There are many responsibilities landlords have to tackle, one of which is property waste management. The more rental properties a landlord has, the more rubbish will accumulate. It’s not only unsightly to have rubbish strewn across the disposal area of your rental properties, but it’s also a health hazard for you and your tenants. It can draw flak from prospective tenants, as no one wants to live where rubbish takes too long to be collected and disposed of.
With that in mind, efficient and timely rubbish removal is paramount for every landlord who seeks to maintain the cleanliness of their rental properties. Relying on garbage collection services may suffice, but an excellent landlord must go above and beyond to ensure the property is always clean and attractive to existing and prospective tenants.
If you are a landlord and want to make rubbish removal more efficient, this guide got you covered.
Schedule A Rubbish Collection Pick-Up
Renting your properties to tenants is a great opportunity to earn passive income, but this doesn’t mean that the only thing you’ll regularly do is collect the rent. You also have to manage the collection of rubbish. Whenever there is a new tenant, the first thing you’ll do is deep clean the unit, making it ready for the next one.
As long as the tenant complies with their contractual obligations before leaving your property, landlords can’t force their tenants to do more cleaning than they ought to. Hence, landlords never know what items tenants leave when vacating the unit while still there.
That said, professional help is often called for, especially for bulky, odd-shaped items and even stuff that need special care. The landlord can also arrange for others to be sent to the local recycling plant.
If you have a local same-day rubbish removal service, that would also be helpful. They can help you deal with all sorts of rubbish. These services providers collect and dispose rubbish so you won’t have to.
Practice Composting
Your rental properties don’t need to have a massive yard for you to start composting. If you have an apartment complex, you can dedicate at least a small portion of the shared garden area for composting. Be clear with your tenants that the compost pit is where their biodegradable waste should go.
It makes a big difference in potentially reducing the rubbish garbage collectors need to pick up, as biodegradable waste is buried in your compost pit. The decomposed waste can then be used as organic fertilizer. You can encourage your tenants to plant their own herbs and vegetables using fertilizers from your own compost pit.
Have A Segregation System
Before your rental units were approved, some local regulations may require you to have a proper rubbish or waste disposal area. The bigger your rental complex is, the bigger the disposal area should be.
Ideally, the waste disposal area is placed on the ground floor, where it’s easy and accessible for garbage trucks and collectors to collect waste. Each tenant is responsible for taking their trash bags out and bringing them to the main collection point.
Instead of having all types of trash placed in one big bin, landlords should consider practicing a segregation system. Since biodegradable waste can be disposed in the compost pit, all that’s left for tenants to throw away are the recyclables and non-recyclables.
Have a separate area for paper and non-paper products, so it’s easier for the collectors and rubbish removal service to determine which group of rubbish goes to the recycling plant and which goes to the landfill.
Label All The Bins
Your waste disposal system will only be efficient and effective if they are properly labeled. Make sure the proper labels are in place and that tenants easily understand them. Make these terms clear in the lease agreement as well. Be clear to your tenants that they must conform to the waste disposal system you observe in your rental properties.
Doing this ensures everyone is on the same page regarding proper waste disposal. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to implement the landlord’s plans when it needs to be properly laid out and clear before a tenant moves in.
The Takeaway
While tenants and landlords are responsible for ensuring that waste is disposed legally and properly, tenants aren’t expected to go beyond what the contract stipulates. As the owner of the rented properties, you, as the landlord, have a higher share in this obligation. When you already have a lot on your hands, it’s important to learn how to manage waste efficiently. The pointers above are a good place to start.
