Is Landlord responsible for Garden?

LoMax

Hi All,

I live in a shared house where we each have individual Tenancy Agreements.

I recently asked the Landlord to reimburse me £7.50 for petrol for the lawnmower but he gave me a blank 'No'. Im a bit annoyed over this and dont want to cough up the money myself. The others in the house are not very good at contributing towards the upkeep and never buy any cleaning products let alone clean anything!

Basically my Tenancy Agreement has the following clauses.

2. The Tenant's obligations:

2.3 To keep the items on the Inventory and Interior of the property in a good and clean state and condition and not damage or injury the property etc...


3. The Landlord's obligations:

3.3 To keep in repair (where provided by the landlord)

3.3.1 the structure and exterior of the Property (including drains gutters and external pipes)

3.4 But the landlord will not be required to

3.4.1 carry out works for which the tenant is responsible by virtue of his duty to use the property in a tenant like manner

Nowhere does it mention in the tenants obligations the exterior of the property so does this mean the landlord is responsible for the upkeep of the garden?

fluffnutter

On the strength of that, I'd argue that he has the upkeep of the garden. But it's a shame it's not specifically mentioned. Is it mentioned in the Inventory?

aliasojo

LoMax wrote: »

3.4 But the landlord will not be required to

3.4.1 carry out works for which the tenant is responsible by virtue of his duty to use the property in a tenant like manner

Looks like this is one of those 'open to interpretation' things as I read this and thought the tenant would be responsible for the garden.

Jenniefour

Anything in tenancy agreement about garden? None of the above is anything to do with garden.

fluffnutter

That's the problem with these things, isn't? Two people so far, two opposite interpretations! I think garden would come under 'exterior', but aliasojo interprets it differently.

You might have to take the hit on the £7.50 and just decide not to make an effort in the garden anymore without a written agreement about who's responsible for what...

Having said that, you all have individual tenancy agreements. Making you collectively responsible for something shared like a garden will inevitably lead to one or two people making all the effort and the others doing nothing. Recipe for disaster, frankly.

angrypirate

Its £7.50.

If your housemates are useless at buying cleaning products then why dont you start a kitty going for cleaning products and petrol for the lawn mower. It seems a bit stupid to fall out with your landlord over £7.50. I would expect the basic upkeep of the garden to be the tenants responsibility (ie mowing the lawn, cutting any significant trees / hedges back) as you are the ones who benefit from it. After all, whos willing to BBQ in the garden when you're knee deep in grass

aliasojo

fluffnutter wrote: »

That's the problem with these things, isn't? Two people so far, two opposite interpretations! I think garden would come under 'exterior', but aliasojo interprets it differently.

I may well be completely wrong though. It's just the way it reads to me.

This thread is interesting as I'm going to be a first time renter shortly. It shows how important it is to make sure everything is clear from the get go.

Gwhiz

In my view the garden is only the LL responsibility if it "breaks" - replacing fencing etc.

General upkeep, such as mowing, must be the tenants responsibility imo.

Get a push mower like I have - no petrol costs and good exercise

may_fair

LL has no statutory obligation to maintain a garden. If there's nothing in the tenancy contracts saying that LL is responsible, then it's not his problem, nor does he have to provide tools/fuel for garden maintenance.

taxsaver

Upkeep of the garden falls under acting in a tenant-like manner and is something that would reasonably be expected of the tenants, the same as keeping the house clean! - unless it's specifically stated otherwise.

CloudCuckooLand

You are required to return the property in the state you found it.

You can if you wish, not clean the bath/shower, in the hope that any mould and grime will come off in one go, at the time you leave. Of course, you risk it being so bad by then that you get a bill for that.

Grass is similar to cleaning - another "little and often" task. In my opinion.

If you don't cut the grass regularly, you risk the grass dying or being unmowable/damaged at the time you leave, and then being faced with a bill for laying new turf.