Best garden for a rental property - stones, paving, grass?

blizeH

Hi,

Currently the garden is in a bit of a bad state and full of weeds and very old/dirty stones.

Having the entire thing paved over seems like the best in terms of being low maintenance, but the garden is fairly large and I'm worried it'd look ugly. Laying down turf is tempting, and would be the cheapest option, but if the tenants don't look after it, it'll be even more of a mess than it is now. Having the entire thing done with a weed membrane and stones is also an option I guess but we've had a bad experience with this in the past.

Any recommendations please? Ideally we want to find the balance between practicality, cost and appearance. Thank you!

andrewf75

Paving over a large garden just to make it low maintenance would be just wrong from an environmental point of view as well as being ugly.

As you say go for a balance, a bit of paving near the house, a bit of lawn and maybe a border with some low maintenance shrubs/trees. If the tenants neglect the lawn it won't take much to sort it out again.

DaftyDuck

Depends on the type of property, and who the intended tenants are. It can be easiest - and most profitable - to pay for gardening services during the rental.

Many family properties need a lawn to attract the right tenant. Low maintenance garden may attract a low maintenance tenant, not always good.

There is no rule. I have, for years, rented properties to (graduate) students. They have well-planted gardens, tidy lawns, fruit and veg patches, clean patios. As a result, they attract the right kind of tenant. The gardener who does them often has no routine work to do. In years past that was me, and I spent a fair bit of time helping them grow veg and fruit.

Remember, you may need/want to sell the house one day. Does the property suit slabs, or a garden? If the latter, get a weekly, or monthly, gardener in, and let it with a garden. You'll get better tenants, in all likelihood.

tacpot12

When I had the garden landscaped at the house I rent out, I had the landscaper install a concrete mowing strip around the periphery of the small lawn. This makes it really easy to mow the lawn with a hover mower, yet none of the three tenants that have stayed have ever mowed it. This is despite me providing the mower and it taking about 5 minutes to do it - I've timed it when I've had to do it after the tenants have left.

Paying for someone to mow the lawn for three seasons is an option but I'm not going to go down that route. On reflection, I think should have used gravel.

Hope this helps.

Silvertabby

tacpot12 wrote: »

When I had the garden landscaped at the house I rent out, I had the landscaper install a concrete mowing strip around the periphery of the small lawn. This makes it really easy to mow the lawn with a hover mower, yet none of the three tenants that have stayed have ever mowed it. This is despite me providing the mower and it taking about 5 minutes to do it - I've timed it when I've had to do it after the tenants have left.

Paying for someone to mow the lawn for three seasons is an option but I'm not going to go down that route. On reflection, I think should have used gravel.

Hope this helps.

Gravel isn't as easy care as you may think. Birds drop undigested seeds. Seeds don't always need soil to germinate, and the seedlings will need to be removed before they set root through (and damage) the membrane. If tenants won't cut the grass, they are unlikely to keep the gravel weed-free.

tori.k

Consider getting a grass cutter in every couple of weeks, you wont need a landscape gardener just a local handy man so the cost can be pretty negligible.