Can It Be More Challenging To Live In A Sustainable Way If You’re Renting?
If you own your own property, it isn’t too difficult to live an eco-friendly lifestyle. However, if you’re renting a property, it can be more challenging to live in a sustainable way. Constraints in your tenancy agreement, concerns about losing your deposit, and worries about annoying your landlord are often perceived as obstacles.
However, they needn’t prevent you from enjoying green living if sustainability matters to you. The team at Properly is increasingly working with tenants who are keen to adopt a more eco-conscious way of living, so here are our top tips for renting sustainably.
Choose Your Location Wisely
Location is always important when choosing somewhere to live, but when you’re looking to rent a property, it’s best to focus your search on areas that are close to transport links, footpaths, and cycle routes which means you won’t need a car.
Rent, Recycle, And Reuse
Most people these days now recycle glass and paper, but if you’re committed to the eco-friendly lifestyle, there are some much larger items that you can recycle too. If you’re moving out of an unfurnished property into a furnished one, consider donating your surplus furnishings to a charity. Or, if you’re relocating from a furnished to an unfurnished home, consider buying second-hand or renting your furnishings.
Make Green Energy Choices
Not every tenant has the responsibility of paying for their energy bills, but if you’ll be required to choose a supplier, you can opt for one that caters to eco-conscious users, offering energy that comes from carbon-neutral and renewable sources.
Save Water
Reducing your water wastage is still possible if you’re a tenant. There are a lot of tools that you can acquire (sometimes for free) that can help you reduce the amount of water you use, and that won’t cause you to lose your deposit. Water-saving shower heads and devices that can be put inside the toilet cistern to reduce the flush volume are just two options that you can adopt as a tenant.
Growing Your Own
Although not every tenant will have the luxury of having a garden, there are still ways that you can cultivate your own foodstuffs. Even if you rent a studio or a small apartment, you can set up a windowsill herb garden that will help you eliminate unnecessary packaging. If you’re fortunate enough to have garden access in your tenancy, you may be able to plant a vegetable bed or fruit trees, although you should always discuss any plans with the landlord first.
Many landlords will be happy to let you cultivate whatever you like in the garden as long as you keep it in good condition. However, even if they’re unwilling to allow you to make significant changes outdoors, you can still invest in some large pots that you can take with you when you move on.
More landlords in London are beginning to recognise that tenants are keen to live in eco-friendly properties, and are taking steps to make their rental homes greener.
If you’re looking for a sustainable property to rent, get in touch with the Properly team now at 0207 459 4400 or at mariel@properly.space.
London Youth work to improve the lives of young people in London, challenging them to become the best they can, and last year helped over 27,000 young people through their sports development, youth action and involvement, arts and outdoor education programmes and employment prospects. We feel strongly that all young people should have an opportunity to develop themselves, and so are delighted to be able to support London Youth in their work, providing young people with access to opportunities they might not otherwise have had, to learn new skills, to make a positive change in their communities and to shape the city they live in.
Glass Door helps homeless men and women in London through their large network of emergency shelters and support services. These winter shelters provide a warm welcome, food, safety and shelter for up to 170 people every night. Properly feels passionately about the issue of homelessness. That is why we are delighted that together with our clients we can assist Glass Door in their fantastic work to help some of the most marginalised people in society.
Families become homeless for reasons we can all identify with. We are concerned about people who are struggling to keep things together in our fast-paced world – and we care about those who have no support. We chose the Doorstep Homeless Family Project because they are passionate and effective yet they are a small team with limited funding. They provide homeless families, living in temporary accommodation in London, with access to services to secure the emotional and practical support they require to enjoy a better quality of life.
We need nature and nature needs us. We support The London Wildlife Trust because we share its concern for the environment. We want to ensure that we keep nature in mind as we work in the property market – and crucially, with people’s homes. We also want our employees to engage with nature and benefit from the wellbeing this brings. London Wildlife Trust cares for over 37 of London’s spaces, and their vision is: “a London alive with nature, where everyone can experience and enjoy wildlife”.
Both Michael and Mariel were extremely helpful with our questions going forward whether it be regarding referencing or the property itself. Definitely not the usual estate agent experience (in a good way) and I would recommend Properly to anyone.
Mariel & Michael have been amazing, very thorough, helpful and a delight to deal with, would highly recommend! Thank you both.
Amazing people, responsive, honest, friendly and professional. Cannot fault them and the type of company, you will go back to again and again.
We had such an easy and stress free move. Michael helped us with all our questions and was quick to find out any answers to our questions. Would highly recommend.
Mariel and Michael have been absolutely great, by far my best ever experience with an estate agent. Properly is honest, upfront and friendly, responding really quickly to any and all queries and with a lovely personal touch.
Mariel and Michael made the process of agreeing a housing let incredibly seamless, stress-free and quick. Their timely communication and fantastic ‘customer service’ was second to none. Would highly recommend
I cannot recommend this estate agent enough. Michael and Mariel have been very good to us throughout the process and have made sure everything has been as smooth as possible. They have gone above and beyond to ensure everything was dealt with and in a timely manner too. A great experience throughout!
Michael and Mariel have been very helpful from the time I contacted them on a property I was interested to rent and through the offer process. Mariel did a wonderful video call showing of the house since I was not in London at the time. I felt completely comfortable to sign the lease from the video call. Thank you Mariel!