Landlords: what temps do you set your thermostats to?
Please let me know. This is for a small non-rent-stabilized building that we do not occupy with almost market rate tenants. We have it at 68 during the day (6am-11pm) and 62 at night. So this is above the legal guidelines for duration and temps at night. Is this nuts? Only 1 set of tenants…
Please let me know. This is for a small non-rent-stabilized building that we do not occupy with almost market rate tenants. We have it at 68 during the day (6am-11pm) and 62 at night. So this is above the legal guidelines for duration and temps at night. Is this nuts? Only 1 set of tenants are complaining. And they probably moved out of one of those big buildings that just pump heat all the time. But they are driving us nuts. Should we be turning up the heat to keep them hot and happy? What do you do? Thanks.
Turn it up and raise the rent.
Good one Bob!
65/55–one family, so no one can tell me what temp to set my thermostat.
68 is for wimps 🙂
Glad you aren’t MY landlord. In my old brownstone coop, 65 at night was plenty cold enough for us – lots of heat gets lost through the walls and windows, as these buildings were built essentially uninsulated.
68 or 69 in the day heated us fine – but that doesn’t mean it makes YOUR building warm enough. You need to actually measure the temperature.
Sheesh – if you’re going to talk about being in compliance with the law, you should at least know what you are talking about – it is the actual temperature, not the thermostat, as pointed out above, that matters.
I have the temperature debate with my husband. For some reason 69 makes a big difference to me during the day. He wants it to be 68.. so now we set it at 69 during the day and 60 at night… we have big fluffy down duvets so the cold at night is fine.
Just to answer the rhetorical questions (altho I am not the original poster), I keep my thermostat at exactly where OP does – 68 during the day and 62 at night. You mean some of you put it higher? My garden apartment (which I rent out) used to be colder, but I finally reinsulated the steam pipes in the basement which has made everything more comfortable.
The law doesn’t control what you set the thermostat to; it specifies what the temperature in the rooms must be. If you have one thermostat, some units are probably cooler than your setting.
Also, if I were paying a market rate, I would want to be comfortable, not to have the legal minimum heat. Is your house set to 68 degrees?
And yes, I’m a small-time landlord myself.
– Tim
I have had the same problem with some of my tenants in the past. Uneven heat is a real possibility so get some info, give them some thermometers and have them record the temperature and see if they have a real complaint and fix the problem with your heat if there is one. You may be following the law in the amount of heat you are providing but that may not be good enough for your tenants. Over time I’ve come to understand that people have different ideas of what a comfortable heat level is. It’s best to try to come to an understanding with them. Think about it? Do you want them to start using a space heater that could be a fire risk? Do you want them to start using their gas oven to heat their apartment? Do you want them playing with the thermostat? I once saw an ice cube tray sitting on top of a lock box of a thermostat. So I think tenants are capable of anything, especially if you’re not around. I’m sure you would like to just give them sweatshirts for Christmas, I know I would. Keep your cool and talk to them.
Calm down, land-owning-gentry haters. The guy isn’t Darth Vadar because he has whiny-ass tenants and wants to keep his fuel consumption under control.
OP, just because your thermostat is set on 68 doesn’t mean it is making the whole building 68, right? How’s the weatherstripping, insulation, storm windows, etc.?
By the way, I hate the idea of keeping the house just as warm at night as during the day, totally aside from energy consumption issues. Cool in the nighttime means warm under the covers, know what I’m sayin’?