Beyond Housing Garden re do help.

IamChisel

Hi everyone, I am a Beyond Housing tenant, single father on benefits. I suffer from Bpd. 
I have been in the property for like 3yrs now. 
When I first took over the property both gardens were in major disrepair, I have tried to maintain them as best I can but the front which is all gravel has weeds which I cannot stop coming back as the material sheet underneath was all broken up when I moved In. 
And the back Garden is like a wild field, I cut it and strim it. But it is not safe for my child to play in as the weeds and nettles are so prevalent. Not to mention the paving slab and stones poking out are a clear hazard for any kids playing. 

When I moved In I was in a desperate state and was more focused on just having a roof over me child's head i didn't over question the gardens. 

How am I meant to keep to my side of my tenancy in keep good maintenance when I am working from such a poor state of repair from my housing provider in the first place. 

I have rang and asked them to help me do something with these areas but I get told they are not responsible and will not do anything about them. Despite it clearly says in the handbook it's their responsibility. 

Has anyone else had dealings with getting Beyond housing to do something about their gardens as all I want is a safe clean patches easy to maintain and appropriate for my daughter to play in. 

I cannot afford to pay anyone to do this as both would cost in the thousands to do privately. 

Thanks. Mark. 

marcia_

IamChisel said:

Hi everyone, I am a Beyond Housing tenant, single father on benefits. I suffer from Bpd. 
I have been in the property for like 3yrs now. 
When I first took over the property both gardens were in major disrepair, I have tried to maintain them as best I can but the front which is all gravel has weeds which I cannot stop coming back as the material sheet underneath was all broken up when I moved In. 
And the back Garden is like a wild field, I cut it and strim it. But it is not safe for my child to play in as the weeds and nettles are so prevalent. Not to mention the paving slab and stones poking out are a clear hazard for any kids playing. 

When I moved In I was in a desperate state and was more focused on just having a roof over me child's head i didn't over question the gardens. 

How am I meant to keep to my side of my tenancy in keep good maintenance when I am working from such a poor state of repair from my housing provider in the first place. 

I have rang and asked them to help me do something with these areas but I get told they are not responsible and will not do anything about them. Despite it clearly says in the handbook it's their responsibility. 

Has anyone else had dealings with getting Beyond housing to do something about their gardens as all I want is a safe clean patches easy to maintain and appropriate for my daughter to play in. 

I cannot afford to pay anyone to do this as both would cost in the thousands to do privately. 

Thanks. Mark. 

 If you look at your tenancy agreement it probably says you alone are responsible for the gardens so they won't help you clean it. HA responsibility for gardens usually only covers apartments where the area is for communal use.

 The front if you are keeping the gravel I would just spray it with a strong weed killer.
 The back, can you save up a few pounds to get someone in to cut it back? 

ThisIsWeird

IamChisel said:

Hi everyone, I am a Beyond Housing tenant, single father on benefits. I suffer from Bpd. 
I have been in the property for like 3yrs now. 
When I first took over the property both gardens were in major disrepair, I have tried to maintain them as best I can but the front which is all gravel has weeds which I cannot stop coming back as the material sheet underneath was all broken up when I moved In. 
And the back Garden is like a wild field, I cut it and strim it. But it is not safe for my child to play in as the weeds and nettles are so prevalent. Not to mention the paving slab and stones poking out are a clear hazard for any kids playing.
When I moved In I was in a desperate state and was more focused on just having a roof over me child's head i didn't over question the gardens.
How am I meant to keep to my side of my tenancy in keep good maintenance when I am working from such a poor state of repair from my housing provider in the first place.
I have rang and asked them to help me do something with these areas but I get told they are not responsible and will not do anything about them. Despite it clearly says in the handbook it's their responsibility.
Has anyone else had dealings with getting Beyond housing to do something about their gardens as all I want is a safe clean patches easy to maintain and appropriate for my daughter to play in.
I cannot afford to pay anyone to do this as both would cost in the thousands to do privately.
Thanks. Mark. 

Hi Mark.
Are you sure it says that the responsibility to maintain the gardens is theirs? AfaIk, it is usually the case that 'communal' areas are maintained by the estate, but 'private' gardens are the responsibility of the tenants or leaseholders, or even freeholders. And often there is a responsibility written into deeds and contracts - you are expected to keep them tidy.
May I ask, how physically able are you? And, if you aren't, it doesn't cost £housands, or even £undreds to keep the grass cut - a guy around here charges only around £15 a time, I think, if it's regular.
The front gravel garden, is that 'yours' or communal? In any case, it is simple to keep gravel weed-free using pretty much any weedkiller, or even a weed torch. My driveway area is granite chips, and I just zap each weed as they appear using a ready-made-up solution in a pressured sprayer with long lance - I shoot them at close range. 10 minutes every couple of weeks.
If the gravel is dirty or much of it missing, then it can still look untidy even deweeded, but at least it will be weed free. You can, tho', with little work and money, transform it by scouring your local Facebook Marketplace or Freecycle sites for planters and pots, and laying them out carefully (look online for layout ideas), and filling them with soil and plants. The gravel underneath them can first be removed, cleaned, and used to thicken up the remaining visible areas.
The back garden should be tackleable using a 'selective' weedkiller to remove the nettles and weeds, but it will then need regular mowing to keep it usable. Obviously keep folk out from the treated areas for the required durations. How large an area are we talking about? Do you have a mower or strimmer? Again, if not, these are cheap to pick up locally.
If you are physically capable of doing this, and have the available time, then it shouldn't be too hard to do. Once deweeded, your son may wish to get involved too.

