Should Tenant Pay for Landscaping If They Want It For My SFH?

[John Hodson]

Hi All BPers!

I need some guidance. My tenant wants to level the backyard before the annual weed and feed. Below are pictures of the yard. It is uneven as you can see. They wanted to rent a tiller at first which I questioned having them dig up the yard. What I asked my PM to do was get an estimate for what landscaping would cost. PM came back with about $2400 for the back yard (2400 sq.ft) which includes 1) Removal of seven stumps in preparation for reseeding of yard, 2) Scotts starter fertilizer, 3) Pennington grass seed, 4) 3 yds topsoil. They also got an estimate for the front yard at the tenant's request. That is approximately $1200 to till, grade, and re-seed the front yard due to it being 60% covered in weeds. That sounds like too much for me to spend right now.

In addition, there is a clause in the tenant lease which states "Tenant shall conduct routine landscaping of the Premises, including regular mowing of the grass, removal of leaves and small fallen branches, regular removal of all weeds and grasses in landscaped areas and trimming of plantings, including shrubs, unless otherwise provided by the Owner or a third party such as a homeowners association."

Should I ask that the tenant pay for all this if they want it? Does the yard look in that bad of shape? On a side note, the yard in the place that I rent from now is not much better than my rental property shown here. What are your standards for lawn maintenance and how would you handle this? Thank you!

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Originally posted by @John Hodson:

Hi All BPers!

I need some guidance. My tenant wants to level the backyard before the annual weed and feed. Below are pictures of the yard. It is uneven as you can see. They wanted to rent a tiller at first which I questioned having them dig up the yard. What I asked my PM to do was get an estimate for what landscaping would cost. PM came back with about $2400 for the back yard (2400 sq.ft) which includes 1) Removal of seven stumps in preparation for reseeding of yard, 2) Scotts starter fertilizer, 3) Pennington grass seed, 4) 3 yds topsoil. They also got an estimate for the front yard at the tenant's request. That is approximately $1200 to till, grade, and re-seed the front yard due to it being 60% covered in weeds. That sounds like too much for me to spend right now.

In addition, there is a clause in the tenant lease which states "Tenant shall conduct routine landscaping of the Premises, including regular mowing of the grass, removal of leaves and small fallen branches, regular removal of all weeds and grasses in landscaped areas and trimming of plantings, including shrubs, unless otherwise provided by the Owner or a third party such as a homeowners association."

Should I ask that the tenant pay for all this if they want it? Does the yard look in that bad of shape? On a side note, the yard in the place that I rent from now is not much better than my rental property shown here. What are your standards for lawn maintenance and how would you handle this? Thank you!

 Hi John,

"No" is an answer.  And that's the one I'd give.

This tenant was happy to rent the place with the yard the way it was.  And they agreed to maintain it the way it was.  If they want to do work, it must be approved by you, paid for by them, and it stays with the property.  Basic rule of real estate.  Once the tenant attaches something to the land (as in plantings), they are now part of the land and they don't get to take them with them when they go.

This isn't a high end rental, but there are plenty tenants out there who would love a big yard for their dogs or kids to run around in - at the price they can afford - without fancy landscaping.

The manager will probably encourage you to spend money on their pal who is hoping for the job, the tenant will flap his arms around saying he doesn't understand why you don't want to let him improve your property.  

But, that's the thing.  It's your property.  And guess what?  It's good enough the way it is to get a renter in there, isn't it?  

So, the answer is "no."  That your plan for this property is for it to be decently maintained blue-collar rental, and what they want to do is not in your budget.

I have a Canadian friend who uses that like a mantra.  "Nope.  That's not in the budget."