Not paying for garden work

Well she wasn't a party to the contract and no, she's not liable. However, I would look at it from the view that I've got a nice tidy garden which saves me the hassle. I would then request him not to come again. For me, not paying would be petty. Of course the Gardner could just settle for half of the bill from previous owners.

Sorry but some of the replies to this are utterly batshit. 🤣
To suggest the OP pay anything towards a gardener she neither asked for, knew about, or arranged is madness. 🤣

If they did refuse to pay, it still wouldn’t be op’s problem. She isn’t lucky because they’ve offered half because even if they hadn’t, she still wouldn’t be liable to pay a penny.

No, it doesn't seem 'mean' not to pay for something you didn't expect, didn't ask for, and didn't want!

I wouldn’t pay and I would think very badly of the gardener for coming round and expecting me to after he knew the situation.

Once he knew that the OP wasn’t someone he has a contract with, he had no business asking her for payment at all. He should have told the previous owners that his contract was with them so it’s their responsibility to pay.

It is crazy to expect OP to pay for something she didn’t need, want or ask for.

Legally you are not obliged in any way to pay his invoice. The gardener’s contract is with the previous owners. I know of very few tradesmen who wouldn’t send a reminder message and confirm/agree a time of visit etc, so on some level he was himself at fault as it is perfectly foreseeable that people move/die etc. Technically he has trespassed so really he needs to accept that you owe him nothing.

And yes, the previous owners should have cancelled, but probably would also have anticipated a check in/confirmation email at which point they could cancel him.

This is not your issue - you didn’t want or need his services, so why should you be obliged to pay for them.

It’s a shame, but he will have to take it up with the previous owners and if they will not pay in full, he should notify them that he will be going through the small claims court for the full amount.

As far as they are concerned, their contact has ended. That is the reason I'm saying its fortunate they are offering to pay half. The legal technicalities aren't going to be considered by them. They will just think oh well shit happens. I wouldn't be refusing to pay something that's hardly going to be a huge amount but that's me, clearly not you.

I believe that you shouldn’t pay, the previous owners are effectively billing you for their mistake. I understand that you may have benefitted but did you really benefit from someone turning up and trespassing and working on your garden? No. stick to your guns here. You can’t be responsible for a bill you didn’t agree to.

Half is a bit random, personally I'd say work out roughly what coming back to a nice garden with weeds out is worth to you and pay that much.
Maybe 20 quid would do it I would have thought.
Then you're being as reasonable as possible without paying for someone else's mistake.

She didn’t want it though? She makes her own garden nice and tidy.

But she's the one with the nice tidy garden...? Obviously.

Why is it mean because it’s not the gardeners fault but it’s not mean that op has to pay - it’s not her fault either?

OP are you sure this isn't a scam of some sort who prey on people who've just moved into property..?

It seems unusual that a gardening company would show up and do work on a garden without confirming it with someone, or even sending a reminder etc. Surely a real company would have sent a reminder to the person they'd made a contract with..

I think you should pay half tbh. It seems very mean not to, and it's not the gardeners fault.

I remember not long after I moved in when I am now, I came home one evening to a note through the door telling me my windows had been washed! He'd had an arrangement with the previous owner, and she'd not told him. It honestly never occurred to me not to pay him. How was he to know?
I just text him on the number he left and explained.

OP are you sure this isn't a scam of some sort who prey on people who've just moved into property..?

It seems unusual that a gardening company would show up and do work on a garden without confirming it with someone, or even sending a reminder etc. Surely a real company would have sent a reminder to the person they'd made a contract with..

OP are you sure this isn't a scam of some sort who prey on people who've just moved into property..?

It seems unusual that a gardening company would show up and do work on a garden without confirming it with someone, or even sending a reminder etc. Surely a real company would have sent a reminder to the person they'd made a contract with..

Rather like the old folk who have some unscrupulous person carry out work in their garden without permission and then forcibly drive them to the cash machine to pay for it. I suppose lots of these posters think the old person should pay, because they’ve had work done.

Are you having a laugh? 'Unfair' that OP didn't enter into a contract?

OP is not interested in hiring a gardener and never has been. OP is under zero obligation to enter into a contract with anyone for services she doesn't want!

Obviously enough that he thinks it's important enough to chase round hassling the OP about half of instead of writing off, so obviously enough for the OP by the same token to not want to pay for work she didn't want done.
Unless we are assuming people who post here are always wealthier than mere gardeners, of course, as many posters (not yourself) seem to be doing.

By some posters' standards, anyone should be able to rock up at anyone's house and do a job (mow the lawn, wash the windows, paint the house) and then demand payment because the homeowner 'benefited' from their hard work, even though said homeowner hadn't requested or budgeted for the outlay.

Nope.

How much is he charging?

"the only way I’d do that is as a gesture of goodwill if the gardener was somehow to blame too."

I mean for all we know they did say that, not "get the other half from the OP" but "you should have called us first, we're only paying half and the other half is down to you". But that's for them and the gardener to argue in court.

You clearly don’t know how contracts work. You cannot simply end a contract without telling the other party. If you haven’t communicated with the other party, the contract is still in effect. If the party included in the contract refused to pay, the gardener would have to take them to court. Absolutely nothing to do with op, who isn’t ‘lucky’ to be paying half for a job she didn’t ask to be done.

The house had been empty a couple of years previously. They had probably done this the year before, disappeared over winter and come back in May.

But yes, best practice, he should have checked.

Mistake can happen, but the contract is between the previous owner and the gardener, not the property itself and the gardener.
They haven’t compromised in paying half, they should be paying in full. Doesn’t matter that they didn’t benefit (from something that they didn’t cancel). No idea why they thought paying half was acceptable, the only way I’d do that is as a gesture of goodwill if the gardener was somehow to blame too.
If I was the previous owner I’d be very apologetic to the gardener & pay him in full, and be thankful he didn’t prune or cut back a shrub that the OP didn’t want touching.