Can I impose a set temperature limit on my rental?

Question

Hi all,

this is my first house, first rental, first time landlord situation where I acquired my family home through inheritance.

I have had good tenants for 6 months, however I found out during their occupancy in winter (the season they moved in), they were keeping the temperature at 26 Celsius (79 F) in the house all the time. They do pay for their own utilities, but my question is ; does keeping an HVAC at consistently hot or cold temperatures increase wear and tear? Or no because it's a closed system (assuming windows etc closed)?

Likewise, now I have an AC problem where it is not producing cold air.. and I know when I get it fixed they will be keeping the temperature super low. Because I have large temperature fluctuations in all months except July and August, I can only assume they will be flipping the thermostat from hot to cold, as night and day ..

I had never written into the lease specifics for house temperatures (I never thought I would honestly see someone up a thermostat up that high lol), but I know in my province of Manitoba that during the winter, temperature must be room 21 Celsius during the day and a minimum of 18 Celsius at night. There is nothing stated for summer months.

So is this okay usage by tenants, regardless of the temperature they choose to keep it at?

And,

How are others writing in requirements for HVAC maintenance? Do you make house calls and filter replacements the responsibility of the tenants?

Or do you think your tenants are not reliable enough to maintain such expensive equipment?

My mother once called a computer technician to plug in a printer, cause she couldn't figure out what was wrong...

So I am very concerned that I may get tenants in the future who can't figure out simple things like thermostats, and I waste my time showing them *AGAIN* what to do. Also I plan on being long distance, so I don't want to have to pay a technician to do the same.

All insight and advice welcome!

Wesley W. · Answer

I literally had this same question that I posted two months ago.

The long and short of it is:

(1) there are products that do what you are asking (Landlordstats in IL)

(2)  yes it does increase wear and tear on the HVAC if they set the temp high/low

(3)  you are not paying for utilities, so it's not really your place to dictate temp, but set your rent with that HVAC capital expense in mind

I chose to replace my analog thermostat with a digital one controlled by the tenant.

Ruth Blue · Answer

@Bree Happ

We have vacation rentals. We have had our HVAC contractor recommend and install. Honeywell thermostats. It has a max high and max low lockable with password. We had to install these in a few cabins because when its was really hot the guests would  lock up our ac units turning temps to 60. It has been great.

Anna Sagatelova · Answer

When a tenant rents a property from you, they do not care that you are trying to eek out more life out of your 25+ year HVAC system. Nor should they! Plenty of other landlords will rent to them without micromanaging. They're paying for their own utilities; that's enough incentive not to run the system with windows open. Beyond that, it's none of the landlord's business if they have heat/AC on even if nobody is home. Your idea to monitor their internal temperature and make them pay if they set the thermostat outside of your approved range would make me run the other way.

FWIW several HVAC specialists have told me it's actually LESS energy expended and less wear and tear on the system to set a temp for the season and leave it alone. If your tenants don't run the system when they aren't home, the system will have to work much harder to cool/heat the space when they do get home and flip the switch.

Colleen Mullins · Answer

Temperature restrictions? Yea, good luck with that. It's totally ridiculous micro management. The tenants are paying their own utilities!  If you're concerned with HVAC replacement costs, get a home warranty and build the cost into the rent.

As far as filters, I normally see landlords or management companies go in every 3 months and replace the filters for the tenants. (Remember, if they wanted to do maintenance they would buyers and not renters). In addition, it gives the landlord or management company a reason to view the property and address any other issues.

Bree Happ · Answer

@Ruth Blue

ThanksRuth, I do have a Honeywell (cheap one), but perhaps it has lockable temperatures. However for vacation rentals that seems okay because they're short term, but for long term the tenants might scoff at having imposed limits?

Or, maybe having locked limits would be like an unwritten rule they might just abide by?

Bree Happ · Answer

I will definitely at to my lease the rule about windows and A/C; not even to enforce it, as much as just make the tenants aware of such things. I am quite environmentally conscious and my goal is to make the house way more energy efficient, so seeing windows open with AC on irks me at a different level lol.

Natalie Kolodij · Answer

79 is super warm- that's like...barely running the AC I would think. I'm kept at 70 all the time due to owning a bulldog (they can't handle heat at all).

I would note something that running the AC with windows/doors left open is not allowed but it's more a suggestion- how would you enforce that?

I realize wanting to keep capex down- but your unit is 25 years old. It should be in your plans. And I don't think impeding a  tenant's comfort/temperate choice should over ride costs.

I think adding reasonable requests to the leases like no windows open w/ unit running, ect would be reasonable but I woudln't literally control it w/ a digital system.

Bree Happ · Answer

All the replies are awesome, thank you.

It definitely makes sense to plan for capital expenditures in the rent. I'm not used to all these micro and macro expenses yet, like keeping an HVAC running smoothly.

Its a really good excuse to go in to check the inside conditions as well!

In response to the micro managing, and to enforce the temperature restrictions, I have a WiFi therostat that I can check anytime anywhere; I could simply write in a conditional fee saying if "the thermostat is found to be above x temperature, a fee of x will be applied for the whole month, regardless of usage".

It seems silly, but so does having your room temperature at 79F day and night regardless of occupancy, or running AC with windows open..  The property I acquired has a 25 year old system, and I want to make it's life last as long as possible before I replace, and not have it shortened by improper usage. As for micro-management, I'm letting the fee reason with their judgement (to pay or not to pay). I wouldn't be invading their space or privacy in any way nor actually watching the thermostat from my phone neurotically, but could easily switch to the app once in a while to check.

Seems reasonable and fair to me, and as a way to not build capital expenditures into rent. Feel free to poke holes!

Percy Matsunaga · Answer

@ Bree Happ

I would definitely hire a property manager and get the headache off your mind.

If you plan to be out of state, that might be the best way. Im living in Hawaii and I have a PM managing my property in CA. they can handle the day to day issues.

There is a cap of $200 for any type of maintenance work they can do without my approval. anything more than that, I get an email detailing the scope of the work and I approve it.

Setting a temp restriction is going to be very difficult. Not to mention it will be too much micro managing.

Natalie Kolodij · Answer

Someone just posted a FB post about this same thing- He literally wants to lock the thermostats or install a digital one so he can keep from from setting it below 68 becuase "There is no valid reason for any one to set it below that temp ever"

This is the kind of thing that makes people assume landlords only care about money and not humans.

Being more concerned w/ wear on your HVAC than a tenant living comfortable.

Don't be a literal Snow Miser.

Can I impose a set temperature limit on my rental?

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