Flugelhorn

It is tricky but gardens can be a bit  like this and it take a lot of work to get into a nice green play area condition.

Not keen on weedkiller generally but you might find that in these circumstances it will do the trick and at least get it weed free and then you can keep on top of it by pulling weeds up / strimming  / mowing several times a week - it can be very satisfying to get a garden back into a decent state and many people with mental health conditions actually find it therapeutic 

The HA won't include gardening as part of the service - place probably looked fine in the middle of the winter but bit of sun and  rain and they all go wild 

elsien

I found the housing association tenancy and it does indeed say that tenants are responsible for their own gardens.
Sounds as if the OPs argument is that they should have put it in a fit state for him when the tenancy started in terms of the weeds, suppressing fabric and removing some of the paving slabs/stones.
However, as that was three years ago and wasn’t raised at the time. I’m not sure he’s got much of an argument with that now. 

You could try making a complaint, however you might be better focus trying to get things under control a bit of a time. 

For example shifting some of the stones that you are Concerned about, even if you only do it a bit at a time.
How often are you cutting the back garden? Again, much as I try and avoid weed killer if this particularly bad patches of nettles, perhaps you need to just selectively  spray those bits.

FlorayG

What they SHOULD have done was give you a garden in decent condition to begin with, but I understand how that probably wasn't your main concern if you were desperate for a home. Sadly now you are in there, they are no longer responsible, however it's not impossible. I bought a house 2 years ago with a terrible neglected garden and just about now it's starting to look nice. Invest in a decent strimmer/brushcutter (not an tiny electric one, a 40 volt rechargeable battery one) and choose a small are that you want as your first lawn and concentrate entirely on that until that part looks OK. My first bit of lawn was maybe 1/8 of the total. Get a selective weedkiller that doesn't kill grass and spot spray every weed as it comes back. Before the winter you will have at least a small decent lawn and play space. Tackle a new part of the garden every couple of months and LEAVE THE REST. Trying to tackle the whole thing at once will destroy your initiative, but seeing a small part made niecewill encourage you to tackle a bit more

Flugelhorn

While overgrown shrubs are obvious all year round, a weedy nettley garden can look quite bare in the winter and if you move into a place at that time the landlord / tenant won't see anything that needs doing. Garden probably looked ok at the time

twopenny

Gravel can be raked into a corner - you can get decently effective weed resistant membrane quite cheap in a diy shop or online. I think it would be worth doing

If necessary financially just do a small area at a time.

I think it would be worth doing because it would make you feel better to have it neat. However you will still get small weeds growing in it and brushing the gravel back and forth occasionally in a dry spell when they'll shrivel should get rid of them

The back, which is probably more important I'm not sure of because I can't see it. If you could post a photo that would be good.

How often do you mow it?

Do you mow it tight to the ground (that encourages weeds) or do you have at least an inch of grass? The last tends to out do weeds if the grass is vigorous. So adding some weed and feed before rain will make a difference. Buy from a diy shop or similar where it's cheaper.

FreeBear

twopenny said:

Gravel can be raked into a corner - you can get decently effective weed resistant membrane quite cheap in a diy shop or online. I think it would be worth doing

Weed membranes will stop weeds growing up from underneath, but won't stop self seeded ones growing down through the gravel. Eventually, you end up with a membrane so interwoven with weed roots, it can just be rolled up and put in a skip. At that point, it has to go to landfill as it can not be recycled or composted. Do we really need yet more plastics in landfill...

I'd just blast the weeds out front with weedkiller, and give the nettles out back a good dose. Mow the weeds down, and try to pick out rubble, slabs, and big rocks that are a hazard. Without a budget, that is about all one can do.

Working_Mum

I have cleared two huge areas of gravel recently from my garden. I shovelled the gravel into supermarket "bag for life" bags and they were easy to carry off. It took me a couple hours for a few evenings clearing the most recent area - but consistency won through. I put the gravel and the weed membrane from underneath on Freecycl3 and they went in a flash.

You could register on Freecycle and post a "wanted" request for weed membrane or anything else you need and see if you get a response.

I wanted to clear the space to put something new there but if you wanted to simply get on top of the area so that it was manageable it'd be a useful exercise. I note you said you suffer from bpd - gardening has been proven to help enormously with mh issues. It's often just getting started which is the challenge - I usually start by telling myself "give this an hour" and find I plough through.

I think you are right to try and get a hold of this issue - it would be awful to add to your challenges if the HA started getting shirty about the state of your garden etc. A safe home is an important thing for you and your children.

As far as the back garden is concerned I'd start little and often to pull up the weeds and create clear space - again Freecycl3 may be a good place to investigate - my local group is always posting plants or pots or other stuff to make areas nice. 

Good luck.

MysteryMe

It might assist if you are able to, to post up some photos of the front and back gardens so people can see exactly what the challenges are and if it looks like you have anything worth keeping, particularly in the back garden.