When it comes to property management or home ownership, one might wonder who is responsible for indoor air quality. In truth, just about everyone has a role to play, including management and tenants.

Nearly 30 years ago, management carried the responsibility of maintaining indoor air quality because tenants seldom understood the processes associated with HVAC systems. However, over time, occupants began to have higher expectations about breathing clean air as spaces became more densely occupied. After all, with increased occupancy, there are more contaminants than ever.

Tenants demanded more from their property managers in regard to air quality. As a result, tenants enjoyed improved air filtration, better maintenance and operations, and more attention was lavished on air systems. Furthermore, tenant complaints about air quality were taken more seriously and addressed in a timelier manner.

Travis once heard someone say, “If we didn’t have tenants in buildings, we would not have IAQ problems!” However, we choose to see it from a different perspective. The truth is, if we had no tenants, we would all be out of a job.

Our experts at Building Air Quality think it’s important to educate building occupants about the effect they can have on air quality. The burden doesn’t land with just management or just tenants — it’s a shared responsibility!

The problems caused by management and building owners decreased as they became more knowledgeable about how to look after and prevent IAQ issues. Knowing this, increasing tenants’ knowledge would decrease IAQ problems even further.