5 months to complete - who mows grass?

[Horsedatives]

Buyers offered on my late parents' house in April.... they can't complete until early September as they are selling their property to a family member..... agent has just said they are waiting for that mortgage to go through.

They've been going past and noticed the garden is going crazy.

I live 200 miles away.

They contacted the estate agent and asked that lawn is mown immediately. I will arrange this, but just wondering what is normal here?

What's normal is that the house doesn't belong to them yet so they can fuck off making demands.

You own the house, it's your responsibility.

Your house your responsibility but if you don't get it done it will be a jungle when they move in. That's not really on.

I would expect normal upkeep by the current owners, regardless of whether they live in it yet. Have you exchanged?

Apart from anything, it's not good to let a house look empty and abandoned in case it gets burgled, vandalised etc. Most home insurance policies will expect someone to be visiting at least every 30 days unless you have agreed to a longer period.

Have you stopped doing any other maintenance too?

they can't complete until early September as they are selling their property to a family member.

Which they have made your problem. Wouldn't be too much to expect them to offer to do the garden as a thank you for your patience!

It really depends on how they asked tbh. They can't demand but it's a fair point to ask whether between now and September the grass will be cut because if it's overgrown now it will be really bad by then. Were you intending to do anything about it ahead of completion without them mentioning?

It's your responsibility (or the executors) to maintain it. Why wouldn't you? What if the sake falls through.. what would you do then?

You should also have it insured too.

I think it’s reasonable that the buyers ask for the grass be kept under control. Unless of course it was a waist- high jungle when they originally saw the house and they didn’t mention it as an issue.

its in your interests to keep it tidy because sale might fall through, an abandoned looking house is a target….

we Bought an empty house and 6 month from offer to completion. Owners kept grass cut but not the hedges, they weren’t too bad!

Exactly. Just employ a gardener to go round every couple of weeks.

I'd be reconsidering the sale if I were them. It would make me question what state the rest of the house is falling into.

The house is still part of your late parents' estate, or owned by whoever inherited it.

It is up to the executors or the owner (you?) to maintain it until it is sold. Which means cutting the lawn, clearing the gutters, checking drains, ensuring it is secure and preventing deterioration etc.

When we sold my dm's house we visited every other weekend for months, gardening and making it look lived in so it didn't attract squatters.

It makes no difference what it looks like now, as long as it’s mown and tidy when it’s sold thats all what matters. I’d ignore them. Either get a gardner or come round and do it your self before completion.

Exactly this. I think they're being cheeky.

Yes, this.
And if they insist on this, (everyone is different), they might just pull out of the deal as seems normal in England.

You need to maintain the property and an unkempt garden may attract undesirable attention as well as allow it to go wild, ask the agent if they know of a local gardening company who can visit every few weeks. However such an extended completion is unusual, have you exchanged contracts?

Is anyone keeping an eye on the house? How long does your insurance let you leave it empty?

We were a long distance relocation and moved before selling - we paid a neighbour to keep an eye on the outside, clear up leaves, pick up litter. It wasn't grass cutting season. The EA had it on a management contract and took care of checking inside.

What you don't want is to get to almost completion and a problem to emerge because checks aren't taking place.

Grass cutting wise, could you employ someone local to mow it every 2-3 weeks? That'll stop it getting too bad.

It took us 12 months to sell my DMs house after she died. During that time DH & I travelled the 160 mile round trip at least fortnightly to mow/weed the garden. We did it for the sake of the longstanding neighbours who were very proud of their gardens (and frankly if we hadn't done it I'm pretty sure the 88 year old man next door would have mown the lawn for us!)

It is the responsibility of the current owner/executors to upkeep the property until completion.

Your buyers are a bit cheeky but if you don't live nearby maybe you've not had the chance seen how much the garden has grown after all the rain we've had? It's still technically your property.

I'm 3 weeks weeks away from completion 🤞on DFs empty probate property and have arranged for gardeners to come to blitz the jungle/garden today (mowing and cutting back) but will not be doing anything further. All the rain has made the garden very "verdant"! 🌱

Your estate agent should have contact details for a local company. Our EA have a list of local tradespeople who they trust and will share with clients.

The Executors are responsible for maintenance until completion. Something like the garden doesn't matter so much in the meantime, but it'd be good to get someone in a few weeks before completion to cut grass, cut back anything seriously overgrown and maybe reassure them that you might do this to stop them getting on at you in the meantime.

Mowing the grass isn’t ‘maintenance’. It’s purely cosmetic. Just because you were willing to spend a fortune in time and travel costs to cut grass it doesn’t mean that everyone should. And anyway, letting gardens run wild is far better for the environment!

I’m in the process of selling a house that was previously a rental so currently vacant. Accepted an offer April (I think) so still waiting for everything to finalise. Either me, my dad or a local gardener (who I’ve paid) has been going round every 2-3 weeks to mow the lawns. I couldn’t leave it to go wild that would be totally unfair on the new owners. Phone a local gardener OP and see if they’ll do a one off cut, think it cost me £25 for 2 good sized gardens.

When we were in this position we paid a local gardener to go fortnightly and tidy up. Kept it looking neat, had a pair of eyes checking it over (the estate agents don't do this) didn't look so abandoned and meant if we had to put it back on sale it could go immediately ready for viewing.

Have you exchanged?