Not paying for garden work

Why? She has no contract with this gardener.
Give me your address, I'll turn up unannounced and wash your car.
The bill is £100.

Not ‘poor gardener’: he’s running a business, part of which is managing customers, getting payment and contracts. If he’s failed to do that it’s his problem.

For me it depends on the cost. I use a gardener on occasion and he charges 25 quid an hour and this is in Norfolk. South east would be dearer. So assuming he has spent a couple of days you might be looking at north of 600? I would settle as a goodwill gesture , but it would depend on the amount.

Those saying a gesture of 'good will' good will to who - the gardener she doesn't know and didn't ask to do any work for her or the previous owners she has paid to buy a house off and owes them no good will for their error. The fact that either of those parties consider you benefitted is a matter of opinion - you may well have not wanted things cutting/trimming etc and had plans that are now on hold.

I do feel sorry for the gardener a little bit - but surely he would arrange a day and time to come to do the work rather than just turn up unexpectedly? but the main blame is the previous owners who did not cancel.

Out of interest, how much are we talking about?

The fact that there’s no contract between OP and the gardener isn’t determinative. There’s a principle called “quantum merit” (meaning “as much as he has deserved/earned”) that covers this situation.

In essence where someone has been unjustly enriched by receiving a benefit for which the provider can’t bring a claim in law (eg because there is no contract), the court has a discretion to order payment.

There are lots of summaries online but here is one from a reputable firm of solicitors: https://www.walkermorris.co.uk/comment-opinion/a-quantum-meruit-a-remedy-for-risk-takers/

I think the court would be likely to award something here. Notwithstanding OP might say “well it is not a benefit to me as I would have done it myself” the fact is she hasn’t had to and the court would recognise that.

It is the previous owners who should be decent and pay for the work they commissioned. It is not the OPs responsibility to make up for someone else’s failure to be a decent person. And refusal to do so does not make her not a decent person.

That’s disgraceful!! The trouble is, how do you prove a negative? As in, how do you prove something wasn’t done. I’d love to know what the other side said to convince the small claims court.

I would get the previous owners to pay it as it isn't your issue they are so disorganised, but depending on how much it is (if it isn't exorbitant) I'd pay half as if feel sorry for the poor gardner

I don't believe this.

If this were the case tradespeople could reasonably just start carrying out a job on your property, without you asking, and reasonably then expect to bill your for it.

Eg a window cleaner looking for more work could just clean someone's windows without being asked then bill them.

No court insisted you had to pay for work you did not commission, unless you actively engaged with them on arrival and clearly we're happy to have the work done.

Was it just during your holiday week? If so, I would pay the half. You were on holiday so there would have been growth during that time so in effect it has saved you some work.

But it is May now. So why was that his first visit, conveniently while you were absent?

His contract is with the previous owners.

He actually had no right to come onto your land, let alone make alterations to it.

The poor gardener though, stuck in the middle. I know this sucks but could you pay half just this one time? The ex-owners are 100% in the wrong but at least they’re offering something 🤷‍♀️

In this situation I would pay half. Yes it was the previous owners mistake, but you are the one benefiting from the work even if you didn't want/need/ask for it to be done. Just a shit situation, but the person who did it shouldn't be out of pocket so as a gesture of good will I would pay up if I could afford too. I wouldn't be happy about it though.

I wonder if he knew very well that there was a new owner, but thought that he could just keep the regular job - without ever reasoning that the new owner might not want to pay him for it; going on the basis that, from his perspective, nothing had changed except for a new bill-payer.

Maybe he presumptuously reckoned that, if he asked first, she might say No; but if he went ahead and did it, and she was so impressed by his work, she would gladly pay up and keep him coming back in future.

After all, there are people on this thread saying that OP should pay if she can - at least something - out of pity for the gardener.

The big flaw with that, though, is that it's totally irrelevant how good or bad his work is, if it hasn't ever been agreed and isn't wanted by the new householder.

I wouldn't pay him. His contract was with a third party, not OP. (And she doesn't know that he is actually being truthful about the previous owners only offering to pay half the bill - they may have settled in full realising that it's their error and the gardener is taking advantage. Unlikely, but possible.)

It's irrelevant that OP has benefitted from his visit, she didn't instruct him to do it so it's not on her.

I'd also be peed off if someone did work in my garden without my knowledge, they don't know what I'd want doing and what I'd want leaving alone. And a lot of so-called gardeners aren't that great either, lacking knowledge about timing of pruning and not trimming lawn edges for example.

I do feel sorry for him but his contract is with the previous owner and not you.
If you are happy to do the gardening going forward then he needs to take it up with the previous owner. However if you think that you will need garden work done in future then I would probably pay. It is hard to get good tradepeople.

That’s outrageous! Did they say why it was you who had to pay and not the person that ordered the work?

Bollocks to that. She didn't ask them to do the work, she didn't agree to their price, there's no indication she wanted it done at all
She owes them nothing. The previous owners need to be decent people and pay the people they contracted to do the work.

Rather daft of him not to check as well. Anything could have happened in the last six months/year, he shouldn't have done the work without making sure.

Also your house doesn't sound very secure if the gardener could just wander round the back with his mower.

Whilst I do have some sympathy for the gardener, I don’t think you should pay anything towards the cost of the work. I would be furious if someone came in and did any work in my garden without my permission.

He may have been chancing his luck! The gardener should have checked it was ok to do the work. You don't just turn up unannounced after x many months, do work and expect the owner just to pay up.

The contract is between the original owner and the gardener.
The original owners have no right to expect somebody else to pay on their contract. I would tell the gardener you are quite prepared to explain that to them if they want to get in touch with you and to encourage them to meet the terms of their contract.

If it were me in your shoes, I would make sure the gardener gets the whole amount from them and then make it up to him with a small token gift of some sort that he might appreciate. He has been back and forth rather a lot and you never know when you might need him in the future. And I’m sure your garden looks lovely after his work.

Stupid auto correct - 'feed her children' not 'feed her charity'.