Nest 3rd generation thermostate

[joart]

Here is a different question for you................

I paid for a nest thermostat for my tenant and he put the app on HIS phone. He has full control of his heat.

I have my own nest for myself at the present time also.

Question: Can I put another nest app on MY phone to control his heat . (For whatever reason need by ) so if he moves he can delete his app & I still will have mine and can control this apartment ???

[CoolingWizard]

This is what you really need to do. You need to have your tenant go into his Nest app, while you’re at the house, where the thermostat is by the way, have him delete the thermostat from his Nest app. Then you need to go into the nest thermostat rotate the ring in settings to get to Nest app and then delete the nest account there as well. today Next, the thermostat will restart. When it’s finished, you will see a yellow triangle in the settings ring. At that point, you will need to go in and add your Nest account by adding that thermostat to your Nest app.
Now, once all that is done, you can then do a shared “family” access for your tenant. You will have the Owner position and your tenant will be a family member as if you lived in the house with the tenant. You will have the ability to monitor the usage, and all the statistics of the system, he will have the ability to change the temperature within the guidelines that you set as the owner.

The AC Cooling Wizard

[joart]

Thank You - I could also write a book on what Tenants do. Lol This will be our first experience with giving a tenant the nest. So bear with me.

Honestly I would prefer to have a separate nest app for this. Do you think that’s possible to have two nest apps on my phone? One for personal and one for business?

As opposed to adding him as a family member??? Is that overkill?

I do understand also once he moves and disconnects his wifi then I will not have access through the nest until the next tenant moves in? Seems like a lot of work.

But for now he has full access and that’s fine with me. When the heating season is over I will set mine up and control it next year. Lets hope he doesn’t move so I don’t have to start all over again.

[CoolingWizard]

The way the Nest App works is there is only a single app. What I do is I have two Phones, one personal and one for the business. You could achieve the same with the single phone, but the drawback is to switch accounts. Do you simply have to log out and then login with the business account. I found it easier just to bite the bullet and use to separate phones.

I would not add him as a family member. If the tenant is paying the utility bills then just agree with him on the summer and winter temperature ranges desired. We went to the lock approach as this prevents the tenant from turning the Nest into a paperweight.
One month before the lease ends, make a point to visit the property and take control over the Nest thermostat. Best wishes,

Ken, The AC Cooling Wizard

[Jhonleanmel]

Hey folks,

We appreciate your help here, @CoolingWizard.
@joart, I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help. Please let me know if you are still having any concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Thanks,
Mel

[Jhonleanmel]

Hey there,

Checking back in should you still have some questions here. Let us know by replying to this thread. 

Best, 
Mel

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi everyone,

Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.

Thanks,
Mel

[joart]

Oh Wow thats an awesome detailed explanation. Thank You so much . I have one other question though .

So assuming My Tenant deleted the app from his phone . Whatthen ? Does he put back that app back on his phone again ? How does he sign in? ???? Does he go Through my information and password? Its his wifi that he is on in his apartment and thats how he hooked up to the app originally .

[CoolingWizard]

Joart,

I need to provide some clarification and a better way for you to control the thermostat and energy used by the HVAC system

OK, if you want to limit or control, what a tenant can do and the shared access as long as you have not migrated from Nest app to Google Home app, you will grant the limited access using the Nest app. Now having said this, there is another approach, which is what I think is more attractive for a landlord tenant relationship. It will require you to to take action during seasonal changes, but here it is.

All you have to do is once you become the owner of that Nest thermostat, is set a four digit lock code using the Nest app. Now, as long as you’re not using a schedule, and you are in say heating mode when you set the lock, you will be granted the ability to limit the minimum and maximum temperatures that the tenant can access from the thermostat ring. If however, you are using a pre-defined schedule and you lock the thermostat, no changes can be made to the minimum and maximum temperature set points defined by the schedule.
I recommend you use the lock approach as this will not allow him to have access to your other home devices and stuff that will be in the system. If you’re using the Google Home for example, he will have access to everything that’s in the Google Home that’s in any of your houses.

And now, for the last part of my advice. I myself have a number of investment properties, multi family, dwellings, single-family, dwellings, etc. all of which I have installed nest thermostats at. I have a Nest account that I use just for the investment properties. In that I have all the thermostats identified. And I use the lock code on each and every one of them. In the past we tried to create a unique nest account for the apartment tenant and allow the tenant to have control, we even had language to recover up to $1500 if they stole the thermostat or otherwise prevent us from regaining ownership control again at the end of the lease. Additionally, we charge an additional $300 security deposit to cover the cost of the thermostat itself. Unfortunately, we found it difficult to recover and chase the tenants in court to get the $1500.00 once they left. Most usually the problems were the vindictive evicted tenants who remove or damage the Nest Thermostat. Eventually, we have slowly been switching back to more conventional thermostats for the investment properties since tenants don’t really take care of the high-end nest thermostats. Some tenants are good, and we give them the option to have us install the nest and let them have access to it but that’s only in the single family homes for the most part.

as to the Wi-Fi question, the Wi-Fi is simply a Network and as long as the Network is available, you’ll be able to reach that thermostat when you’re away from the location. And in addition, you will need to deactivate the home and away feature of the Nest app for that thermostat. as long as your tenant does not disable the Wi-Fi, or change the Wi-Fi password, your Nest will have access, and your Nest app will have access from anywhere your phone has access to the Internet.

I hope this helps and if you have anymore questions, or need clarification, ask and I will answer.

Ken, The AC Cooling Wizard