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The motion detectors ensure temperature control is not being used when apartments or specific rooms are vacant. If a window were left open in the winter, the sensors would automatically reduce the temperature in the unit to prevent the system from trying to heat the unit to compensate for the open window.

David Modlin of HappyBuilding.com says centralized temperature control is not new, but installing sensors to specific rooms and having a unit programmed to only reach a certain temperature can save on heating an air conditioning and make tenants more comfortable. He does acknowledge that the idea can raise questions by some tenants.

"You have people who don't like the idea of taking the control from them, but at the same time they still have the ability to control a range in temperature set on the thermostat, say 18 to 22 degrees C. If they turn it up to 28 it's never going beyond 22," says Modlin.

When residents go to work in the morning the system reduces the heat (or air conditioning) and can adjust it again when they return home in the evening. "Through motion activation it activates the unit to increase or decrease the temperature," he says.

If asked, the owner or property manager can further adjust the temperature if they are home during the day or if temperatures change radically.

"Landlords and property managers don't need any more complaints than they already have – it's in everyone's best interest to address tenant comfort," says Modlin.

If tenants are home during the day it can be set to accommodate them.

"If somebody wants extra heat I can give them extra heat over and above what the thermostat indicates," says Montgomery.

"If they come home from the hospital, for example, and they are sedentary and they are not prompting the motion sensors to go off, I can tell the system via the computer interface to give the unit additional heat."

If tenants want the temperature in their units adjusted they submit a request in writing to Montgomery and she then goes into the computer system that regulates the heat and makes the adjustment.

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