Lawn & Snow Maintenance for Single Family

[Kyle Lecy]

Currently my wife and I are invested in a couple multifamily properties where we hire out or do ourselves the lawn care and snow removal for the properties. We are interested in investing in a few single family homes, but aren't sure how to handle those two responsibilities with that type of investment.

Any advice or examples of how you handle these items would be appreciated!

[Anna Sagatelova]

It's actually easiest with a SFR to have tenants responsible for most lawncare and snow removal. I say "most" because of course if you have extensive landscaping or a garden, you can't expect any tenant to take care of that. Not only is it time intensive, but tenants aren't going to want to foot the water bill to keep landscaping up.

Just put a clause in the lease that makes the tenant financially responsible for any violations, citations, or the cost of you or the city cutting the grass in the event that they don't keep up with it.