Who should do the landscaping?

[Muduo Zhang]

I am wondering if I, as the owner, can have the renter responsible for keeping the garden and landscaping in good shape in single house rental? If the renter don't do it, can I hire a contractor to do the landscaping and charge a fee to the renter? Is that noomal?

Best,

Jerry

[Jim K.]

In most single-family rentals in my area, the tenant is responsible for the grounds. If the tenant fails to keep the lawn mowed and tidy, leases often state that's grounds for getting rid of them or hiring a professional crew and passing the charges on to the tenant. We occasionally have problems with this in our SFRs. Sometimes it's because of health problems or other issues, and we step in and do the lawn and trimming with out equipment once or twice. Sometimes, overgrowth overwhelms a tenant and they feel helpless, and we step in with trimming and weedkiller. Usually, however, the problem is solved with a phone call or two.

If your lease doesn't provide for lawn care and you expect to compel the tenant to do it suddenly when they have never done it, that's just not going to work.