Thermostat Limited to 73, Tenant Complaining Too Cold!

[Sunny Burns]

We have a nest thermostat,which is awesome because you can limit it to whatever temperature you want. Currently I have it locked so it can go no higher than 73 degrees. In my own home I do not ever set it higher than 68. By law in NJ if the landlord has control of the thermostat you must keep the heat to at least 68 degrees from 6am-11pm and 65 degrees at all other times. So I think 73 is more than reasonable. I received the following text last night, how would you other landlords respond? I want to keep the tenant happy, but if I raise it any more I feel upstairs unit will complain that it is too hot, I also want to keep the Natural Gas costs to a reasonable level.

[Colleen F.]

If you are paying for heat and it exceeds the required  temperature you can just say no.  It does have to reach the required temperature in all rooms at a certain distance above the floor. It can be set correctly and still be too low in actual temperature (but i doubt that is the case). More likely there is an issue in a particular room or they just like it hot. Have them check vents are good and open and windows are closed.   If they are complaining about a specific room troubleshoot that. If the bedrooms are closed it may be the thermostat room shows it is warm but heat isn't getting to a room that is closed off.  I would first check the actual temperature is as set and the tenant does not have a room specific complaint.   If all is well explain that is the legal temperature and you will not be keeping it higher, did they just move in?

If you remotely see it is above require temperature and you like to text you can just say it show x temperature as required-is there a problem with a particular room? check vents.