1. Recycling & Composting
One of the quickest and easiest ways to make your rental home more environmentally conscious is to encourage your tenant to recycle and compost their food waste. If your city or county offers a recycling program, getting underway may be as easy as requesting a recycling bin and then showing your tenant which items go in it. Also, begin providing a composting bin on the property so that your tenants can create clean fertilizer for the landscaping. This will not only save on landscaping costs, but your tenant may also enjoy having a choice to throwing excess food away.
2. Upcycling
In addition to recycling, upcycling is an excellent strategy to reduce waste and protect the environment, as well. Upcycling is only using items, such as empty glass jars from jelly or pickles, for another purpose. In other words, glass jars make great food storage containers, flower vases, light fixtures, or pen holders. As the property owner, you can do a lot to reuse items instead of buying new or throwing things away. To get your tenants on board, provide them with some fun upcycling ideas and perhaps an incentive to participate.
3. Install Smart Air Conditioning
Another good idea to make your rental property friendlier to the environment (and your utility bills) is to adjust how much and how often your tenant runs the air conditioning. For instance, simply encouraging your tenant to increase their thermostat by one or two degrees can save energy. Conversely, for an even more significant effect, try installing a smart thermostat. Programmable thermostats are great energy savers as they can guarantee that the air conditioning is only running when people are home. It would be great if you offer your tenant some guidelines on how to make the air conditioning operate more efficiently, like closing doors and windows while it is functioning and changing the filters on a regular basis.
4. Use LED Light Bulbs
To preserve much more energy (and the environment), change your rental’s light bulbs to efficient LED bulbs. LED bulbs are long-lasting and energy-efficient, which signifies that they will reduce energy use in the home and need to be changed a lot less often than traditional light bulbs. Remember to put LED light bulbs in areas where lights are used over long periods of time, such as porch lights or other frequently used lights.
5. Water Your Lawn at Night
At last, using less water is an ideal approach to impact the environment and your utility bills positively. For maximum efficiency and absorption, water your rental property’s lawn during the evening. When you water in the day, much of that water is lost to evaporation. But at night, more water reaches the roots of the plants and makes watering far more effective. If you have an automatic sprinkler system, this is as simple as adjusting the watering times. Otherwise, encourage your tenant to be environmentally friendly by watering the lawn after sunset or before sunrise.
If you enjoy reading our articles with helpful rental management tips, imagine how much you’ll like working with the La Verkin property managers at Real Property Management Southern Utah! Contact us online or call 435-673-4242 to get started.