First house inspection - worried about garden

[newtenant]

Hi all, sorry for the boring thread.

I’m renting and have my first house inspection soon. We were lucky enough to be allowed to have our dog here without any fuss, but unfortunately he’s pulled up some of the grass playing around when it’s been rainy. It’s left a largish muddy patch. I’m really worried this will go against us as the generic tenancy agreement says about maintaining the garden. However, the garden was overgrown when we moved in, no flowers etc and the fence is damaged. The house generally is a bit shabby so my gut was that they wouldn’t be too precious. The legalese in the contract worries me though!
Anyone have any experience of this or any advice for maintaining a grassy garden with a dog? I want to put seed down but it’s much too early now. Should I email the agency about it?

Thanks

Why did you let your dog rip up the grass?

I imagine this is the reason people don't allow pets in rented property!

However I wouldn't draw attention to it but pre warning them. Let the inspector notice ( or not if it's already a bit of a state)

@cabsavpls

Why did you let your dog rip up the grass?

I imagine this is the reason people don't allow pets in rented property!

However I wouldn't draw attention to it but pre warning them. Let the inspector notice ( or not if it's already a bit of a state)

I didn’t exactly ‘let’ him, he just has a spot in the garden where he likes to lie/play/chew sticks and it’s been particularly rainy over winter.

I wouldn’t worry. Your obligation is at the end of the tenancy to return the property in same state taking into account reasonable wear abs tear. Worst case scenario is they deduct from your deposit at the end. They also might draw your attention to it in which case just say yep noted and well fix when we move out

I wouldn't worry about it... if you maybe make the presence of the seed very visible. If you have the rest of the house looking ok.

Gardens can develop sparse patches for a variety of reasons (including non dog related ones) the most important thing is you are seen to be dealing with it.

From Landlord/agency POV they should be focused on checking for any issues which mean there is a risk that the property will not be handed back in as good a state as you got it in.
My view is a patch missing today in winter , which you are clearly proactively handling should not be an amber flag.

However words to the wise if you are asked about the cause I would not volunteer that it was dog related, I'd try to answer around the question by saying, well we noticed the patch so we put down seed.

I’d buy some grass seed and get it down, and try to train the dog not to do it.

If they say anything, tell them you'll reseed the patch over the summer

Don’t worry too much. Make sure there is no dog poo in the garden, no rubbish lying around. Tell the person checking the property that you’re going to put grass seed down March/April. If you’re ok stretching the truth say that patch was mossy so you’ve raked it over. Get a bag of grass seed in the Spring, lob it down, water it in. It’ll be fine

I'm an inventory clerk and if I were doing your inspection I would discuss it with you, see what info you wanted to forward to the landlord.

I would also reassure you that it's normal with a dog and that as long as you eventually leave it all in pretty much the same conditio, weedy, untidy, whatever, as it was when you moved in it will be fine.

I would also note that on the report for your landlord.

So don't be afraid to discuss it with whoever is doing the inspection.

Thanks everyone. I’m a bit of a panicker!

There is a big pile of old grass in the far end that was there before we moved in, it’s all mushy and the grass under it is dead, so I don’t think they are too proud about this. Not that I want to make anything worse. I would never have moved the dog into a perfectly maintained garden

Could you buy a trampoline and put it on top of the muddy bit?

If they mention it then say you’ll throw grass seeds down in the spring (there’s no point at the moment in the middle of winter) because the bad weather has affected the lawn.

I wouldn't worry. They've never even looked in my garden during checks

Do you have a washing line between the house and the muddy bit? Hang a sheet up to screen his view of that bad bit of grass so he can see only nice stuff? Yeah he’ll think you’re mad putting a sheet out on the line in the rain but heyho.

Or put a large pot plant over the muddy area like it’s a feature. Or scatter garden furniture over it to hide it.

Grass seed likely won’t grow at this time of year as it’s too cold and outwith the growing season, unless perhaps if you are way down south where it’s significantly warmer. Possibly.

You could buy a roll of turf but it will still be noticeable. So I’d suggest fixing the grass is not feasible just now. Covering it hiding from view is the way to go.