Autumn brings brightly colored trees and piles of fallen leaves. These fallen leaves raise the question of what to do with them when they have been raked up. A popular disposal method is to burn the unwanted leaves. But as a Valle Vista rental property owner, should you enable your tenants to burn their leaves? While burning the leaves will help dispose of them quickly and maybe quite easily, it can likewise be a dangerous task to make your tenants execute. By enabling your tenant to know safe and proper leaf disposal, you can better safeguard them and your property from ruin or harm.
Any sort of open flame carries a certain amount of risk. Nevertheless, numerous property owners think that they can minimize the risks by following certain safety precautions. For instance, property owners who are preparing to burn fallen leaves may be able to accomplish it on a clear patch of dirt with no overhanging branches or power lines. They must likewise select a day that falls within a permitted burn timeline set by local governmental agencies, when winds are calm, and keep a garden hose on hand in case the flames get out of control.
But even these safeguards can result in property damage if the fire gets out of control. In dry conditions, even a little amount of wind can carry sparks into dry foliage, sparking dry grasses and other materials that are often abundant during the fall. Open flames could indeed hurt your tenant, pets, or others who are, by chance, near, particularly if the fire develops and spreads over your property boundaries. In case that harm or property destruction does take place, as the property owner, you might be held liable for medical costs, legal fees, and other related expenses. When you add that to the charges of the renovation you’ll want to bring about on your own rental house, the possible expenses make for a considerable risk that should strongly discourage you from permitting leaf burning as a disposal method.
Although the risks alone provide a compelling reason, there are additional factors that give many reasons to ban leaf burning on your rental property. For instance, the smoke from burning leaves could produce toxic gases that can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, and even trigger respiratory distress in individuals with asthma or other conditions. Burning leaves is also bad for the environment, freeing those same toxic gases into the atmosphere that have been known to badly affect both local and global ecosystems. Realizing the drawbacks of burning leaves, some local governments have banned leaf burning outright. Others might enable it, nevertheless limit it to certain months, designated locations, or to a certain size. Violating these municipal restrictions can result in fines and other legal consequences.
When burning leaves is a bad idea, you want to look for other safer ways to get rid of those fallen leaves. Various property owners perhaps reduce the number of fallen leaves they need to rake by shredding them with a mulching lawnmower instead. This procedure certainly helps manage the number of leaves that have to be removed by turning it into fertilizer for your lawn instead. If it happens that your property is huge enough, you could furthermore think of composting your fallen leaves in an unused corner far from the residence. You probably could hire a clean-up crew to come and haul your fallen leaves away, which is a satisfactory choice though it will count as added expenses.
Regardless of how it gets accomplished, it is significant to make certain that the fallen leaves on your Valle Vista rental property are being raked up and properly disposed of. Ditching them all over the ground might result in safety issues while attracting pests and killing your landscape. Nevertheless, leaf disposal must, as well, be carried about in a manner that does not create additional liability.
At Real Property Management Northern Arizona, we can undertake some of the more laborious and time-consuming duties– including leaf disposal – liberating you to concentrate on other elements of your real estate investing business. To find out more regarding what we can do for you, contact us online or call 928-757-7368 today.
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