Garden rescue help!

winterfrost

Hello!

I rent a house with quite a big garden. As it mostly contains trees and hedges I thought it would be ok, but was shocked when a greenfingered family member came to visit and said "Wow, this is a high-maintenance garden!"

I am a bad gardener. In fact, even that is a lie as really I am no sort of gardener at all. A few times a year the letting agent sends a man to mow the lawn and trim the hedges, etc. He last came about a month ago. However, the recent hot weather has meant that the garden needs attention. I am tempted to hire a person, but I really can't afford it and I'm sure I could do it myself with a bit of elbow grease (and beekeeping-style outfit to keep off insects!).

The lawn needs mowing, but some of it I think might be too high (I have not mown a lawn since I helped my mother as a child). Should I trim the longer bits with big secateurs (some came with the house) and rake them, then mow it?

Also some of the grass is a bit dead-looking. Will watering it help or is it too late?

Thanks for any advice!

Money_maker

Suggest you borrow a strimmer to cut it down to lawnmover height. Borrow a mower with the blade at highest setting to mow. You will probably find it looks very brown but will pick up when (please!) we get some rain.

Kay_Peel

While tenants are responsible for keeping the garden tidy (weeding, mowing, watering) I believe that landlords have to provide them with the tools necessary to do the tasks. Landlords are also responible for anything major like dealing with trees, fences, paths and general safety maintenance.

Personally, if I were a landlord, I would be delighted if my tenants kept the garden looking nice. It would add value at the end of the tenancy and assist me in re-letting the property quickly. It would also save me a lot of money in overhauling the garden once the tenants had moved out.

I would look closely at my tenancy agreement to see what it says about garden maintenance and then contact the landlord (or the landlord's agents) to ask for a lawnmower, a strimmer, a compost bin, hand tools, secaturers and a spray can for weedkiller. I'd ask them to install a water butt to collect rainwater.

At this stage, I would just strim and mow the grass to see how much of a job I'd got on my hands.

Best of luck!

winterfrost

Thanks for the suggestion! I suspect one of the neighbours may have a strimmer if I can pluck up the courage to ask them. Although the chances of them witnessing my incompetence are embarrassingly high enough without them knowing for sure that I'm going to be out making a fool of myself in the garden!

We do have a lawnmower... oh dear, I didn't even realise they had settings (can you tell I spent my formative years in a second-floor flat?!). Will inspect it thoroughly before proceeding.

They said it would rain on Monday but it has been changed to "sunny"

winterfrost

Thanks! We do have a lawnmower, secateurs and a massive compost heap (which one of the cats seems to like jumping on...).

I will try to have a go with the lawn, if only because it's really embarrassing that the neighbours have lovely gardens and ours is like the wilds...

G_M

Kay_Peel wrote: »

While tenants are responsible for keeping the garden tidy (weeding, mowing, watering) I believe that landlords have to provide them with the tools necessary to do the tasks. Landlords are also responible for anything major like dealing with trees, fences, paths and general safety maintenance.
..........

I would look closely at my tenancy agreement to see what it says about garden maintenance
Best of luck!

No idea what gives you this idea. You are wrong on two counts.
1) tenants do not have to keep the garden tidy, any more than they have to keep the house clean (beyond avoiding a health hazard). Their lifestyle is none of the landlord's business. It is the tenant's home and they can live there as they like. They do, however, have to return the property at the end of the tenancy in the same state as it was at the start, less fair wear and tear. That includes the garden.

2) The landlord does not have to include garden equipment, any more than (s)he has to provide house-cleaning equipment.

Certainly check the tenancy agreement, but more importantly check the inventory. If it includes lawn mower, strimmer, fork etc, then they must be provided. If it does not, they do not have to be provided.

Having got the legals out of the way, you are right that most landlords would prefer tenants to keep the house clean and the garden tidy, and many LLs would happily help a willing tenant do so by providing equipment if asked. Since your LL already provides a man several times a year (the agent may send him but you can be sure the LL pays!), he clearly cares, so is likely to respond positively.