Not paying for garden work

I can't believe how many people on here would pay for a service that they didn't order, want or need. Just because you would do that, doesn't mean that OP should pay for a service that she didn't request.

The contract, written or implied, is with the people who asked him to do the job, then forgot to cancel him. They are complete CF in only wanting to pay half. They need to accept their mistake and pay in full. They made a huge mistake by not cancelling it.

OP has done nothing wrong and owes the gardener nothing.

There's no law against your garden being a mess! We're not in Switzerland fgs.

I have worked on the tools trying to make ends meet and had to deal with people who expect something for nothing. Not saying you are at fault but you have received a service and it’s half price or less. A clear mistake but people still have to be paid. Talk to the gardener again and pay something, you have had your garden done and you obviously noticed the difference so be grateful you got a cheap garden make over.

Rubbish! If anyone is being taken advantage of it’s the OP. She is the only one who hasn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t hire the guy. She didn’t forget to cancel. She didn’t want her garden done and if she did she would have hired her old gardener. How do you know she can even afford it? She might not have any money left at the end of the month, loads of us don’t. We don’t even know how much the bloke wants. Could be £200. If you’re that arsed you pay the guy.

You remind me of the thread a little while back about OP's boundary-less parents who came and decorated her house (that didn't actually need decorating) to their own tastes whilst she was in hospital having her baby.

She hated their bold colour choices and didn't want or need them to do it, as well as feeling line they had taken a big liberty and intruded in her own private domain - but hey, she was the one benefitting from it??

You're entirely imagining that.

Even if the garden had been a mess, there's no law against it or compulsion to pay a random professional who turns up for working on it.

So you will take advantage of the situation and get your large garden done for free? You're the only one benefiting here. Yes, legally you're not obliged to pay but morally it's shitty not to pay half. I think you know that too otherwise you wouldn't have asked if you were being unreasonable!

Your garden was obviously a mess and you should pay him the half and leave it at that

the Op hasn't done anything wrong either. why should she (or anyone) pay for something they had know knowledge of, diod not agree to and did not want? I swear that MN is FULL of wet lettuces!

this. I don't mow for the whole of may, as do many people and yes the grass grows but its in no way a jungle.

Why should being able to afford it make a difference? OK, maybe if OP were a multi-millionaire, possibly it might be a kind gesture that would mean nothing to her; but I took from her posts that she isn't particularly well-off.

Also, the perceived benefit to OP is far from undeniable: especially as it wasn't in a bad way to start with and she's happy doing the gardening herself.

If you had your car ready and were intending to go off on holiday in it - and a taxi turned up at the end of your drive, insisting that somebody had booked it to take you to your destination (whether through confusion/wrong house, a chancer taxi driver wanting business or even your anxious nan who worries about you driving yourself around, as she is scared of driving and thinks it's just better left to the men)... would people be saying that the taxi driver was expecting/hoping for a good fare and it will save you from driving yourself (even if you really enjoy it) - so you should just be kind and pay him anyway?

why?

The contract was with the old owner. It’s not your fault the old owner didn’t cancel. You might have benefited but you didn’t ask for it. You weren’t even aware it was going to happen.

Legally, you are in the clear.

I'd sue the gardener for the anxiety caused.

@Debinaround I completely agree. I spend hours working on our garden every week, particularly at this time of year, and get great satisfaction from doing it. I realise that my situation may change as I get older but my Mum was still doing all her own gardening until she was well into her 90s and I intend to do the same. I would be furious if a gardener trespassed onto my property and cut my grass or pulled up weeds/plants and I definitely wouldn’t see it as me having benefitted from what they had done.

She’s already said that if she needed a gardener she would hire the one who worked for her at her old house.

All the people telling her to pay “her” half, what if she can’t afford it? Lots of people like me* *have no money left at the end of the month. If someone came to the door wanting £30 I wouldn’t have it. Every penny is accounted for. There is a cost of living crisis at the moment and I get that 90% of mumsnetters are loaded and pay for cleaners, gardeners and someone to do their ironing but loads of us really can’t afford it. The OP even says she is doing her garden herself to save money!

OP is the only one who has done nothing wrong here. The original owner forgot to cancel so owes the money. The gardener, after at least 5 months should have checked the work was still wanted. No way did the gardener not realise the house was lived in and someone had been looking after the garden. The gardener is not the one in the middle here, the OP is. She had nothing to do with the arrangement between the gardener and the original owner. She didn’t want him in her garden cutting her grass or pulling up the weeds. She wanted to do it herself. Loads of people love doing their own gardens. It’s a hobby for lots so why are people saying she benefited?

Everyone so outraged that the “poor” gardener hasn’t been paid his full amount can send OP a PM and I’m sure she will be happy to forward the blokes details on and you can pay. It’s only 30 quid after all so pony up 🙄

I disagree. We don't know what OP has planned for the garden. OP didn't ask anyone to do any work, so why should she pay for something she didn't want?
This is on the original owners.

I'd pay this time as it saved me doing it and the company does deserve to be paid. I would inform them however that I don't wish to use their services going forward, and please don't come again.
I'd be pee'd off at previous owner for not terminating the contract too.

The gardener just turned up and did the work without first checking that it was convenient or that the owners were even alive! He hadn’t been round for a year. Not a great gardener if he can’t tell that some work had been carried out between visits, especially as the weather will mean the grass would have grown quite considerably. I would give him £20 as a gesture of goodwill and tell him that he needs to get the rest of the money from the previous owner.

I think it depends, IMO you wouldn’t be unreasonable at all not to pay if you can’t afford it but you would be being unreasonable if you can afford to pay but just don’t wan’t to, because it wasn’t your fault. Only because you did benefit from the work and theoretically have the funds to pay the man what he’s owed without hassle.

It's a particular demographic of people with more garden than they can maintain in the time they've got, or where the property's rented.

Looking up and down my (edge of London) road, there's a gardener's van in it most days.

I employ a bloke for a half day a couple of times a year when it gets on top of me. So do a lot of the neighbours.

I'm amazed at all the 'you never know when you'll need a gardener' comments.

I don't know anyone who has a gardener, or who has ever had a gardener.

No, the previous owners should be paying the gardener the full amount. It is ridiculous to suggest the OP should pay for work she didn't ask to be done just because the previous occupants forgot to cancel him. If there is one thing that really angers me about people, it is those that think they have the right to externalise the consequences of their own cock-ups onto others, NO YOU DO NOT, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND OWN YOUR MISTAKES.

Ok, I will retract my previous comment. I thought the owner owned the home for 6 months and the Gardener came every week to cut her grass. Now I realise it’s just a one-off. Even so, I agree with other posters, gardeners are hard to find and you might need them in the future. Better not to burn your bridges. How much is the cost? If it’s £30 pony up.

Exactly
Garden tidier than expected, curtains at the windows. Duh, I wonder if there's a new occupier ?