Dragons Den entrepreneur accused of ‘evil idea’ after being paid £80,000 for a thermostat designed to limit landlords on how long tenants can leave their heating on

Dragons’ Den viewers say they have ‘put off’ watching the BBC show after a private landlord secured investment for his thermostat company, leaving tenants unable to turn on their heating.

Anthony Cherry, a landlord from Amersham in Buckinghamshire, presented the Dragons with his TIME:O:STAT invention in Thursday night’s episode.

The TIME:O:STAT is managed by the tenants, but means the heating can only be left on for two hours at a time. Tenants can also opt for a ‘comfort mode’ of up to eight hours at a lower temperature – but cannot choose to run the heating continuously.

Mr Cherry, who has been investing in houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) for 20 years, especially in student housing, claimed his idea would ‘save the landlord time and energy’.

But after securing an £80,000 investment from entrepreneur Touker Suleyman in return for a 20 per cent stake if he got his money back, viewers were left shocked that the Dragons had promoted such a ‘bad idea’.

One wrote on

“And none of the dragons thought it was sexy?! It kind of put me off the whole program.”

Another added: ‘What a bad idea. I can’t keep the heat on on a cold night unless the greedy landlord allows it.’

A third said: ‘Touker has invested in a landlord who wants to determine how often his tenants have the heating on. Not cool,” while a fourth added: “Why isn’t anyone pointing out the HUGE moral issue with this stupid thermostat?

“How dare he dictate what temperature his paying tenants should keep their homes at? I assume they’re all insulated to the highest standards, right?’

Speaking to the Dragons, Cherry said: ‘During a maintenance visit I noticed there was a problem.

‘It was a warm, sunny day and the tenants were not at home, but the heating was on full blast and the windows were wide open.

‘When I spoke to the tenants, they said the thermostat was too complicated and they left the heating on continuously. When I looked at the thermostat I completely understood what they were trying to say.

“So I decided to make something custom.”

He initially asked for an investment of £80,000 in return for a 10 percent stake in his company.

He said his thermostat company aimed to simplify the process of heating homes because renters could press the + button in the left corner to add more time if necessary.

The idea is to control how long the heating remains on, but tenants can choose to turn the heating back on at any time.

Sara Davies agreed that thermostats are too complicated, saying: ‘I remember being at university and never being able to control the thermostat.

“It’s just different from the others – there are still a lot of buttons and a lot of options, and even that is more complicated than it needs to be.”

After first launching in 2016 and redesigned three times, Cherry impressed the team when he said TIME:O:STAT made a net profit of £93,000 in 2023.

But at a purchase price of £169.99 or £229.99 for each thermostat – compared to £20 for an average model – Deborah Meaden backed out of a deal due to the high capital expenditure.

Sara Davies, Peter Jones and Stephen Bartlett also said they were out because of alternatives in the market such as Nest.

But real estate investor Souker made a last-minute deal with Cherry, but wanted a 35 percent return in the company, dropping to 25 if he made his money back.

After a tense negotiation, Cherry was offered the full £80,000 – and Souker agreed to a 20 percent stake in the company if he received a return on his investment.

After leaving the room, Cherry told the camera, “That was one of the most intense experiences of my life. Amazingly tense, scary, nerve-wracking. Wow.’

Last week, Steven Bartlett left his fellow entrepreneurs red-eyed after closing a lightning deal with a leading company.

But he has also been labeled as ‘out of touch’ by viewers of this series after talking about companies being sent PR packages.

Dragons’ Den continues next Thursday at 8pm on BBC One.