Making your rental home more sustainable, how do you do that?

Making your home more sustainable often results in lower costs for the energy bill, but it also requires an investment. Some investments are earned back quickly, others may be less quickly. There are also subsidies that can reduce (part of) the costs.

But what if you want to make your home more sustainable, but you live in a rented house? There are still possibilities, albeit a lot more limited or not. In this blog we explain everything about making your home more sustainable.

What options for sustainability are there?

There are several ways to make your home more sustainable. We have listed a number of general examples for you:

• Purchase a water pump instead of a central heating boiler.
• Insulate seams and cracks by using draft strips and sealant.
• Cavity wall insulation can be installed within a day, but will only pay for itself after about three years.
• Glass insulation ensures savings and living comfort. Subsidies and loans are available for this method of insulation.

In addition, there are more ways to make your home more sustainable, such as replacing window frames. But in a rented house you cannot just do this and it will always have to be done in consultation with your landlord. That is why it is better to become more sustainable by using appliances that are a lot more energy efficient.

How does a water softener ensure sustainability?

How sustainable is a water softener really? Hard water affects the energy consumption and maintenance of central heating systems and the lifespan of taps and shower heads. Lime in the water makes the water hard. And that deposits on the inside of pipes when the water is heated.

But not only that: calcareous water also affects human skin. Too much calcium in the water can make the skin feel dry. Lime in pipes reduces the flow of water and the release of heat. In the central heating, but also in coffee machines, for example, more power is needed to achieve the same effect. Did you know that if the heat cannot be released properly, such as in the heating element of a washing machine, the appliance can break?

Buying a water softener certainly has advantages! You can therefore expect that keeping hot water equipment free of limescale will maintain the efficiency of that equipment and that energy will therefore not be wasted.

Subsidy for making a rental home more sustainable

Are you a tenant? Ask the landlord after which sustainability they will start. The government has made agreements with landlords. For example, from 2030 housing associations will no longer be allowed to rent out houses with energy labels E, F and G.

When you are going to rent a house, there are several options. Some housing associations have a professional handyman service for their tenants. Ask about this, they can tell you more about the costs.

There are currently various subsidy schemes for landlords of houses. These subsidies are intended to make rental homes more sustainable, so that tenants are accommodated in energy prices. Are you curious whether your landlord makes use of this subsidy scheme and what is done with the subsidy? Feel free to ask. They must be able to show a sustainability plan.