Is Landlord responsible for Garden?

LoMax

Well thank you all for your replies. I subscribed to this thread but got no email notifications so assumed no replies to thread.

Anyhow £7.50 is not the main issue but its starting to grind on me when its £5 here, £5 there for this or that. It all adds up at the end of the day and TBH we dont see the LL from one end of the year to the other. (Ive lived here 1.5 yrs and only see him if tenant moves out/in which was twice). No chance of him coming round to maybe spruce the place up with a lick of paint or get carpets cleaned. I have been asking for windows to be changed as we spend a fortune on heating through the winter and it all goes out the window. I see absolutely no input from him to make an effort towards the house and just think he a lazy so and so.

I really want to win this battle over who's responsibility it is to maintain the garden. I really think its his responsibility although the majority seem to think otherwise. He needs to realise that he has a responsibility towards the property and its not all a free ride. Nowhere in my contract does it mention tenants obligations for the exterior (incl garden) of the property and also when its individual tenancy agreements which of the tenants is responsible for the garden?

Maybe Ive been fortunate but the last 3 properties I stayed at all had the gardens maintained by the LL. This makes sense when you rent out individual rooms in a property and prevents squabbling.

At this stage I think Im gonna let the garden grow wild and if he doesnt give my deposit back at the end of my term here I will take him to small claims court and argue that I pulled my weight but other tenants didnt. What you guys think?

LoMax

FATBALLZ wrote: »

House gains dirt, grass gains length. The tenants are responsible for removing the excess in both cases.

Which one of the tenants would that be?

PS...he gets a lot more rent by letting rooms individually than renting house as a whole!

LoMax

Sorry...In reply to one poster. I have not seen an inventory for the property. I can imagine LL is to lazy to even carry out one!

melancholly

i'm a bit confused - most people would much prefer a LL who doesn't turn up whenever they want to do things to the property?! wouldn't they?! i certainly wouldn't want a LL to pitch up.

the time for repainting/new carpets is usually when a tenancy ends, not part way through. if the windows are bad, then they must have been like that before you moved in. it seems a little late to be complaining. i think your issue is really with your housemates who aren't pulling their weight.... tricky to solve but i personally wouldn't choose to live in a shared house with separate tenancies as you have no control over who else you live with.

i can't see this as a fight with the LL that you can win. but trying to do something to ensure that all the housemates pull their weight is more achievable. can you all sit down together and talk about it? a cleaning rota can be tedious, but in this situation, it can't do any harm to suggest it.

otherwise, if you're that unhappy - move..... your idea of a lazy LL who doesn't interfere is my idea of a great LL who lets me live as i want in the home i rent!

angrypirate

LoMax wrote: »

Well thank you all for your replies. I subscribed to this thread but got no email notifications so assumed no replies to thread.

Anyhow £7.50 is not the main issue but its starting to grind on me when its £5 here, £5 there for this or that. It all adds up at the end of the day and TBH we dont see the LL from one end of the year to the other. (Ive lived here 1.5 yrs and only see him if tenant moves out/in which was twice). No chance of him coming round to maybe spruce the place up with a lick of paint or get carpets cleaned. I have been asking for windows to be changed as we spend a fortune on heating through the winter and it all goes out the window. I see absolutely no input from him to make an effort towards the house and just think he a lazy so and so.

I really want to win this battle over who's responsibility it is to maintain the garden. I really think its his responsibility although the majority seem to think otherwise. He needs to realise that he has a responsibility towards the property and its not all a free ride. Nowhere in my contract does it mention tenants obligations for the exterior (incl garden) of the property and also when its individual tenancy agreements which of the tenants is responsible for the garden?

Maybe Ive been fortunate but the last 3 properties I stayed at all had the gardens maintained by the LL. This makes sense when you rent out individual rooms in a property and prevents squabbling.

At this stage I think Im gonna let the garden grow wild and if he doesnt give my deposit back at the end of my term here I will take him to small claims court and argue that I pulled my weight but other tenants didnt. What you guys think?

Im assuming that the £5 here and there line refers to things like cleaning products, toilet paper etc that goes towards communal areas. Newsflash for you here - this is nothing to do with the landlord and something you need to take up with your housemates.

