Lawn Care and Landscaping

[Alex SImon]

I haven't seen this discussed at all, so I figured I'd just come out and ask this.  Where does lawn care and landscaping factor into the rental property equation?  Is it usually included in the monthly charge for a property manager, or will I need to get a local landscaper involved?

I am stuck overseas, so I obviously can't go and mow the lawns myself (and who would really want to spend all their free time mowing other people's lawns?)

[Randy E.]

I own only SFR, not MFR. I include language in the lease that says it is the tenants' responsibility to mow the lawn. I haven't ever had a problem, except once when a tenant didn't mow for a few weeks and the city placed an ordinance violation on the front door for overgrown grass. I reminded the tenant that, per the lease, any fine levied by the city for such a violation would be his to pay. He mowed the grass the following weekend, well before the waiting period ended when the ordinance warning actually became an ordinance fine.

Some landlords contract with landscapers to tend to their properties and simply build in the cost of the service to the rent.  I think either way is good.  However, my reason for doing it my way is, if a tenant is willing to pay $50 more a month in rent, I'd rather it go into my pocket, not a landscapers'  -- and I haven't run into any tenants who refused to move into one of my houses because lawncare wasn't included as a perk.