AIBU to think my landlord is an absolute chancer?

[Nahthatsnoton]

Recently left my rental property. I am no gardener but did my best to look after the garden. Obligation under contract to water and mow the lawn which I did.

I did not keep the bushes in the garden exactly to the size they were trimmed when I moved in and there was no reference to the bushes in the contract. I didn't let them become wild and overgrown though, they were just bigger than when I moved in. I cut the grass around them and the garden looked nice.

When the landlord came round they demanded I return the garden to exactly how it was when we moved in and cut the bushes back. I did this. Except now the space where the bushes had grown bigger now had mud rather than grass. Lack of sunlight I guess.

In a garden of around 100sqm the mud probably is in total 6sq metres around two bushes.

Landlord has sent us quote for garden. It is nearly £3,000 for
complete and total re-turfing. I have found grass seed for a tenner!

I am obviously not going to agree to £3,000 as I doubt even Charlie Dimmock herself would charge that but it is also so disproportionate to returf the whole garden for a little bit of mud in two corners. It has enraged me so much that I think I am now going to am refuse to even offer the grass seed as I don't believe I have breached my actual obligations.

AIBU to think my landlord is an absolute chancer?

@chesirecat99

The most you should have to pay for is turfing the bare patch but it could go either way in a dispute. They may decide that you should have kept the bushes trimmed further so it is your fault. You certainly shouldn't have to pay for the rest to be turfed though. CF...

Bollocks will they decide that.

When it's not mentioned in her contract, and the bushes are tidy?

There is no possible way they're not going to take her side on this.

Incidentally, if you did get into any kind of issue over it, you could always say you'd not previously trimmed the bushes as it's been bird-nesting season until very recently. It's not legal to disturb nesting birds.

Did you have "before" photos OP?

I'm an inventory clerk. I do inventories and check outs every day. Meet unreasonable landlords and equally unreasonable tenants every week.

Legally you only have to keep a garden litter-free, reasonably tidy and not overgrown – so mow the lawn regularly and keep on top of weeding. You would be expected to trim bushes but not keep them precisely as they were when you moved in.

You are not obliged to keep any plants alive and if a landlord wants to ensure his shrubs survive he has to arrange for their mainteance at his own expense.

www.tenancydepositscheme.com/asktds-maintaining-gardens-in-rented-properties-what-are-my-responsibilities-as-a-tenant/

But your LL isn't even asking for recompense for the bushes having grown. He is asking for the whole cost of relaying turf. Tell him to fuck off. No deposit scheme arbitration would allow that.

Which leads me to the usual questions:

Did you have an ingoing inventory?
Did you receive all the prescribed information, including the deposit protection certificate at the beginning of the tenancy?
If you have gas do you have the relevant Gas Safe certificates?
Does the property have a n Energy Performance Certificate?
property.tools/check-epc/
Did you get a proper check out report?

If he is this deluded about the garden he may well have made other errors that will be very costly!

Oh! Smoke and CO alarms.... do you have them in the right places, did they work when you moved in?

There are bound to be more basics...

These landlords give every honest landlord else a bad name.

Please fight this he sounds like a total knob

Ha ha ha. Definitely take this to the tenancy deposit scheme arbitration. You will win. Did he demand you cut the bushes in writing btw. That in itself is bonkers. If he wanted them a certain size, he needed to pay for the privilege.

We are LL and your LL is taking the piss. As long as you haven’t trashed the garden I don’t think your LL stands a chance of getting that upheld in a dispute. Even gardens suffer some degree of wear and tear.

Thanks for everyone's comments which are really reassuring.

Our deposit is protected luckily!

I didn't want to share too much as outing but this is not the only crazy demand they are making. I will definitely be going through the inventory with a fine tooth comb, thanks for the tips everyone!

No, it isn't bollocks @SarahAndQuack. That was an addendum to my previous post.

The adjudicator can only work with what evidence they have. OP will need to show the bushes were tidy before she trimmed them at the end of the tenancy and that they were only cut back radically because of the landlord's request, not because they hadn't been maintained and were overgrown.

Maintaining the garden does not need to be specified in the contract, it is covered by keeping the property in good order. Tenants need to keep the garden in basic good order by mowing the lawn, weeding, trimming hedges and shrubs.

The adjudicator's decision will rest on whether they think the bushes were properly maintained or allowed to get overgrown.

If they believe the bushes allowed to get overgrown and that caused the damage to the lawn, OP will be liable for the damaged 6m square area being returfed, NOT the whole lawn for £3k. Without photos/emails, it is a bit tricky as it could be considered implicit that OP agreed they needed trimming by fulfilling the landlord's request,

If OP can prove that they were well maintained but had just grown and the landlord wanted them cut back because they didn't like it, then the bare patches are his fault.

@chesirecat99

No, it isn't bollocks *@SarahAndQuack*. That was an addendum to my previous post.

The adjudicator can only work with what evidence they have. OP will need to show the bushes were tidy before she trimmed them at the end of the tenancy and that they were only cut back radically because of the landlord's request, not because they hadn't been maintained and were overgrown.

Maintaining the garden does not need to be specified in the contract, it is covered by keeping the property in good order. Tenants need to keep the garden in basic good order by mowing the lawn, weeding, trimming hedges and shrubs.

The adjudicator's decision will rest on whether they think the bushes were properly maintained or allowed to get overgrown.

If they believe the bushes allowed to get overgrown and that caused the damage to the lawn, OP will be liable for the damaged 6m square area being returfed, NOT the whole lawn for £3k. Without photos/emails, it is a bit tricky as it could be considered implicit that OP agreed they needed trimming by fulfilling the landlord's request,

If OP can prove that they were well maintained but had just grown and the landlord wanted them cut back because they didn't like it, then the bare patches are his fault.

