Property Management

Your backyard—your piece of the environment—is an ideal place to practice the 3 Rs. It is also the place where the impact of your efforts can be most visible. Landlords, tenants and rental property owners should use the following ideas to incorporate the 3 Rs into their backyard activities.

• Greenscape your lawn. Greenscaping is a set of landscaping practices that maximize the health of lawns and plants while minimizing the environmental risks posed by some traditional practices. Greenscaping promotes the use of bio-based and organic products, native plants, and sustainable water management to prevent soil erosion, water runoff, and other negative consequences of traditional landscaping. Best of all, it’s easy to do.
• Buy recycled. Purchase lawn furniture, decking, and other outdoor products that contain recycled content. These items include welcome mats made from recycled flip-flops, birdhouses crafted from reclaimed wood, or patio furniture made from recycled plastic. Buying recycled-content products makes it economically viable to collect recyclables and conserve resources.
• Create a compost pile of your organic, biodegradable kitchen waste and apply finished compost to your lawn and garden. Composting does more than improve the quality of your soil: it keeps carbon from entering the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, diverts waste from landfills, and eliminates the creation of new waste by reducing the need to purchase fertilizers and pesticides.

Source: epa.gov

Every day, you have the power to help your community, now and for years to come.

Landlords, tenants and rental property owners should learn to practice the 3 Rs—reduce, reuse, and recycle. You will conserve natural resources and prevent climate change. Most important, you ensure that future generations have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, as well as forests, fields, and beaches to enjoy.

Where do you start? Reduce the amount of waste you produce. Buy only what you need and use. Then, instead of throwing something away, reuse or recycle it. You probably already reuse your children’s clothes and shoes when they outgrow them. You pass them along to family or friends, sell them at a yard or garage sale, or donate them to charity.

What about things you cannot reuse? That’s where recycling comes in. Recyclable items are collected, reprocessed, and used again to make new products. Make throwing an item away a last resort—when
it cannot be reused or recycled.

Practicing the 3 Rs makes a difference. Recycling just one can, donating just one old cell phone, or even buying just one product with reduced packaging is an act of good will for the environment and your community. This guide offers tips on how to incorporate the 3 Rs in the kitchen. It shows how your choices can make a difference, now and for years to come.

The kitchen is the center of your home or rental property. Start with small changes here to make it the core of your reducing, reusing, and recycling habits. Here are some ways to reduce the amount of waste you produce, reuse what you can, and recycle items that might normally end up in the trash.
•Compost organic waste. Peels, skins, and trimmings from fruits and vegetables; coffee grounds; egg shells; tea bags; and lots of other kitchen waste can be combined to make compost, which you can use as natural, organic fertilizer on your lawn and garden.
•Recycle food packaging. Most community recycling programs accept cereal and cake mix boxes, beverage bottles and cans, and steel soup, vegetable, and fruit cans. Learn the different materials your community’s recycling program accepts at www.Earth911.org.
•Buy in bulk or concentrates. Buying bulk sizes of the products you use often or in large quantities saves you money. Bulk and concentrated goods also come with less packaging, which prevents waste.
•Choose fresh and local instead of packaged food. When you buy fresh produce, you not only enjoy food that tastes better and is often healthier, you eliminate cans, boxes, or bags that you have to throw away or recycle.

While Practicing the 3 Rs in the kitchen, landlords, tenants and rental property owners are contributing great effort towards the community and aiding the environment.

Source: epa.gov

During an earthquake, large pieces of furniture such as tall bookcases and file cabinets can fall on you or others. Toppled furniture can also block exits and prevent you from escaping. Anchoring furniture so that it remains upright not only helps prevent injuries but also helps protect both the furniture and its contents. Landlords, real estate owners, tenants and rental property owners should anchor tall bookcases and file cabinets to prevent any injuries during an earthquake.

You can anchor large pieces of furniture in several ways. A bookcase can be anchored with metal “L” brackets and screws along its top or sides (either inside or outside) or with screws through its back.

