A nightmare landlady has shocked a young tenant by putting a glass covering around his thermostat without warning.

Alex Milsom, 21, who works in public relations, discovered the two-week-old Nest thermostat had been locked up while he was out of the house, in Ealing, on Saturday.

The temperature has turned colder and there is no hot water in the house, meaning he couldn't use the shower on Monday morning.

After confronting the landlady, Mr Milsom was told the case was necessary to stop people changing the settings.

A picture posted by him on Twitter went viral, accompanied by the caption: “Welcome to renting in London! My landlord has just put our thermostat in a cage.”

Some Twitter users suggested ways of getting around the case, either by putting ice packs around the thermostat to warm the house up or by hacking it using his phone, while others dubbed him a “typical millennial”.

Mr Milsom said: “With no notice that I am aware of, we found a cage put on our Nest thermostat which had only just been installed about two weeks prior, without any notification of spending too much. Our house is all-inclusive with bills and the landlord doesn’t live-in.

“It’s all quite hilarious but I also had to shower at work this morning because there was no hot water, and the landlady has not budged from her view, instead saying the cover is necessary to stop people changing settings.”

He added: “This is all a bit funny how viral it is has gone and I love how everyone has been very endearing with their support - even if I was called a ‘typical millennial’ on Twitter.”