Is lawn care covered in standard lease?

[Ryan D.]

Hi,

I have a new tenant in a rental and in two weeks it's clear that I made a huge mistake putting him in there. He is extremely demanding that I fix and make any house modifications that he says and has recently told me that he has shut off water to the sprinkler system because it's a waste of money for him.

Unfortunately, I do not have a specific lawn care clause in the lease.  However, I do have the following written:

17. SURRENDER OF PREMISES. Upon the expiration of the term hereof, Tenant shall surrender the Premises in as good a state and condition as they were at the commencement of this Colorado Lease Agreement, reasonable use and wear and tear thereof and damages by the elements excepted.

Can I use that section in the lease to hold him responsible for damage incurred to the lawn when the lease is over?

I have learned so much about holes in my lease since having such a difficult tenant (which I will include in the next lease version), but I am stuck here with him for now?

Any other advice for me would be greatly appreciated as I am pretty new to the landlord thing.

Thank you,

Ryan

[Bill S.]

@Ryan D. Sorry about your lousy tenant experience. I'm sure they give you some things to shore up your screening process for next time. 

So my thought is that it's time for the "Happy Clause". Since you are new you may not have heard of this. It goes something like this, "Hey trashy tenant, I see with all your repair and modification requests and aversion to a green lawn, you don't seem too happy here. I know I'm not happy about your attitude toward those items. How about we do this, I offer you a one time offer to move out at the end of Sept with no penalties and will provide you with a good reference for anyone who checks. This is a one time offer that expires Friday Sept 8 at 5 pm. Attached is the termination agreement for your signature. Just to be clear this is a one time offer and it must be signed and returned to me by 5 pm on Friday agreeing to vacate on or before Sept 30 or we are back to the lease."

You can obviously be more PC and all the terms are up for negotiation as well. For example, I meet tenants with the check book and paid them the prorata portion of their month's rent and the full security deposit on the spot just to get rid of them. 

That said, you really need to let go of the lawn issue. I have had fewer than 1 in 10 tenants even water the grass 1 time. That is even after I turned on the sprinkler system for them. If you want a green yard you need to spell it out in your ad, in your lease and be prepared to pay for the water and all maintenance to keep it green. Some tenants will shut off the water because they don't want to mow the grass.  For me a green yard at a rental is not worth the cost or headache. I tell my tenants, if you don't mind having the worst yard in the area, and all your neighbors turning you into code enforcement and shunning you then no need to take care of it. I can't and don't try and make them keep the lawn to what I would like to see.