BENEFITS OF UTILIZING THIS MITIGATION STRATEGY

• Helps to prevent toppled furniture from falling on occupants Helps to prevent toppled furniture from blocking exits and preventing escape from a structure Helps to prevent damage to furniture and the contents of the book cases and cabinets

TIPS
Landlords, tenants, real estate owners and rental property owners- Keep these points in mind when you anchor large pieces of furniture:

• Make sure that all anchoring screws penetrate not just the wall but the studs behind it as well. Screws embedded only in drywall or plaster will pull out. Regardless of the anchoring method you use, the screws should be long enough to extend at least 2 inches into the wall and studs.
• Before anchoring a bookcase with screws through its back, make sure the back is sturdy enough and that it is securely attached to the sides, top, and bottom. Some bookcases have backs made of very thin materials that are held in place with only small screws or staples that can easily pull out. Those bookcases should be anchored with brackets.
• If you have two or more bookcases or file cabinets that sit next to each other, consider connecting them to one another as well as to the wall. They will be even more stable if you do.

Source: FEMA.gov

Landlords and Tenants in Louisiana- Many leases require that requests for repairs be made in writing. Regardless, all requests should be made in writing and/or in the presence of witnesses. Tenants are strongly advised to keep a record of all maintenance problems, repairs and failures to repair.

The landlord must maintain the property by making all necessary repairs. The tenant is responsible for the damages caused by his fault, the fault of his guests, and those exceeding normal wear and tear.

If the repair cannot be postponed until the end of the lease, then the tenant must allow the landlord to make these repairs, even if they are an inconvenience. However, a reduction in rent may be possible.

If the landlord refuses to maintain the property or to make necessary repairs after being notified, the tenant has several options:

•The tenant can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section.
•If there is a structural or hazardous defect, then the tenant can complain to the local building officials.
•If a serious problem is ignored, then the tenant may terminate the lease. Terminating the lease requires substantial proof of the landlord’s failure to perform his/her obligations. Terminating a lease without sufficient cause will result in serious financial and legal consequences. Therefore, the tenant should seek legal advice before terminating a lease due to improper maintenance.
• Louisiana law allows tenants to pay for “necessary” repairs and to deduct the repair cost from the rent due or demand immediate reimbursement from the landlord. In order to deduct repair costs, tenants must be able to prove each of the following:

A) The repairs were necessary.
B) The landlord failed to act within a reasonable time after being notified.
C) The price paid was reasonable.

The tenant should keep copies of estimates, letters, receipts and other documents which support his/her case.

Source: Louisiana landlord and tenant guide.

Landlords and tenants in Arizona – Every Arizona landlord and tenants should set terms regarding maintenance and repairs for the rental property in tenancy. Here are basic guidelines for landlords and tenants of maintenance and repairs.

A. The landlord shall:
1. Comply with the requirements of applicable building codes materially affecting health and safety.
2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.
3. Keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition.
4. Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him.
5. Provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste incidental to the occupancy of the dwelling unit and arrange for their removal.
6. Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times, reasonable heat and reasonable air-conditioning or cooling where such units are installed and offered, when required by seasonal weather conditions, except where the building that includes the dwelling unit is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose or the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat, air-conditioning, cooling or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant and supplied by a direct public utility connection.

B. If the duty imposed by subsection A, paragraph 1 of this section is greater than any duty imposed by any other paragraph of this section, the landlord’s duty shall be determined by reference to that paragraph.

C. The landlord and tenant of a single family residence may agree in writing, supported by adequate consideration, that the tenant perform the landlord’s duties specified in subsection A, paragraphs 5 and 6 of this section, and also specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations and remodeling, but only if the transaction is entered into in good faith, not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord and the work is not necessary to cure noncompliance with subsection A, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this section.

D. The landlord and tenant of any dwelling unit other than a single family residence may agree that the tenant is to perform specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations or remodeling only if:
1. The agreement of the parties is entered into in good faith and not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord and is set forth in a separate writing signed by the parties and supported by adequate consideration.
2. The work is not necessary to cure noncompliance with subsection A, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this section. 3. The agreement does not diminish or affect the obligation of the landlord to other tenants in the premises.

Source: www.azsos.gov/public_services/…landlord_tenant_act/residential.pdf