I need advice desperately!

[Melissa1442]

I have a new tenant that has been here 8 days.  In VA and it’s been cold!! He tells me yesterday morning that the only heater working is the one in his bedroom and the small space heater I have left up there.
So the living room/kitchen combo, the bathroom and the common area hallway do not work. Mind you, it has been below freezing here at least 4 nights in the past week. 

I tell him I will send my husband up there in less than 2 hours to check everything out. He says ok. 
So now I see, after renting this apt for over 25+ years and about 2-3 years Airbnb, I need to test all heaters before my first winter tenant. 
Now my problem. Tenant comes back about 20 min. later and says he’s not comfortable letting anyone inside the apt. because of Covid. So now what do I do????? He wants to reset the breakers instead of my husband. So I tell him how. Long story short, after an hour, he still wants no one inside and wants more space heaters. Well my building is 100+ years old, space heaters are not to be used as  NORMAL heat,  and he can’t test the breakers, the thermostats or the hydronic baseboard heaters. Not to mention, I’m not paying a ridiculously high electric bill on space heaters!! SOOOOOOOOOO?????

So I talk to my electrician, nice country gentleman that I have used for over 30 years. He has no problem masking and gloving up, since he does so already. So we plan on him going up into the common area hallway to test the breakers and that 1 heater he can get to. (This morning) The tenant agrees to that. 
Electrician calls me this morning and says all the breakers are fine. The hallway heater actually works, the thermostat just wasn’t turned up enough to come on. And after talking with the tenant through the door, he still refused to let the electrician in to check the other heaters. So the electrician tells him to turn them all up to high. Tenant says he has done so several times. 
SO not only am I concerned for my tenant being warm and comfortable, worried about my water pipes freezing and the sanity of my tenant...I now have ONE bill so far, to pay my electrician for going upstairs and turning the knob on a heater up. Because the tenant didn’t want my husband coming up there. 
So someone please tell me what I’m supposed to do???????

I need SOMEONE to go inside the apt. and actually check that the thermostats have been turned up high enough, then test the thermostats in 2 rooms. Easy fix, if the thermostats are bad, easy to replace them. 
If I have to replace 3 hydronic baseboard heaters (which sounds fishy) it will cost me an easy $600-800 in heaters and labor. 
How do I deal with this guy???? He seems irrational to me. We do not have a large no. of Covid cases here, we only have about 14,000 people here, we are way out in the country and I think have 2-3 deaths. I’ve lived here all my life and know 4 people that have been quarantined and none that got sick. I’m at a loss as to how to deal with this. 
I personally have continued to live my life, I mask up when I have to, I work from home so I seldom leave. I just spent 2 wonderful weeks in key west and south Florida in early November and had no fear of flying or getting Covid. Masked up everyplace I was supposed to, etc.

So please tell me how to handle this.  

[Emiel1]

@Melissa1442 

The guest is overreacting (or he is hiding something....).

There is some urgent maintenance to do and the tenant must allow somebody to do the work.

Is is mainly in his own interest (otherwise no heating)

Offcourse that maintenance person can take the normal precautions related to COVID..

So tell the guest you want to make an appointment to check the heating system and otherwise you need to contact Airbnb about this guest and ask for intervention or even cancellation.

[Melissa1442]

And that was all on my list of what in the world do I do next. 
He just told me he had been talking to Airbnb and they agreed with HIM that he was not being unreasonable!! So Lord only knows what he told them!  🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️
So anyway, I did have to be stern with him and tell him I had to get the electrician inside. So he has agreed to go for a walk tomorrow and let the electrician in. Masked, gloved and protective covering on his shoes as well. ALL of which my electrician did this morning!!!  Praying it’s an easy fix so that this irrational tenant can get some heat! I think he finally got cold enough to say he needs heat now! 
TY for your response. 

[Mark116]

@Melissa1442  I would consider giving the guest an ultimatum, tell him that it isn't safe for him or the house to continue w/non working heat, so he can either work with you on developing a plan to  have the electrician inside to test the heat, or he can cancel the rest of his stay and be refunded the unused nights.  Then, the ball is in his court.  If he continues to refuse then I would contact Airbnb and ask them to do a neutral cancellation, e.g. you are not penalized.

[Melissa1442]

I did tell him that if he is going to continue to be so irrational that he would have to leave. I also told him that if my pipes freeze because he wouldn’t let my electrician in to fix the heat that he would have an expensive bill to repair all the damage. Then he said he wasn’t going to pay that. And I said oh yes you will, it will be 100% your fault, IM not paying for it. 
He seemed to realize the weight of the issue then. Thankfully it is unseasonably warm in VA right now. 
At least he had agreed to let my electrician in tomorrow afternoon to have the thermostats tested.  
if my electrician says he just had to turn them up higher, I’m gonna croak!!! 
Ive  never seen someone so freaked out about something in my life!! 

[Kelly149]

@Melissa1442 guest doesn't get to say no. It's your house, he's alerted you that maintenance is needed, he can either allow the maintenance with him there or he can depart, cancel the rest of the stay and you'll deal with it then (you know that all his money for nights not stayed goes back to him if he cancels, right?).

Say it's a safety issue and you MUST come confirm what is going on. It isn't a question.

[Melissa1442]

Well that was my thought as well. But he sounded so bazar I thought he may be barricading himself inside! 
At least he’s finally agreed to let my guy in tomorrow. 

[Sarah977]

Of course you need to get the electrician in, it's a emergency situation, and I hope it works out okay.

But I really don't think you should belittle someone else wanting to take serious precautions re possibly getting exposed to COVID, as you did in the last part of your OP here. It isn't anyone's call to dismiss the level of precautions others wish to take just because you don't view it as a threat.

