Insulating renters
The Energy Efficient Homes package announced in January offers up to $1600 worth of free insulation in owner-occupied properties and a rebate up to $1600 for homeowners who install solar hot water. But did you know that up to $1000 is available to landlords who install insulation in a rental property?
In an attempt to open the lines of communication between landlords and tenants, we want renters to send us their anecdotes on how they went about getting insulation installed.
Tell us how you successfully negotiated with your landlord to get insulation installed at home. Did you write a letter, offer to cover extra expenses … what worked for you? What problems did you encounter on the way and how were they fixed? Or if you are a landlord tell us what made you take the step to insulate your rental property. Did your tenants twist your arm, or was it entirely voluntary?
We’ll publish a selection in future issues of ReNew in a bid to find out what works for landlord and tenant when insulating rental properties. Share your insulation story so that others can see how it’s done!
For mor einfo read the article Insulating Renters in ReNew 107.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I gave up when renting from Dodgy Brothers and moved out. Claimed house was unliveable and got 1/3 rent back for the year I was there. (House was uninsulated, no trees, windows didnt work in Far North Queeensland, reacher 42 degrees inside most days – owner was not interested in the welfare of their tenant). Hit them where it hurts.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I built our modest 2-bedroom house (80 sq. m.) in the Mary River valley,Qld, to be as eco-friendly as possible. 22 degree pitch gable roof, plantation pine & locally milled hardwood roof frame, sisalation covered 3 metre high walls throughout, 900 mm roof eaves all round, aust.wool ceiling & wall batts, solar hot water, Clius multrum composting dunny, enviro-flo gutters, large louvre windows thru out -especially in the Northern side, sliding aluminium doors( for their total sealing ability in winter), 75,000 litres of water tank storage capacity, grey water system.
We’d like to have a wood heater, but if we close the house up just before sunset each day, we don’t need to heat the place at all until after 11-12 pm. It’s the frosty cold mornings that get you! We need to insulate the hardwood timber floors with batts or something better? That’s where we are losing our natural heat. Any suggestions?
Basically, the house is one of the most comfortable houses we have lived in. But now the kids are getting older, we will have to increase the space by another 50-60 sq.m. We have it rented now as we are living in Arhnemland, NT. Hope the tentants enjoy it as much as we did.
All the best, & we love being ATA members – keep up the good work!
Lloyd
June 25th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Lloyd, your house sounds like it performs well.
There’s quite a few suitable insulating materials, including permifloor (http://www.air-cell.com.au/pages/permifloor.htm), foilboard (http://www.foilboard-insulation.com.au/underfloor.html) and Expol (http://www.expol.com.au/)