Enjoy the fact that the LL never comes round. The only time he should make an appearance is when stuff breaks. You'd be lucky to get him to replace windows. This will be a huge cost to him and wont save him any money. Until they fall to pieces id expect most LLs wouldnt replace them. If in winter its an issue how much heat they loose, put up some good curtains - they should make a huge impact in the amount of heat the property retains.

If you want some of the rooms painting and the windows replaced then I suggest putting in a formal letter to the landlord. If its a laziness issue for the LL and you are bothered about a splash of paint, ask the landlord if you can do it in return for having your rent reduced one month to cover costs / your time.

Oliver_Green

LoMax wrote: »

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?

Hi Lo,

Hmm.. this is a bit of a hard one - not really a grey area, but hard to know what you should do.

Really, it is the tenants obligation to treat the property with reasonable care.

Ultimately, the garden should belong to the landlord so really they are responsible for long term care, but with that said, the tenants should not let the garden run into disrepair as this could result in you being liable for consequential loss.

My practical suggestion is to keep goodwill and for £7.50 it is not worth the worry - so you could just pay it.

Naturally, keep all receipts and send it to your landlord saying that you reserve your rights at the end of the tenancy to ask for such payments.

Of course, there might be bigger things that go wrong during the course of the tenancy and is wiser to not fall out, especially over such a small amount of money.

At the end of the day, it is still you decision, just hope my advice has helped!

Take care, Oliver Green

may_fair

LoMax wrote: »

No chance of him coming round to maybe spruce the place up with a lick of paint or get carpets cleaned. I have been asking for windows to be changed as we spend a fortune on heating through the winter and it all goes out the window.

LL has no legal obligation to make improvements or do cleaning, only to carry out repairs; having said that, there are additional responsibilities under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and if the windows are causing an excess cold hazard the LL might be required to replace them (by the Environmental Health Officer). But if it's the case that it's just expensive to heat the house, then LL will have no liability.

If the windows are in disrepair then report to LL in writing. If LL fails to act you can report it to the Environmental Health Officer at the local council.

I really want to win this battle over who's responsibility it is to maintain the garden. I really think its his responsibility although the majority seem to think otherwise. He needs to realise that he has a responsibility towards the property and its not all a free ride. Nowhere in my contract does it mention tenants obligations for the exterior (incl garden) of the property and also when its individual tenancy agreements which of the tenants is responsible for the garden?

The fact that the contract doesn't mention T's obligations in respect of the garden doesn't mean that they don't exist.

Some obligations (both T's and LL's) are implied in all tenancy contracts, e.g. LL's repairing obligations under s.11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/11

You'll note that it begins: "(1)In a lease to which this section applies there is implied a covenant by the lessor..." This means that even if the contract did not specify that LL is responsible for keeping the structure etc in repair, he would still be responsible.

However, the contract does mention the duty to behave in a tenant-like manner, and minor maintenance such as mowing the lawn is a tenant-like maintenance task, albeit here the responsibility is shared with no individual directly responsible.

You're right that if the LL tried to claim against you then it's unlikely he could prove your individual liability.

However, in terms of the 'battle', LL has zero obligation to pay for fuel for the mower, so you can't win that particular battle.

Maybe Ive been fortunate but the last 3 properties I stayed at all had the gardens maintained by the LL. This makes sense when you rent out individual rooms in a property and prevents squabbling.

I agree it would make sense for LL to take on some responsibility for maintenance of communal areas like the garden but equally it makes sense for tenants to come to an agreement about things like who buys the loo rolls or mows the lawn, because if you all dig your heels in then no-one gets to enjoy the garden.

poppysarah

If it's that bad then the simple answer is move.

anouk1103

We've rented for 6 years .. lived in 4 houses. We've always taken care of the garden. The only thing which the landlord has taken care of is lopping tall trees. It's part of day to day maintenance of the house. You could just leave it. If the others don't care, why should you??

I lived in a shared house quite a few years back where no-one else really cleaned. I hated it and moved. Prior to that I did try to put in a 3 weekly cleaning rota, and tried to ask for everyone to chip in .. everytime it came to my week, I'd have a disgusting heap of rubbish to deal with.

martindow

To me the situation in a shared house could be different to renting an entire house. The rental agreement must specify the room that they have exclusive use of and list shared areas - use of kitchen, bathroom, etc. If the garden is not mentioned it surely could be argued that that it is not included in the tenancy and therefore there is no responsibility or requirement for its upkeep.