Advice for a Landlord Please

[AccidentallyLordofLand]

Hello, looking for advice.

I'm an accidental landlord. Bought a house and then moved in with (now) DH. The house was not worth selling at the time so it is rented through an EA.

I spent a lot of time/money on the garden prior. It was important to me it was maintained and I chose the EA because they seemed to 'get it'.

My friend still lives nearby and occasionally sends me photos of the property. It always looks terrible from the outside. The front garden overgrown to the point it's obscuring the front window. Side bushes completely overgrown. The back garden overgrown to the point plants and trees are growing over the fence and into the shared alley which I'm assuming effects the neighbours access? Everytime I receive a photo I send it to the EA to raise with tenants.

The latest incident is that a fence panel has come off / broken and I can see the amount of overgrowth behind it. The EA reported in Jan that "tenants were struggling with maintaining garden" and it looks like this has directly contributed.

I've escalated this (along with other issues because I feel they're pretty useless) and the response is basically I need to pay for a gardener myself or wait until the end of tenancy and if there's enough evidence they'll charge any works needed from the tenant's deposit. I got a small amount of compensation because they acknowledge they've missed multiple routine visits.

This is a small garden btw - approx 8m x 6m.

So I'm looking for advice.... is this reasonable from the EA? I shouldn't have to rely on my friend taking covert photos but the routine visit reports are sporadic and cover very little (and usually don't mention the outside at all despite being requested to do so). Should I just suck up the cost of a gardener? Are my expectations too high?

1. What does the tenancy agreement say about who is responsible for the garden maintenance?
2. If it specifically says the tenants should be responsible then…
3. If it is the tenants have you provided adequate tools and storage for this purpose?
4. Has it been made clear in writing to the tenants that they need to maintain the garden during the lease after the checks have been completed?
5. Are the tenants able to carry out the maintenance? For example are there legitimate reasons why they cannot carry out the work.

Only after going through these questions can it be considered whether you have expected too much or whether you need to organise maintenance yourself

Your agent is right, the tenants will be required to put the garden right (although it will never be the same as before) when they leave or they can be charged via their deposit for you to do so. In the meantime, you need to remove any emotion from the situation and stop your friend taking photos. Get the fence panel fixed, as that’s your responsibility, and the deterioration will not look so bad to them.
If your agent is missing routine visits, then change agent as they’re breaking their contract with you, I presume. I would bet their inspections aren’t thorough anyway when they do visit if they are disorganised about doing them in the first place.

How often are they inspecting, does the lease specify that the tenant us responsible for maintaining the garden and to what standard? You might be best paying for a gardener and increasing rent accordingly. The fence panel should be sorted by you though as you won’t prove they were the cause and fences will be ll responsibility.

You're not an accidental landlord, you chose not to sell at a price that was unattractive to you at the time and hold onto the place instead. Pay for a gardener if garden maintenance isn't specifically the responsibility of the tenants in the AST agreement. With the best will in the world, no tenant will invest time and energy into garden maintenance of a rented house as you would as owner occupier.

It is usually the landlord's responsibility to maintain their property which includes decorating, repairs and garden maintenance. At least, this is what the managing agent that I use tells me. They send one of their gardening people round to the property a few times a year to keep it under control. I do not provide the tenants with gardening tools or a shed to keep them in, and as students, they are not going to buy these themselves. If you think the estate agent is not on top of things, switch to a letting agent who will inspect the property routinely and inform you of what needs doing (which of course you pay for).

This is interesting. Thanks for this thread, OP. I'm a tenant not a LL but it's relevant to me so I'm lurking.

Read the tenancy agreement. I'm a LL and I make sure the garden is tidy at the beginning of tenancy then I have tenant must must keep the garden grass cut at least monthly and garden tidy, free from weeds and not overgrown clause in contract and if they don't want to do this themselves they must pay to get it done. It seems to work because the gardens all seem fine. I have only had to remind a tenant once or twice over 20 years that the garden needs some attention. I managed my properties myself though, I don't use an EA. I pay for any larger tree pruning that needs doing.

Thank you for the responses so far. These are the relevant clauses in the tenancy agreement:

• To cut the grass (if any) of the Premises with an appropriate garden mower as necessary to keep the grass in, or bring about, a neat and tidy condition. Furthermore to keep the patio areas (if any), paths, garden areas, lawns, flower beds, shrubs or bushes and borders (if any) as tidy and weed free, as at the commencement of the Tenancy.
• Not to lop, cut down, prune or remove or otherwise injure any trees, shrubs or plants growing upon the Premises or to alter the general character of the garden.

So they've broken the tenancy agreement but... so what? seems to be the response. I'm not sure how I should be handling it.

Tools-wise, I can't remember what I left in the storage box. Maybe some secateurs, spade, trowel but honestly I'm not sure. No mower because it's not a grass garden. It's logs, woodchips, plants, roses, trees etc.

