End of tenancy - garden questions?

QTPie

Can someone advise me of my responsibilities please? This is the first time that I have rented a house with a garden - I have only ever rented flats before...

Can I get away with weeding (not much - low maintenance garden), sweeping the patio and maybe a little trimming/tidying of shrubs? Do I also need to pressure wash the patio (we haven't done anything to make it dirty, but it has the natural dirt that uneven/textured patios seem to collect - from rain water). Patio was cleaner than now - but nit gleaming - when we started tenancy agreement.

QT

Welsh_Totster

A weeding and clipping should be ok, as long as it looks neat and not full of weeds and over grown. With regards the patio, why dont you try the old fashioned approach and give it a scrub with a stiff yard brush and some washing up liquid and water, should come up a treat!

QTPie

Welsh_Totster wrote: »

A weeding and clipping should be ok, as long as it looks neat and not full of weeds and over grown. With regards the patio, why dont you try the old fashioned approach and give it a scrub with a stiff yard brush and some washing up liquid and water, should come up a treat!

Really? Would never thought of that - thank you

moromir

QTPie wrote: »

Can someone advise me of my responsibilities please?

Your responsibilities towards garden maintenance should be outlined in your tenancy agreement.

Do you have an inventory? Does it include a garden section? Are there photographs? This should allow you to see reasonably what state you need to return the garden to (allowing for the season).

I would stop thinking about what you can "get away with" as that usually means youre cutting corners and not doing the job properly.

Without seeing the garden - my usual gardening is -

A thorough weeding of the borders and lawn, mow the lawn, edge the lawn.

Use the hosepipe and a broom or a bucket of water and a broom to scrub the patio clean.

Trim any ivy or similar climbing plants on the property or fences back to how it was in the inventory.

Reasonable pruning of any large shrubs/small trees.

General plant maintenance - dead heading, removing dead leaves etc (although probably not much to do on this front)

The short answer is - return it to how you found it.

missile

Good for you, it would be nice if all tennants tried to meet their obligations.

I hope your LL will appreciate your efforts and give you a good reference.

QTPie

No lawn. Raised beds (with trees and shrubs) rest is natural stone patio.

House is clean (cleaned once a week) and windows are cleaned every 6 weeks. House will be thoroughly cleaned (professionally) head-to-toe before we move out. It is easy to work out what state to leave a house in, but not exactly a garden (if I left it in the state I found it, I would have to lop 10ft off the top of one of the trees, should I?).

It is a bit like carpets really... if you stain/mark them then you would get them cleaned.... But would you get them cleaned after being in a property for 17 months if not (we don't wear shoes in the house and they are thoroughly dysoned each week)?

The patio hadn't been recently pressure washed when we started the tenancy (I know because we sold it to the landlords!), but I haven't pressurewashed it since (being pregnant etc). So pressurewashing it would be overkill and I am worried about a few loose slabs/grout: if I did pressure wash it, they might get dislodged.

Not cutting corners, but priorotising: with a new baby and completely gutting the new house and moving, I don't want to do unnecessary work.

I will check the tenacy agreement and inventory. The inventory doesn't have pictures, but they did take a video (which I don't have access to).

QT

moromir

QTPie wrote: »

But would you get them cleaned after being in a property for 17 months if not (we don't wear shoes in the house and they are thoroughly dysoned each week)?

I don't have a Dyson so no idea what the difference is between that and regular hoovering! (I'm not being sarcastic, I honestly don't know!)

I wouldn't take the risk, I always get mine cleaned. (I'm a worrier!)

You probably don't need to powerwash the patio, but as myself and others have suggested, a good scrub with a bucket of water and a broom should do the trick (and won't be as abraisive if you're worried about the stability of the patio).

QTPie wrote: »

but not exactly a garden (if I left it in the state I found it, I would have to lop 10ft off the top of one of the trees, should I?).

I've seen this debated over and over. There are those in the school that large trees are the Landlords responsibility and those that think theyre the tenants responsibility, even when the tenancy agreement says the garden is the tenants responsibility.

I fall into the latter. I rented a property with trees lining it. I took that into consideration when I rented the place. I'm 5ft2 so theres no way I'm climbing up there to cut them myself, but I employ a contractor annually to take a little off the top and keep it under control.

10ft of tree growth in 17 months? That sounds like an awful lot...?

I appreciate your circumstances re new baby and new house, but basically they're irrelevent to any potential deposit dispute (not having a go just making you aware) so I would really try to look at it from a detached view and bring it all back to how it was at the beginning of the tenancy.

Could you not ask to see a copy of the inventory video? Your Landlords might be quite happy to provide it or a copy as they can see youre being conscientious?

BitterAndTwisted

QTPie wrote: »

It is a bit like carpets really... if you stain/mark them then you would get them cleaned.... But would you get them cleaned after being in a property for 17 months if not (we don't wear shoes in the house and they are thoroughly dysoned each week)? Yes, I believe that most landlords would expect you to do just that. Some landlords insist on carpets being professionally cleaned or at least cleaned to a professional standard

The patio hadn't been recently pressure washed when we started the tenancy (I know because we sold it to the landlords!), but I haven't pressurewashed it since (being pregnant etc). So pressurewashing it would be overkill and I am worried about a few loose slabs/grout: if I did pressure wash it, they might get dislodged.QT

In which case I would give the patio a good scrub down with a stiff broom and soapy water.

If you really are concerned about getting the property back to exactly the same state it was at the start of your tenancy it might be an idea to invite the landlord round for an inspection before you vacate to discuss precisely these issues and ask them what they think needs attention. Then you'd have the opportunity to address them in good time.

tux900

Welsh_Totster wrote: »

Why dont you try the old fashioned approach and give it a scrub with a stiff yard brush and some washing up liquid and water, should come up a treat!

The addition of a small amount of bleach will also sort any ingrained algae and other organic matter that likely makes up the bulk of 'dirt' present.

Mathew

Fire_Fox

Don't pressure wash unless your landlord advises you to do so in writing, you may dislodge the pointing between the slabs.