Utilities in a multi family

[Jay Smith]

I need some advice.I’m in the metro detroit area and I’m looking to purchase this multi family property that only has one furnace for both units, water and electric is separate. My question is I guess will be responsible for the gas bill, how would i price my rents to reflect the gas bill. And which tenant will control the thermostat. As a landlord have you experience tenants having conflicts on what the temperature is set to. Or is there a way to Governor the temperature

[Brandon Rush]

Hey Jay,

Good question, I actually own a 4 unit where the owner pays for everything but electric. I would recommend trying the thermostat called LandLordStat. They have various models of thermostats that limit how high a tenant can turn up the temperature in a unit. These same thermostats also have an auto temperature decrease function which brings the heat down to 68 degrees if the thermostat is not touched for 3 hours. This allows for the tenant to have some sense of control while having some controls of your own in place. This will be my first season using them so I cannot give a review yet, but the concept makes sense. 

The one downside I can see to thermostats like this is the maximum temperature may not be enough for some poorly insulated apartments or large apartments with one thermostat. In the larger apartments, there tend to be temperature differences between rooms. While the room the thermostat is in could be at 70 degrees, you could have another that is at 67 degrees. 

Hope that helps and good luck!