Rental property gardens

sheepy21

We rented a house with a garden that had borders with plants and shrubs, our landlord used to maintain all of the garden even mowed the lawn

Cakeguts

I am a landlord and I can tell you that what you are describing with a hedge will be too much for the vast majority of the lettings market. If it is a big garden as well that will make it unsuitable as a rental. Most people don't want to spend all of their spare time maintaining a fancy garden that doesn't belong to them.



You need to start with the simplest garden you can. Mostly laid to lawn with a patio area. Fenced not hedges, a few shrubs will be alright but no one is going to maintain flower borders, or large areas of borders that need digging. The smaller the garden the better. If you get a keen gardener they will do their own thing but you can't rely on it.



If you are thinking of letting to families you need to be aware that the children will want to play in the backgarden so think footballs and remove any greenhouses.



If you are at all emotionally attached to the house or the garden don't let it.

dunroving

I think it is very unreasonable to require a tenant to keep any plants alive. Weather conditions and other factors can easily lead to plants dying off, especially over longer periods.

In 11 years, I'd say I have lost more plants than I have managed to keep alive (though the weather her is pretty brutal at times, and they mostly died off over harsh winters).

It's no more reasonable to expect them to take responsibility for plants than of a gas boiler, cooker, etc. They are not necessarily experts and even if they are, keeping plants alive can be a very unpredictable business.

Just one scenario comes to mind. Tenant takes 2-week holiday over a hot summer. Should they have to pay someone to water the plants? [I'd suggest "No"]

Callie22

I've always loved gardening and when I rented, I always left the garden in a much better condition at the end of the tenancy than then beginning! However, as a tenant it's really tricky - you never really know how much your landlord expects you to do or how 'precious' they are about the garden. I also found some landlords to be a bit unreasonable - expecting annual plants to be there forever or not understanding that sometimes some things will die - if you move into a house with badly pruned shrubs or ancient leggy roses or clematis then sometimes there isn't much you can do to save them, or at least not over the duration of the average tenancy. It's also difficult as short term tenancies make you less likely to want to invest in anything that you're going to have to leave - bigger plants can be really expensive! Equipment is tricky too. I suppose it's reasonable to assume that if a tenant is renting a house with a garden then they'll bring stuff like a lawnmower with them, but again that's not a given.

Davesnave

dunroving wrote: »

keeping plants alive can be a very unpredictable business.
]

Not really. You might not know much about plants, but look in places like supermarket car parks and municipal plantings to see the sort of bomb-proof shrubs that basically look after themselves. No one goes around watering them and they get pruned about once a year.


They're the stain-blocked acrylic carpets of the low-input garden.

need_an_answer

My experience with the one property that I have with a garden is tenants love it when they look round it and its usually the "renting point" of the house but all 3 tenants have never really got into the maintenance of it whilst they have been there and it is usually the thing that requires most work when they move out!

Its not huge and mainly empty boarders,no grass,all slabed but its almost as if they never use it and sometimes the weeds become waist height.

I also at one point considered a gardener in the hope of keeping it looking a little better but I just wasn't able to find one who was prepared to put in an hours work a month,year round for which I was happy to pay for.

restless6

It!!!8217;s interest to hear everyone!!!8217;s views

I can!!!8217;t repkace the hedges with fence as they are all adjoining neighbors who want to keep the hedges
There is one long border that is underneath the hedge that has plants in and there!!!8217;s nothing else that can be done as it is next to the path
These are what I am goig to take it and replace with shrubs

Is it really too much to expect a tenant to mow and strim grass and use hedge trimmers on hedges though ?
If I can remove all the other work ?

capital0ne

I had a large garden, hedges that needed attending to, not to mention large flower beds, in total 100mx30m - I employed a gardner to visit twice a month - three years later the garden was better than when I let the property. It's all tax deductable, so it's well worth the expense, sadly the property was a different story.....

lookstraightahead

I rent a property and it comes with a garden. I maintain the garden to a neat standard but no way am I going to be responsible if a bush or plant dies! They are living things that have a mind of their own. Would a landlord replace a plant if it did not flower one year and could I call it faulty goods? Seriously remove anything you might be precious about, ask the tenants to mow the lawn, and get a gardener in once a month.

DaftyDuck

I'm a keen gardener, and I rent to students, mainly grad students. The gardens are actually quite nice, good lawn, a few shrubs, and each has a couple of fruit trees.

A gardener tends to the gardens to do all vital maintenance. (It used to be me, and I knew all my tenants well, as they all worked in the same building as I did. It's now a pair-for gardener, lovely retired chap, does them beautifully).

Surprisingly, because the gardens look good, the students tend to them as well, on the whole. I've had quite a few ask to put veg patches in, and happily let them do it.

However, there is always a gardener to call back on. Not everybody wants to garden, knows how to, or has the commitment to keep going. I would never expect or require a tenant to do so, but I am delighted when they want to.