Not paying for garden work

People are encouraged not to move lawns in May. Id be extremely unhappy with random garden work, as we have a plan!

Its not on you to pay for something you didn't ask for.

How much are we talking £50 20?

Jesus, where do you live? Word will get round!

Besides, I wouldn't think badly of someone who didn't pay a gardener for work they hadn't agreed to.

But he is running a business. He presumably has some sort of written contract with the ex owners and he should and could pursue them for payment. The OP probably gives to charities that she chooses to support.

my sympathies are with the gardener who is vulnerably employed I would tell him sorry but they made the mistake and did not cancel you do they have to pay obviously

id get in contact with seller via their solicitor and tell them to pay up

id the gardener a favour if they dilly dally and big him up on social media so he gets more work and I’d pay him if they refused as that’s a kindness to him

sellers are utter knob heads

Not its not fair the previous owners only pay half.
They knew they employed him and put him in a position where he lost 1/2 his wage.
Thats on them not the OP.

My gardener charges £45 an hour and there's three of them so I can't imagine it's much of a bill. I would just pay it, you're new to the neighborhood and word will get around making it difficult to get a window cleaner, car washer and other services. But I'm a wimp.

Pay him! You have the benefit of his work and are getting it half price. Gardeners are hard to find. Be a decent person.

Contractually the original owners owe him the whole amount. He is at liberty to discount that by 50% for them, but that doesn’t place an obligation on you to pay the balance.

But…IME good gardeners are (a) hard to find and (b) useful sometimes, so if I thought I would need them for something in the future and the 50% was good value for what had actually been done I would be inclined to pay, knowing that I’d now got a reliable gardening contact. If however there are no circumstances where you will even need a gardner then push it back to the original owner.

I can be a proper pushover, so would probably agree to pay half. But you shouldn't have to at all

How much do they want you to pay?

How much gardening have you been doing yourself? If this is the first time he has been since you moved in back in December it should have been obvious to him that someone else was now doing the gardening.

How much do you benefit from his work? In your position I would be upset by the intrusion. For all he knows you might have been observing No Mow May.

I feel sorry for him but I think the previous owners should be footing the whole bill.

This shouldn't be your problem OP, but to be honest it's the kind of thing where if you can afford it, maybe just pay half of the bill - you are still getting a service, after all - and forget about it.

The gardener doesn't need to lose out. He just needs to take previous owners to small claims court.

I too would refuse to pay.

The previous owners had the contract, they forgot to cancel. They can't decide on your behalf to split the bill. They should have contacted you first to discuss this, before telling the gardener.

However I'd be contacting the previous owners myself to tell them this and that they are behaving badly. I would offer to support the gardener in a claim through small claims court.

Its the prior owners responsibility to cancel the contract. The gardner did the work per the contract so they owe him the whole amount of the money.

I would also pay half as even tho it wasn’t requested the man is in the middle of no fault of his own.

It isn't on you at all. But if it wasn't a huge amount of money and I could afford it, I would pay half. Simply because the gardener is likely to be a one-man band who can do without potentially losing out on income. Not your problem by any means, but perhaps think that it has saved you a job for a half price fee.

As a gesture of goodwill, I would pay the half, it’s not the gardeners fault the previous owner didn’t contact them to cancel and if anyone can tackle taking out all weeds and cut 2 large lawns professionally, I would be happy, but I understand you not wanting to pay.

I beg to differ, I think @gardendramas5 is the one that has been put in an awkward position. The contract was not with her she shouldn’t have to pay. What if she doesn’t have the money?

I feel sorry for the guy but it's not on you. Previous owners' had the contract. He needs to chase them.

Why?

For me, the issue sits with the previous owners AND the gardener. The POs should have informed the gardener they were moving, and the gardener should have sent them a reminder text/email to say what date he was coming, which would have prompted a ‘oh we don’t live there any more!’ response. Not your circus, not your monkeys.

Previous owners need to pay!!

How much would half the bill be?

This is 100% not on you
but the guys going to lose out through no fault of his own I’d probably offer to pay 1/2