@Melissa1442

[Melissa1442]

Well I’ll obviously think he’s insane. To try to refuse entry to an electrician to get the heat working???!!! Thankfully Ive never seen someone like this before and hope I don’t again anytime soon. You have no earthly clue how crazy these two days have been over something so ridiculous!! And yes, I’m venting also. My husband is in total agreement, he’s heard the conversations on speaker phone. 
It was 25 and 28 degrees the 2 previous nights (in a 100+ yo building) and thank God my pipes didn’t burst because a grown man is afraid to let an electrician in that is masked, gloved and has on shoe coverings??? He can easily lock himself in the bedroom or go sit in his car or take a walk, if he doesn’t want to stay inside.
We are in the country COUNTRY. We have less than 14,000 pop, less than 230 Covid positive cases (and I don’t know a soul that has tested positive), none hospitalized right now (my sister is a nurse at the hospital), only 2 deaths and they were elderly (and I don’t know if they were actually Covid related anyway) and our pubic schools are going to school part time, our private schools are going to school full time, my daughter included, and most of our churches are open back up as well, ALL socially distanced and masked. Oh and let me not forget my electrician was battling prostate cancer about a year ago. 
I will gladly go through all the extra Covid cleaning methods, I’m a super host and bend over backwards to make all my guests comfortable. Including getting heat to those too irrational to understand how cold it is here or the fact that pipes freeze when the temp is below freezing for many days and nights. (Which is not the case yet, it is unseasonably warm in va during the day right now)
We are not in then city and 45 min from any small city. My community wants to stay safe and not get sick either but we also are not ridiculously stopping living our lives over a illness that has a 99% survival rate either.  It’s a real illness, just like the millions of others. Some people need to stop feeding into the media hype and fear they are spreading.  Causing panic isn’t healthy and locking yourself up and secluding yourself from the world is not good for anyone. Covid precautions work and no need to go overboard. 
My family gets the normal flu shot but we will not get the Covid shot, just in case anyone is wondering. 

[Melissa1442]

I also question anyone’s sanity that will sit inside an apartment for 7 days freezing to death before they bother to tell me they have no heat except in the bedroom. Our daytime temps have been 35-60 and our nighttime temps 25-48. 
My building is old and drafty, it’s next to another tall building and his apt faces north so only gets late afternoon sun. 
i e worked downstairs since 1991, I can totally tell you how cold it gets in the winter. 

[Sarah977]

As I indicated, it's unacceptable for him not to want to let the electrician in for a situation like this.

It's also unacceptable to apply your views on COVID precautions to anyone else and to call them crazy just because they are fearful about it. What's crazy is that he couldn't understand that there wasn't any alterative to the heating issue being dealt with.

@Melissa1442

[Helen350]

@Melissa1442 's views on Covid look sane & balanced to me, @Sarah977  (except I'm not sure why she distrusts vaccination; the conspiracy theories re what it contains are discounted by doctors.)

Melissa is right, the fear re Covid is out of proportion to the reality re risk. (Other respiratory illnesses can equally lead to fatal pneumonia if you are old, weak or obese.) It amazes me that an obviously sensible person like you Sarah, should have swallowed the hysteria re Covid, so hook, line, & sinker... 

If Melissa's guest is going to be SO ridiculously over the top re avoidance of maintenance men, he should have stayed at home, not gone off to a STR!

[Sarah977]

"It amazes me that an obviously sensible person like you Sarah, should have swallowed the hysteria re Covid..."

This such a common tactic of those who refuse to pay attention to the science and the reality- characterizing people who understand the possibly devastating effects of the virus and taking precautions against contracting it as "hysteria". This exact word has been used to belittle and condemn women speaking out or seeking equal footing with men.

'hysterical and crazy were used mostly against two groups of women: those demanding entry to universities, particularly medical schools (“they’re going to overwork their brains” was an argument) and women who spoke publicly (they were seen as “abnormal, threatening and repulsive,” according to Showalter).

“Speaking out in public was so taboo and considered so unfeminine, any form of it was denounced as hysterical,” Showalter said.

Sound familiar? In 2017, Senator Kamala Harris was called “hysterical” by the former Trump aide Jason Miller for doing her job. (During a hearing, senators on ...

from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/sports/serena-williams-nike-ad.html#:~:text=Women%20being%20label...

@Helen350

[Helen350]

eh?? @Sarah977 ?

This has all got nothing to do with my point about the world over-reaction to an illness which the vast majority not only survive, but also have very mildly, & which appears now to be not SO different from other respiratory illnesses...

- I'm looking forward to a trip to the theatre in 8 days time! Lovely little place, over the field from me, seats only 207 when full, but they'll be 'social distancing', so selling fewer tickets... - A pantomime version of 'A Christmas Carol' - all over 7 welcome... - Can't wait!

[Sarah977]

It is your opinion that it's an overreaction, not some fact. And yes, it had everything to do with your post, where you characterized those who take the virus and precautions against it seriously "hysterical". 

As to asserting that it's not so different from other respiratory illnesses, that's just false. First of all, it's not necessarily a respiratory illness- it appears to be more along the lines of a vascular illness. And at least 10% of those who contract the virus, even with only mild symptoms, and even if they were young and healthy show damage to organs, which may very well be permanent and many experience ongoing fatigue that has lasted for months and hasn't resolved.

It also has 5 times the death rate of seasonal influenza.

Your reading on this topic appears to be quite selective, and of course you are entitled to your views, but please don't present them as some sort of facts.

Also we can't judge what someone else's level of risk is. We have no idea if other people may be diabetic, have a heart condition, etc. My eldest daughter, though only 48 and quite healthy, had a near-death bout of pneumonia several years ago- her lungs are compromised and she could easily die if she were to contract the virus.

@Helen350