Tenants are responsible for lawn care do YOU provide the Mower?

Investor · West Bend, WI · Member since 2014 · 214 posts · 149 votes

So this question came about from another active topic. It is off subject so I thought I would post it separately.

If you mandate in your leases that your tenants take care of all lawn care and snow removal do you as the landlord provide the lawn mower?

I have one property that the tenants had their own mower and another that I recently purchased that I left my old mower at and said they could use. It has me uneasy however that I am opening myself up for liability....

Thoughts?

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Nancy Curran

Real Estate Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 286 posts · 159 votes

10y

Whenever I "give" anything, (which means a previous tenant left it), be it microwave, shovels, etc, I write it clearly in the lease that I'm not responsible if it breaks.

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Jake Thomas
Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes
10y
No, then it's your responsibility to keep up with the mowers maintenance as well. Don't provide anything you don't want to keep fixing because it will break. They can hire a lawn service if they don't want to buy and maintain a mower. All my single family leases clearly state "Tenants responsible for lawn maintenance and snow removal etc".
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Nicole A.Pro Member
Rental Property Investor · Baltimore County Maryland and Tampa Florida · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
10y
I also do not provide yard equipment to my tenants. I don't like the idea of being the owner of a "dangerous" tool that they may injure themselves with nor do I want to deal with repairs of such small items. I have duplexes in a C-class neighborhood and a single-family in an A-class neighborhood soon to be rented out, and all of them must care for the yard themselves by either hiring someone or using their own equipment.
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Nancy Curran
Real Estate Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 286 posts · 159 votes
10y
Whenever I "give" anything, (which means a previous tenant left it), be it microwave, shovels, etc, I write it clearly in the lease that I'm not responsible if it breaks.
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Andy D.
Investor · Zürich, Zürich · Member since 2016 · 292 posts · 115 votes
10y
What has been said.
Ask yourself this: someone (who's not related to real estate business and not your employer) is asking you to do something. Would you expect them to give you the tools/equipment/etc to enable you to achieve the task? Barring special circumstances I guess the answer would be: no.
Tenant has duty to shovel snow so you need to provide him with a shovel? Hhm. Go one step further: since shoveling nowadays is oh so cumbersome and unbearable for human beings, tenant would like a motorized snow-removal device - which you need to provide?
Lawn care goes beyond mowing, it might require watering (where still allowed). So you need to pay part of the water bill?
I certainly wouldn't. Tenant has a duty = his problem how to they deal with it, at their cost. Otherwise I might as well have someone do it professionally and charge the tenant for it or have it come out of my own pocket.
Apart from these practical reasons I would also never provide them with a "dangerous" tool such as a lawnmower ("I cut off my toes because landlord didn't tell me that I shouldn't also mow over my feet while wearing flip-flops and being on the phone watching cat videos. Give me $2m please!").
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Stephen E.
St Thomas, Ontario · Member since 2013 · 575 posts · 408 votes
10y
The answer is clear - mowers are potentially dangerous machines and are capable of causing severe injury. By providing one you open yourself up to liability. Therefore, do not provide one. Even if they use their own mower they may cook up some theory on which to base a claim since you wrote a lease in which they have to mow the lawn. Of course the essential concern here is it is the landlord who is seen as owning property and having insurance. The first law or lawsuits is you sue the people with the money. So you may be sued regardless if a tenant is injured on your property but you are most definitely going to be sued if they injure themselves using your mower. The prudent thing is not to provide a mower or power equipment of any kind.
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JD MartinBusiness Member
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Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
10y
I don't. I have good insurance and don't spend my time worrying about lawsuits; it's really just one more mechanical item to have to maintain if you provided it. Rentals=KISS (keep it super simple, or keep it simple, stupid, whichever you prefer :). I don't hook up icemakers, I take out garbage disposals, and if a sink doesn't have an overflow it doesn't have a pop-up stopper either.
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Thomas S.
Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
10y
I do. I buy a used electric lawnmower for about $40 and replace it every few years. I only have one tenant that I do this with and he was inherited with this arrangement in his lease. When he is gone I will not repeat the practice.
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Robert Melcher
Residential Real Estate Broker · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2016 · 506 posts · 311 votes
10y
@Andy D. exactly. I do not, but it is clearly their responsibility in the lease. I don't care if they use a string trimmer, paper shears, or a pro with a crew of 6. Its on them.
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Mike CumbieBusiness Member
REALTOR® · Brockport, NY · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
10y
No
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Dana WhickerPro Member
Investor · Fernandina Beach, FL · Member since 2014 · 557 posts · 374 votes
10y
Nope.
1 Reply
Jennifer A.
Sun Prairie, WI · Member since 2013 · 150 posts · 69 votes
10y
Absolutely not. Not only do I not want to maintain the mower (that they will inevitably not treat correctly), but I don't want the liability. I'd rather mow it myself and charge them additional rent for lawn maintenance and snow removal. I offer that as an option to all my tenants at the beginning of the tenancy. If they choose the lower rent by doing it themselves, they get to buy the tools they need.