True. I just wanted to make clear I'm not some evil oligarch looking to screw over my poor tenants. I'm too emotionally invested like @willowskyblue pointed out! I will most likely sell up no matter what when the current tenants are out as I cba going through renting again. It's just what to do in the meantime.

If you have not provided a mower (and anything you did should be on an inventory) then I am not sure it is reasonable to expect them to mow the grass. How long have they lived there, when was it last cut?

If there’s no grass, you don’t need to provide a mower, surely.

No mower because it's not a grass garden. It's logs, woodchips, plants, roses, trees etc.

You can't really expect people who don't give a shit about gardening to keep this type of garden tidy. It's actually quite tricky if you don't know what you're doing. Pay a gardener.

Exactly. I don't think you can rely on tenants to maintain a garden. You need to pay for a gardener even as a one off to make sure the garden doesn't keep getting worse. I expect you can claim it against tax. And replacing the fence panel is your responsibility.

Op says there is no grass.

If the tenancy says that plants are not to be pruned then how are they supposed to prevent them from growing and knocking the fence over?i agree with others, you need to employ a gardener if you want the garden keeping nice. You can add the cost to the rent next time you rent it out.

Ah, I was thrown by the quote from lease.

Hire a gardener to get it to the standard you want it to be at, because you are emotionally invested in it. They just have to keep it “tidy” which is subjective. Repairing the fence panel would be your responsibility if it’s just a maintenance issue and not someone putting a ball through it. You can claim back the costs when you do your self assessment. I’m assuming you are declaring your rental income?

Some people don't care about gardens. They might not have the physical or mental capacity to do it even if they wished it looked nicer.

I'd say as long as it's made decent when they leave and they haven't actively destroyed stuff or caused permanent damage that can't be rectified , you should just tell your mate you don't need regular garden photos.

It's being managed by the EA and you shouldn't get emotionally attached. At this point it's their home and they're not complaining about anything so just be happy you're getting paid.

Well the lease basically says they can't cut back the plants, so what do you expect them to do?!

Ultimately it's your property, your garden, your fence and your responsibility to make sure things don't encroach on the neighbours or the street so you need to keep the maintenance. Tenants are not allowed to prune/lop/take out shrubs so that very much limits how much maintaining they can do. I'm sure if they'd chopped all the plants down to keep it neat and easier to maintain you'd be complaining about that too. 'accidental landlords' are always the worst landlords because they don't own their decision to start a business and charge people money. The tenants are your customers, you need to run it property or sell the house.

I'm sorry OP, but the sooner we can remove amateur LL's from the market - the better. Professional LL's know all the in's and out's and would never get emotionally attached to the property. They'd cover the cost of maintenance through appropriate rents.

I've never understood the term "accidental landlord". I do lots of things by accident due to forgetfulness, mostly, such as accidentally leaving a hob on or accidentally leaving my phone at home, but I can honestly say I have never accidentally contacted a letting agent or started a business.

Either way, you need to detach, OP, I'm not 100% sure that you can enforce gardening standards. I'd look into that before you start upsetting your tenants, or you might find yourself in hot water, legally. I think, just as with cleaning and tidying inside the property, as long as things are put right at the end of the tenancy, you have no say in how your tenants choose to live in their home. You can put whatever you want in the tenancy agreement, but if it is not legal, the tenants do not need to act on it.

I've never noticed that bizarre contradiction before. Keep the garden tidy but don't prune??? Will have to raise that...

Seriously you simply need to hire someone to cut down the over-grown trees and repair the fence...

It is not your tenants' job to do that much work to the garden.

I can understand expecting people to keep the grass trim but I would not expect tenants to cut down trees and shrubs. Not everyone is into gardening.

Also, it is entirely your fault for letting things get to that point rather than addressing them early on.

There is no such thing as an 'accidental landlord'. You chose to let the property rather than sell it.

I don't think that's really fair. I employ a letting agency to find tenants and rent out my behalf. The tenants have never met me, never seen me, I've never contacted them. They have been asked via the agent to maintain the garden after a routine visit, not sure how that's any different from a "professional LL" who presumably doesn't need to use an agency. I do wish I'd known to hire a gardener from the start and ensure the rent covers it.

And I'm not annoyed at the tenants. I'm annoyed at the agency for missing routine visits, not reporting on the garden when they do these visits or when they do report on the garden not actually following up on findings. Among other things. There are other issues.

Yes, I declare my rental income to HMRC so that's a good point @WhynotJanet

And the fence panel's been fixed.

Lastly, I was told the tenants plan to move out soon. So I've just been hanging on until they leave so I can sell up and this is the reason why I haven't changed agents (along with being financially penalised if I change). But this was over a year ago now.