Can i see your low maintenance garden please

[middleagedandinarage]

Help please, I rent out a terraced house. I'm so fed up of tenants not looking near the garden and every time someone moved out the garden is absolutely over grown and looks awful. It's mainly grass with a slabbed patio area and path with chuckles at the side so I imagine not particularly high maintenance anyway but the chuckies/ slabs are full of weeds and the grass looks like a wild meadow. Any tips of low maintenance gardens?

Why would they look after a garden that isn't theirs? Maybe offer them the freedom to plant stuff in the garden and make it nice; they probably assume they're not allowed.

It's usually in the tenancy agreement that they look after the garden.

What are chuckies?

I'd just get someone in to maintain it as part of the rent money.

grass and patio sounds about as low maintenance as you can get - is there a mower provided though? otherwise its gravel and weedmembrane but tenants with kids dont like this. Unless you trust the tenant i would not be suggesting they could do/plant what they wanted as you might find they have done something really bad that is time consuming to put right.

I wouldnt spend loads of money on landscaping as you may get a tenant that trashes it (we had one that covered garden in dogs poo - despite not getting permission for dog - rubbish and old sofa)

It should be in the tenancy agreement that they look after the garden (as long as you provide a lawn mower).

Make it clear you will check on the property periodically, like estate agents would if you went through an agency, to make sure the garden is kept clean as well as the house.

Then you can take money out of their deposit to clear the garden if needed.

Or build into the rent amount the cost of having a gardener do the do the lawn every month.

I'm guessing you're in Scotland, where 'chuckies' or 'chucky stones' are gravel? I wonder if the gravel doesn't have a weed membrane?

I'd get rid of that, but I have a deep personal loathing of chucky stones, they always fill with weeds and migrate into the lawn and path... I've never found it low-maintenance at all.

Provide a mower and storage for it. Get rid of the gravel. Pressure wash the paving slabs between tenancies.

Long term renter here - are you kidding? I have never seen a lawn mower provided anywhere, but I have spent many (mostly) happy hours looking after 'my?' gardens. Here we have 2 acres, mostly grass and mature trees. I have someone cutting the grass most week with a tractor and I have planted the previously abandoned borders with masses of lavender, rosemary and rustic roses. All very low maintenance, quick growing and beautiful..