Not paying for garden work

OP isn't a dick for not paying for a service she didn't ask for or need. the ''poor gardener'' shouldn't have just done the work without checking after a 5 month break and the ''poor gardener'' would've noticed that the condition of the garden was better than usual because OP says she had kept up with it and she was only away for a week.

I bet this ''poor gardener'' didn't do half as much work as he normally would but even then, no one but the previous owners owe him money.

I thnk it's safe to assume that 90% of those proclaiming loudly that they would pay wouldn't pay if it happened to them. To be honest, I'd trust them far less to pay for something that they had actually asked for. I'd sooner trust people who, instead of desperately trying to find some imagined moral high ground to climb on and look down from when they don't have to actually match their actions to their words, state the obvious and say that they don't pay for things they haven't asked for and don't want.

Oh the righteous Mumsnetters bringing all the legal contractual obligations 🤮
OP of course you don’t legally have to pay but is this the right thing to do? Clearly the previous owners are dicks, don’t be one! Help out the poor gardener. You benefited from his work, spend it reading a book for couple of hours.
you clearly can afford the gardener if you had one and have a massive back and front garden. If paying him means no food for you next week then obviously don’t pay but if you can easily afford it but not doing it just because you can that makes you a dick. Only you know what’s the right thing to do

I've designed a website for you. I know you don't want or need it, but it's a fully functioning website and I still have to be paid. £1000 please. That's about a fifth of what I ought to charge you, so you're lucky.

It’s odd that the gardener has only just turned up if the previous owners left last year. We have a flat which we rent out and pay someone to cut our grass. They always ask at the start of the year if we want them to continue and also ask for payment in advance.
I wouldn’t pay if I was the OP, it’s not their responsibility.

Do folk think the contract goes with the house or something?! Why are so many people convinced that the OP needs to pay (morally if not legally)? If someone came into your garden and cleaned your windows and washed your car then knocked the door and demanded £50 are you all giving it to them?!

No, I wouldn’t pay him. I think the gardener knows you’ve bought the house and is chancing his arm, offering you a discount and hoping you’ll keep him on.

Why has he only turned up for the first time in May??

I live in a tourist area where a lot of people use these types of services to keep their holiday rentals tidy. I can think of at least 5 good friends who use the services of a gardener/handyman (different businesses), and they’ve definitely had work done on their gardens for weeks now.

OP was only away for a week and had kept up with the garden herself. I bet there was barely anything to do anyway because OP was doing it all.

OP didn't benefit from it. Old owners just need to accept their mistake and pay in full.

He must've noticed that the garden was tidier than it usually was after 5 months. Even so, it was his choice not to check and that isn't OP's responsibility. The old owners need to pay all of it.

this exactly. I would have been flaming if someone had mowed my garden and pulled out weeds.

Exactly.

What if the “weeds” were purposely cultivated? What if OP were doing No Mow May for ethical reasons?

This is entirely on the gardener for not conforming his 2025 client roster last January. Lazy and unprofessional.

Absurd.

Not your obligation to pay. It's unfortunate (or not) that you were away when the work was done, but as with the majority of replies, it's a big NO. YANBU, the contract is between the previous owners and the gardener, nothing at all to do with you. End of discussion.

But also - you haven't changed the locks?!

But the person who had the agreement with the gardener, didn’t bother to cancel it and now won’t pay him, doesn’t have low morals?!

You must have low morals!

OP isn't taking advantage of anything. A stranger rocked up at her home, entered her property, mowed her lawn and pulled a few weeds without her knowledge or permission. And then demanded money for doing so.

And what if they'd injured themselves on her property whilst doing it?

The previous homeowner , if there was even an arrangement, needs to pay the gardener if he had failed to cancel the contract with him. It's not the OP's responsibility, legally OR morally, to sort.

I suppose that the OP can sit back and enjoy her large garden knowing that she won't have to mow it or weed it etc and can have a good laugh knowing that (through no fault or her own) someone else is paying for it.
What's clear from many of the threads on here is that if someone else makes a mistake and they benefit from it that's tough! They disregard the concept of fairness and just being a nice person. They love freebies especially at someone else's expense!

I agree! Somebody upthread suggested that it would probably only cost a tenner too!

I love the idea that this gardener is making multiple visits to multiple houses for the sake of a tenner.

Where is the voting option? YABVVU

I agree! Somebody upthread suggested that it would probably only cost a tenner too!

In reality, it could have been hundreds of pounds that OP is expected to divert from her food/household/essential bills budget in order to 'be kind' - when the person who actually booked/didn't cancel the gardener is only offering half and isn't expected to 'be kind' enough to pay their bill in full.

Yes, I'm sure they don't want to waste a lot of money on something that they didn't benefit from, but that doesn't stop it from being their liability - just like if you dropped an expensive crystal vase in a shop and it smashed on the floor, you would be expected to pay for it, even though you also wouldn't benefit from it in any way.

Call it the disorganisation/idiot tax if you will, but that doesn't mean you don't have to make good on your own shortcomings and can just nominate somebody else to randomly bail you out and pay your obligations for you.

I can't believe how many people on here would pay for a service that they didn't order, want or need.

Substitute "would" for "from behind a keyboard, volunteer somebody else's money to" and we're probably closer to the truth.

me either but we could make a fortune with a ninja window cleaning business?

The very meaning of the word 'trade' - as in tradesperson - means that you make an agreement with another person to exchange skills, goods and/or services for money.

If you expect or seek to persuade a third-party who was never involved in the trade to pay into it, it is not a legitimate trade in any way.

It's unfortunate for the gardener, but the mistake was either his or the person who booked/didn't cancel him.

I don't know why everybody is automatically assuming that OP has benefited, when she had already been working on the garden herself and the gardener could not have known how she wanted her own garden.

We regularly have people coming around to offer us services and products that we absolutely do not want. We currently have old UPVC windows that have been in since we bought the house. They're showing their age and it would be nice to replace them at some point - but we definitely want wooden windows when we get it done, much more in keeping with the age of the house.

If somebody made a mistake or assumption and replaced our (still perfectly fine) windows with new plastic ones - even ones that 'look like' timber - whilst we were away, would we be expected to pay for them, or a proportion of the cost, because we have supposedly 'benefited' and somebody has done a lot of (unsolicited and unauthorised) work - even though we neither wanted nor needed nor will enjoy them?

and anothe house I am coming round to to clean your windows and bill you!! people DO NOT have to be paid if you didn't ask for the service or even know about it. I'd be mad as fire if someone messed with my garden without my permission.

People have to be paid by people with whom they have an agreement. The OP has no such agreement so is not obliged to pay for a service she didn't want, didn't ask for and isn't particularly happy about. The actual cost is completely irrelevant as there is no arrangement between the OP and the gardener.

Honestly have no idea why people are finding this such a difficult concept to grasp.