Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Let tenants pave garden?

55 replies

ForeverGenX · 11/04/2023 17:21

We have a rental home with an east facing garden. Our tenants want to pave the back garden, removing all grass. In summer the grass is lush but it turns into a mud bath for many months. They have a raised paved patio at the back and a slab path down the middle of the lawn. I want them to enjoy the garden but am reluctant to allow them to ditch all the grass. Is this mean of me? Am worried about biodiversity loss and also whether we will be able to reinstate the grass easily at some point if it is paved over. What can we do about drainage? Is there a more low maintenance version of grass in an east facing garden that is more eco-friendly than slabs?

OP posts:

AmandaHoldensLips · 11/04/2023 17:23

By all means let them do it if one of them is a qualified builder / paver. It's not the simple job they might think. Certainly not a DIY job as it requires proper groundworks and prep.

mycoffeecup · 11/04/2023 17:25

No way would I want that done to my back garden.

Does it need digging out, better drainage putting in, and re-turfing? Shouldn't be a mud bath for months

LastWill · 11/04/2023 17:25

What do they actually use the garden for in winter? Can’t they just stick to the path if going out there?
I wouldn’t let them but I’m a nature lover.

Magaluf · 11/04/2023 17:26

No way

fuzzbearpenguin · 11/04/2023 17:26

Don't you have to get planning permission if paving a large area due to drainage?
Personally I wouldn't allow it as it's an expensive project to get fixed if they do a bad/shoddy job of it.

VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji · 11/04/2023 17:27

i rent. I wouldn’t look at your house (if the garden was paved) unless I was desperate and there was nothing else.
it would really put me off. More so if I had younger children

Danikm151 · 11/04/2023 17:28

Tell them no.
They can aerate the garden and see if that will help. Cheapest way is poke some holes with a garden fork. Can help with drainage down into the soil.

my tenancy says I can’t make structural changes to the garden… paving over is a big change!

Original poster

ForeverGenX · 11/04/2023 17:30

Yes that was my instinct! He’s just messaged to say he’s started a building firm so has contacts to do it… The rental is not in a conservation area so I am not sure about planning permission but I wouldn’t be keen to lose all planting. I have suggested low maintenance bushes or shade loving flowers down both sides of the garden, and then slightly wider path down the middle to minimise the grass but he doesn’t seem keen… He is building some sort of wooden awning. Should I be worried?!

OP posts:

SpringIntoChaos · 11/04/2023 17:34

What about a compromise and add some decking? Not sure if that would work but having a 'mud bath' for much of the year, currently means it's practically unusable, surely?

CindersAgain · 11/04/2023 17:35

He’s building an awning?!

Pringleface · 11/04/2023 17:36

That would be a hard no from me.

Pringleface · 11/04/2023 17:38

I’ve just seen your post about the awning. I would not be letting them build anything in the garden or remove all the grass and planting. That’s pretty outrageous.

Mischance · 11/04/2023 17:38

He must abide by your wishes. Have you OK'd the wooden awning?

I would not let them slab over the garden. If there are drainage problems they will simply pop up somewhere else. Slabs or concrete create drainage problems as there is nowhere for the rain to soak away.

Environmentally it is better to have grass.

Just say NO!

Mischance · 11/04/2023 17:40

If he has started a building firm he is likely to want to do lots of bits and bobs with the remains of materials ordered for other jobs - I think you need to be firm right now and say that he can do nothing indoors or out without your express permission. Start as you mean to go on.

GiantKitten · 11/04/2023 17:42

I remember there was a thread here not that long ago where the house had a lovely front garden and the tenant wanted to replace it with a parking area 🙄

Rental agreements often don’t even allow eg painting inside, I don’t understand why a tenant would assume they can make massive permanent changes outside!

tailinthejam · 11/04/2023 17:47

ForeverGenX · 11/04/2023 17:30

He's building a wooden awning? What for, where, and how big is it going to be? I wouldn't be at all happy about that.

Original poster

ForeverGenX · 11/04/2023 17:52

I have just found out the wooden awning cannot go ahead without planning permission so I have killed off that idea. He will have to get a pop up one or a sun umbrella! I think he wanted a pergola to sit under while it is raining/sunny.

Have said no to the paving thing. Just need to find a solution to the mud bath! I do want them to enjoy their garden. Landlords get a sh*tty rap but not all of us are horrible. We haven’t raised the rent for six years. Though the mortgage payments are really beginning to hurt.

OP posts:

queenofthebongo · 11/04/2023 17:52

Make sure he doesn't charge you and ask him to put it right at the end of the tenancy? But don't let him pave/gravel your garden. 😢

KievLoverTwo · 11/04/2023 17:54

Has he been there for 20 years and is a great tenant, and it's in your best interests to keep him happy?

If not, tell him to bugger off.

It sounds like he wants to do it for a) lower garden maintenance and b) to show off the photographs to future customers of his building firm.

I'm a tenant and even I think this suggestion's pretty dodgy.

I would politely tell him that such work would require building regulations approval (because it does), will be expensive to undo if things go wrong, and his deposit won't cover rectifying it if the works are not undone at the end of his tenancy, so you can't allow it.

Again, as a tenant, I avoid fully paved gardens, so you're going to have a harder time renting it out when he leaves.

TheFlis12345 · 11/04/2023 17:56

I bet he wants it paved and covered so he can use it to store building materials and equipment for his business. If he is self employed I would check the rules about him operating such a business from
your property.

LolaSmiles · 11/04/2023 17:56

I'd say no to it and keep that in writing, but would privately look into what could be done to make the garden usable when the grass is a mud bath.

I used to have a garden that took ages to dry out. Having a nice patio area/deck made a difference on the nice days when the grass was still drying out.

PurpleParrotfish · 11/04/2023 17:56

No, don’t let him pave over the garden! What does he want to do there in winter that couldn’t be done on the patio? Do they have kids? I’m sure there are other solutions to improve it without the big downsides of turning the garden into a yard.

suzyscat · 11/04/2023 18:12

No way.

Original poster

ForeverGenX · 11/04/2023 18:13

He is an adult who lives there with elderly parents. No small children. Been there for about six years. I guess they don’t want to slip etc but there is a perfectly decent path to the back paved area that could be used in all areas. Hmm good point about the building materials and definitely the whole ‘showing off design’ thing. Looks like aerating the lawn and adding a particular type of grit to it could be good.

OP posts:

SarahAndQuack · 11/04/2023 18:14

Wow, he is one cheeky fucker! Of course don't let him pave it. Point out to him that (as a PP says) many people won't want to rent a house with a paved back garden, so he would be decreasing the value of your property.

I was a tenant for years and years and am absolutely, firmly on the side of tenants when it comes to being allowed to treat the place like a home - but that means reasonable requests, like being allowed to pop a pot of daffs on the patio! It does not mean putting up an awning without permission, or trying to make huge material changes to a property you don't own!

Flip

1 2 3