Am I legally responsible for pruning a tree in my rented house?

nikki048

I live with my husband in privately rented property with a small garden. At the end of the garden is an apple tree that is getting very untidy. My landlady is saying that it's our responsibility as tenants to get the tree pruned, according to the clause in our tenancy agreement "to keep the garden neat and free from weeds". This tree is very tall and this is a massive job that would involve working at height and will in all probability require a proper tree surgeon. Can she legally make us pay for this? I can't see how keeping the garden "neat" includes major tree surgery. If she wanted tenants to prune the apple tree should this not have been explicity stated in the tenancy agreement?

theartfullodger

She cannot force you to prune the tree:

She could attempt to recover the pruning costs from any deposit, but I strongly suspect were you to dispute this through the deposit protection scheme you would win.

She can however evict you for no reason at all (Section 21). Life ain't fair, sorry.

Having said all that, as a landlord I wouldn;t expect most tenants to know how to reliably prune trees safely & would not want them to do so. And I pay for gardener in one house with trees & occasionally myself prune trees in the only other tree-begardened property I own.

marleyboy

I would say the tree is part of the garden so yes, if gardening is part of the tenancy agreement, the tree will be part of the garden.

Not to be too down hearted you can buy tree pruners with extendible poles from B&Q and thats all you will need, you dont need to hack the tree up.

nikki048

Thanks - the tree is as tall as the house though, so I'm pretty sure even very long-handled pruners wouldn't cut it (excuse the pun!)

theartfullodger

Bet that the inventory & photos from move-in check do not show the branches/tree condition so landlord would be hard put to prove they therefore had got worse during the tenancy.

Silly landlord.

Guest101

This is part of being a LL and when a LL tries to push the responsibility onto the T, it's a sign of how they really view the relationship.

marleyboy

nikki048 wrote: »

Thanks - the tree is as tall as the house though, so I'm pretty sure even very long-handled pruners wouldn't cut it (excuse the pun!)

We had similar in our last property, but you will be surprised just how high they do stretch. A point to make is if the taller branches are too thick to cut, I would leave it to the professionals at the LL expense. So long as you can show that you have pruned the tree to the best as your ability, there should be no come back.

ognum

Interesting, I have just as LL agreed to paying £250 for tree pruning. I don't expect my tenants to pay!

Miss_Samantha

The state of the garden at the beginning of the tenancy does not really matters the tenant has to keep it neat in any case.

I think the key point is what "to keep the garden neat" means. I don't think that it implies having to prune the trees.

dc197

Doesn't this involve defining "neat"? A tree that is large is not necessarily not neat. If it is large but still neat, then you have not breached your agreement with the LL.
Could you ask her to define neat for these purposes?

Nobbie1967

It's a tree, not a hedge or lawn, so I don't think this really comes under keeping the garden neat unless specifically stated in the tenancy agreement.