First Duplex-One Furnace. How to navigate?

[Kyle Galloway]

My partner and I are finishing up a duplex. It has one furnace and one thermostat in the down unit that controls the temperature for the entire house-both units. My plan is to get a lock box installed around the thermostat so the tenants cannot adjust it once we agree on a temp so only I have access. My question-how do I navigate the billing and rents? The bill for the furnace will likely end up on the gas bill for the lower 2 bdr unit. This will give a huge discount for the 1 bdr upper unit and obviously a huge liability to the downstairs. I have looked in to installing an upstairs furnace and separating but it is not economical. My thoughts:

Communicate and be transparent with the tenants for both units and explain the situation-I.E. the downstairs tenant is essentially paying for the heat of the upstairs. I would then give a "discount" of say $75/month for the downstairs unit-the unit paying for the heat-and an offsetting "charge" of $75 to the upper unit. This $ amount can be adjusted when I do the research with the utility company on historical costs-assuming I can-but that is the concept. Also the lockbox so the downstairs tenant cannot alter the temp for the upper unit. I control it all and list the temp in the lease potentially. Does 69 degrees sound reasonable? That is what I keep my own house. 

Do you guys think this is fair? Do you believe the tenants will think this is fair? Thoughts or ideas?

[Account Closed]

Pretend you're looking for a place to rent.  Now, would you want to rent a place where the landlord has a padlock on the thermostat and you have no way to control the temperature in your home?

If you want decent tenants, you need to give them a home you would want to live in.  If you have weird, unreasonable terms, you will only attract applicants who are so desperate, they will agree to anything in order to get housing.  And desperate applicants never make for good tenants.  They are big problems waiting to move into your life.