The environmental agenda has been somewhat understandably moved down our list of priorities in the past year or so, with more pressing matters at hand for us to worry about.
That being said, now that we’re beginning to return to normality, we’re starting to allow ourselves to turn our attention away from the pandemic and back towards the future and how we want things to look.
Now more than ever seems like a perfectly sensible and reasonable time for us to start looking at how we might reduce the environmental impact of our housing and living situation.
More and more people are set to move to a new house this summer and later into the year, and the majority of those people will be moving into rental properties in the Private Rented Sector (PRS). With this in mind, there are plenty of things that both landlords and tenants can do to make their houses more eco-friendly.
There is already a good amount of evidence that tenants are becoming more environmentally conscious, and many landlords are beginning to follow suit. Making a property eco-friendlier is in a landlord’s best interests both environmentally and in a financial sense, as eco-friendly properties are a lot more cost effective, saving both money and the environment along the way.
With that in mind, here are some of our tips to easily make an impact.
Top tips
The government has put a lot of focus into its green credentials since the election. They’re now looking to incentivise this much more moving forward, with a target of reducing the UK’s emissions by 68% by 2030.
For landlords, there’s mileage in looking into the government’s Green Homes Grant. According to the government website, landlords can apply for up to £5,000 towards the cost of energy efficient improvements to their property.
All you need to be eligible is to own the home and be resident in England. You can use the vouchers for things like insulation, new boilers, improvements to windows and roofs, and other energy efficiency improvements.
For tenants, a good way to monitor your energy usage and reduce your carbon footprint is to have a smart meter installed by your energy provider. This is usually free and helps you monitor your energy usage much more closely and will help you to save money as well as the environment.
As a tenant, there are little things you can do around the house such as wash your clothes on a lower temperature, try and have showers instead of baths for water sustainability, and have energy efficient lightbulbs installed.
The benefit
As we return back to normality, the demand for housing is set to skyrocket further and so it is of benefit to landlords to have an energy efficient home in order to command the best rental price possible.
From a tenant’s point of view, being energy efficient usually leads to a saving financially too, leading to you spending less on bills whilst also saving the environment.
If you’re looking to rent out your property or are looking for a new home, come and speak to us today and we can help you get ahead of the curve.