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Kimberly H.
Residential Real Estate Broker · Chicago Suburbs, IL · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 594 votes
10y
No.
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Candence Pinkard
Member since 2019 · 1 post · 2 votes
7y
Well as a tenant who already pays high enough rent do not think it is fair for me to have to mow grass for property that's not mine. The city will not fine me but the owner. Yes I'm a mom with boys so yes they could cut grass but who even know if i had funds to even purchase a lawn mower. One should be provided and if i don't buy a lawn mower i have to pay for lawn service.. How crazy is that. Yes i guess it is better to buy your own home since the responsibility of others are placed on you anyways.. Ugh
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Nick PerainoPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 64 posts · 14 votes
6y
If I may chime in with a relatively similar question...
Any reason I can't require a tenant to own a lawn mower prior to moving in? I don't see this breaking any laws regarding discrimination. I'd like to know they will take lawncare seriously.
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Bill Goodland
Rental Property Investor · Allentown PA, United States · Member since 2016 · 567 posts · 442 votes
6y
@Nick Peraino not sure if you can require it because what if they want to hire a service? I would just include it in the lease that it needs to be taken care of and maybe be specific like, if grass is greater than 6 inches at any time, tenant is in violation of their lease or something. Talk to your lawyer.
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Anthony Wick
Rental Property Investor · Ankeny, IA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
@Jeff G.. Depends. Do you have an extra mower you are not using? I would not incur the expense of buying a new one for my tenants. I own duplexes, so tenants mow their own lawn. I happened to buy myself a brand new mower last year, so I had an extra one. I "lent" it to one of my tenants that was relocating here and didn't have a mower. Didn't cost me anything, and I doubt I could have sold the old one for even $50.
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Anthony Wick
Rental Property Investor · Ankeny, IA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
I just read the comments, and just realized this topic and question was from years ago. But that's ok. I think people are giving this too much thought and speculation and fear. No, you don't have to keep repairing the mower. Why would you? Because you supplied one? Your lease needs to state tenants are responsible for all lawn service. How that happens is up to them. And, I'd like to read of a single incident of a landlord supplying a mower and the landlord being sued for any reason at all related to said mower.
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Peter TverdovBusiness Member
Developer · New Brunswick, NJ · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
We advise against tenants being responsible for lawn maintenance. More often than not, the lawn winds up looking terrible. They don't trim by the sidewalks, shrubs overgrown. Pay a landscaper to maintain it properly.
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Chris Schadl
Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 10 votes
6y
So, I'm the process of buying a single-family rental in a 'C' class neighborhood. Early on in negotiation, I found that there were nearly $1600 in unpaid fines on the property, and the lion's share of them were from uncut grass and failure to remove snow from the sidewalk in front of the house (the seller will be paying these at closing).
What I was thinking of doing is writing in the lease that the tenant is responsible for lawn-care and snow removal, and giving them a push-mower and a snow shovel, if they don't already have a lawn-mower or a snow shovel for some reason. The yard isn't very big, and I feel like if I do that then they'll at least make a little bit of effort to maintain it. It's very difficult to injure oneself with either of these things, and if they do break they can be inexpensively replaced.
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Mel Stone
New to Real Estate · DFW, TX · Member since 2021 · 9 posts · 6 votes
5y
I would like to pose a question as a tenant. I am currently in June coming to the end of my lease on a very dated place with 1.3 acres and extremely high rent (thank you COVID, "perks" & Southlake, TX) however the rental property was advertised with a riding lawnmower. Well something in me knew this very dated mower probably wouldn't be lasting long and did bring up who was responsible for the mower repairs. They stated us, but as I told them I'm not trying to rebuild your dated mower if it craps out. Well low and behold it wasn't a couple of months into the lease with only 3 mows accomplished and the mower quit working. We tried minor repairs of several items to no avail, offered to trailer the mower to the shop etc but nothing. This was last Oct and well we have been push mowing 1.3 acres. My question is what is their legal responsibility since they advertised the place with a mower and also justified the higher rent as that was one of the "perks"? Thank you
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Jerel Ehlert
Attorney · Austin, TX · Member since 2014 · 888 posts · 759 votes
5y
Unless you are talking about acres of maintenance, probably not. If mower is in good repair, gratuitous use probably wouldn't be an issue (UNDER TEXAS LAW). Not sure about WI or wherever this house is at. If you charged for the mower or a known, hidden defect that was dangerous, might be a problem.
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Corina Eufinger
Rental Property Investor · Oconomowoc, WI · Member since 2016 · 996 posts · 431 votes
5y
When you provide the tools you also become responsible for the liability if the person injures themselves with that tool. It is best if the tenant provides their own tools and it is expressed in the lease that must provide their own tools and that the landlord is free from liability due to injury from activity or usage of the tools and that the tenant is responsible for minting the machines in a safe manner.
Don't provide the machines as well because unless you are going to winterize them or maintain them...the tenant likely won't and it will cost you more money.
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