I suggest you look at the very detailed post by an inventory clerk on this thread, which confirms that you are misguided.

There is no possible way the OP can be held responsible for 'damage to the lawn' here. You are making this up on the fly.

We had this and it was stated he couldn't claim for more than the original deposit and awarded the landlord zero lol

@Nahthatsnoton

Thanks for everyone's comments which are really reassuring.

Our deposit is protected luckily!

I didn't want to share too much as outing but this is not the only crazy demand they are making. I will definitely be going through the inventory with a fine tooth comb, thanks for the tips everyone!

I would honestly push back on every single thing then. So many people think they will offer a partial payment for even unreasonable items to show willing but it’s really not worth it, the landlord will just take the money you’ve offered and then still hold you over a barrel for more

The onus is on him to prove he has suffered a loss at your actions. Given you have an inventory, check in and check out reports, have been in touch with him about some items, know you have a fair wear and tear allowance AND your deposit is protected, you are massively advantaged and it will be up to him to prove your actions have caused him to suffer a loss

Landlords shouldn’t make people feel like they have the upper hand but they really do. (Im both a landlord and someone who has disputed a previous deposit and got 95% of it returned)

He has no chance.

Your deposit should be protected, if it isn’t your landlord will be in big trouble. Yes I think he’s a chancer, I doubt that if this was taken further it would be found to be in his favour. Good luck!
P.S. I’m a landlord (not like him I hasten to add!)

Landlords shouldn’t make people feel like they have the upper hand but they really do. (Im both a landlord and someone who has disputed a previous deposit and got 95% of it returned)

Sorry this isn’t clear, I’m now a landlord but as a tenant previously disputed my deposit, that’s what i meant to say!

CuriousaboutSamphire's post is in line with everything I have said, @SarahAndQuack.

Legally you only have to keep a garden litter-free, reasonably tidy and not overgrown – so mow the lawn regularly and keep on top of weeding. You would be expected to trim bushes but not keep them precisely as they were when you moved in.

OP needs to show in her evidence that the bushes were trimmed and not overgrown before the landlord made her cut them back further ie they were cut back to their original size on the landlord's whim rather than they had been left neglected and needed a radical prune. Or send evidence that he (unreasonably) requested that the bushes were cut back to their original size, resulting in the bare patches that had been shaded.

Otherwise the adjudicator, without evidence, may assume that the bushes had not been maintained, which led to the damage to the lawn. They can only work with the proof that OP and landlord upload.

I am not "making things up on the fly". I am a landlord and I volunteer giving advice to tenants dealing with CF landlord's like the OP's. I have a pretty good idea what the deposit schemes want to see if OP wants to get her money back. Without evidence, it could go either way. He won't get his £3k new lawn but he might get the cost of the bare patches being turfed.

I took my landlord to the dispute resolution service, and the LL claim included £1000 for the garden. I won my claim in full, and here’s what the report said:

“When I look at claims for gardening, I consider the following:
• the tenant should return the garden to the condition it was in at the start of the tenancy;
• the tenant should not need specialist gardening knowledge or skills;
• the season at the start and end of the tenancy, (e.g. the condition of a garden in summer is likely to be different to its condition in winter); and
• any agreed terms and conditions for gardening in the tenancy agreement.
I may make an award to the landlord or letting agent if the evidence shows that the condition of the garden was worse at the end of the tenancy than it had been at the start.”

Later in the report it says:
“In respect of the garden, I find that its condition was not significantly worse at the end of the Tenancy than at the beginning and that the state of the lawn could fairly be attributable to weather conditions.”

Obviously my situation doesn’t mirror the op, but I hope the info is helpful.

I’m a landlord. This is ridiculously unreasonable of him- total chancer. Legally your deposit should have gone into a deposit protection scheme. You can contest through there. Presumably this 3k is waaay more than that though? Cheeky as!!! Ignore it.

Don't pay a single penny. A landlord has no legal right to have their property returned in exactly the same state it was in at the start of a tenancy. They must allow for fair use. I'd include shrub growth as a fair change.
I wonder if he took measurements on the height, width and depth of each shrub before you moved in. What a pillock.

The saga with my former landlord is rumbling on and I have noticed something - a technicality maybe. I appreciate it is going to make me sound very petty but the landlord's actions have made me feel quite justified in seeing if I ca be a bit cheeky back!

My understanding is that landlords can't hold more than 5 weeks rent as a deposit, anything over that and it is a prohibited payment and may entitle me to up to 1 - 3 times the deposit.

Let's say my yearly rent is £12,000. The formula the government guidance says to use is yearly rent divided by 52 multiplied by 5. that would give a total of £1,153.84615. My landlord has rounded this up to £1,153.85 which, as minor as it is, is I think technically above the absolute max they are allowed. Does this help me in any way in claiming back the 1 -3 times deposit? Or if I raise it can he just pay me a penny and that's that?

I think I have caught him on failing to provide some of the deposit prescribed information so maybe the two combined could be handy.

Now you're being an absolute chancer OP 😂 I'm not a lawyer but I can't believe any legal process would give a crap about half a penny.

Dispute the money deductions though the deposit protection scheme. There will be an independent review to determine who is being reasonable and I can't imagine them charging 3k for a garden cus some of it is muddy is going to get anywhere.

Fair comment that I have become the chancer! :)

I think you've had some very good advice on here OP about taking dispute to the deposit scheme . It's outrageous he is trying to extort money from you like this. 5 rolls of garden turf is £20 and i don't think you even owe him that. £3k my a*se

www.homebase.co.uk/classic-fresh-turf-roll/12806770.html

I thought they weren’t allowed to ‘improve’ the property and have to allow for fair wear and tear. My landlord tried something similar and tried to keep 80% of our deposit…it didn’t work 😂 Just go through TDS.