Daughter inherits overgrown garden at their rented house

[goddardo]

My Daughter & her Husband were recently married & have just moved into their first rented house. Whilst the house & area are perfectly acceptable, they have inherited a number of issues from the former tenant, mainly a very overgrown garden..High hedges & trees very close to the house.
Also refuse wheelie bins that are stuffed with garden/household rubbish, including one bin that has no lid & is half full of water & rubbish which stinks.
Also about 10 refuse bags full of garden waste.

As I understand it, the landlord is obliged to sort out the few minor issues in the house, but do they have an obligation the address the Garden/Wheelie bins issue mentioned above?

 

[sooey]

If the landlord expects your daughter to keep the garden and bins in reasonable condition, they should at least have made sure that they were in reasonable condition before letting the house out.

 

[TheVictorian]

The tenancy agreement probably says that they have to keep the garden in good order, therefore it stands to reason that the landlord should ensure it is in good order at the start of the tenancy.

 

[jeds]

Under the L&T Act landlords gardens are the responsibility of the tenant - not the landlord. You should really have raised the state of the garden before signing an agreement. You could then have made it part of the agreement that the landlord clean up and leave it in reasonable condition - for your daughter to then take over responsibility. So now you are appealing to the landlords better nature.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Take lots of pictures and email them to the agent/landlord. This will be your daughters record of when they moved in, as the landlord might try and charge your daughter to clear the garden when she moves out.

Andy

 

[Inky Pete]

Quicker and easier to get stuck in and sort it out yourselves than to argue with the landlord.

Take the rubbish bags to the tip, leave the wheelie bins out to be emptied, empty and report the broken one to the council to get a replacement, cut the hedges, and prune back the trees. A young couple working together will have it all done in a weekend, the fresh air and exercise will do them good!

By all means send the landlord before and after photos, he might even appreciate the work they've put in and refrain from increasing the rent come contract renewal time. Yes' it's probably his responsibility to get it sorted for them, but if they moan and force him to pay for contractors to come and clear it then I guarantee he'll remember that when he's deciding whether to let them renew their tenancy!

 

[HERTS P&D]

Pete, they have just got married, I'm sure their doing enough exercise.

The garden is down to the landlord. It should of being clean and tidy when they moved in and they just up keep it in that condition.

Andy

 

[goddardo]

I see what Inky pete is getting at, but their garden is pretty big with very tall straggly hedges & trees + all the former tenant's rubbish, not forgetting the stagnant water/rubbish filled bin.

I'm happy to get stuck in & help them, but I do feel there are some obligations on the landlady's part.

They're busy enough sorting the house itself + some pretty heavy going studies for Uni.

 

[Inky Pete]

Pete, they have just got married, I'm sure their doing enough exercise.

But probably not in the fresh air!

The garden is down to the landlord. It should of being clean and tidy when they moved in and they just up keep it in that condition.

Andy

Yes, it probably is - depending on exactly what the tenancy agreement says. But having moved in to it without agreeing all this in advance, they now have an opportunity here to either please or annoy the landlord. HE is the one who'll be deciding whether they get to renew their tenancy in either 6 or 12 months. There's a shortage of decent, affordable rented houses in many parts of the country. It's a landlords market at the moment and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

All depends on how much they like the house and how long they want to be there.

 

[JohnD]

Inky

What is the LL doing to keep his tenants sweet?

 

[Inky Pete]

When there's a shortage of tenants and an oversupply of housing, that's when landlords need to keep decent tenants sweet.

When the landlord can get someone else in at the drop of a hat, the sweeteners need to come from the tenant.

 

[JohnD]

so you think the landlord is happy to pay another agency fee? And maybe have a void between tenancies? And maybe have a new tenant who objects to the ****ty garden and gets into a dispute?

I think he's just trying to take advantage and relies on having a weak-willed tenant who is easily bullied.

I do think the tenants made a mistake in not inspecting the home properly and annotating the inventory/condition papers, especially as they have paid a deposit based on the condition of their new home.

 

[Inky Pete]

There's been no mention from the OP so far of an agency - and even it is through one, agency agreements vary.

Many agencies round here are now charging a flat %age of monthly rent received, no re-let fees. They advertise that this makes it in their interests to find the landlord long term good tenants.

If apart from the current state of the garden the house is an otherwise nice one in a nice area there's not likely to be a void month - maybe a void week, but no more than that. The landlord or agent will be conducting viewings during the last month of the tenancy, and will have new tenants ready to move in almost as soon as the old ones leave.

I'd hate to see a newly wed couple who are decent tenants cut their noses off to spite their faces by getting into a row over a bit of gardening. Sure, it's they're probably within their rights to insist that the landlord gets the garden sorted, but the landlord owns the house and has the absolute right to decide who lives there once the current tenancy ends.

I'd maybe go with a softly, softly approach. Send the landlord the pictures and offer to carry out specified work on the garden in return for - let's say - £100 off next month's rent. That way everyone's a winner.

If the landlord doesn't go for that and simply insists that the garden is the tenants responsibility, well then at least they'll know what sort of landlord they're dealing with and can make their decision on whether to stay on at the end of their tenancy on that basis.

 

[Nige F]

The tenancy agreement probably says that they have to keep the garden in good order, therefore it stands to reason that the landlord should ensure it is in good order at the start of the tenancy.

How long is it measured to the nearest 10.th of a metre - and what is the cubic capacity of the wheely bins

 

[masona]

When I used to work on building site for new homes, they were a couple who when moved in demanded that the grass was over 4" high therefore it's down to the building company to keep the grass height below 4" and they were correct within the law but this was years ago and I don't know the situation now or with rented homes . My son moved in a rented home last month and the same problem with the garden overgrown. Sometime the landlords are a waste of time and some of them don't care. Me and my son are going to sort out the garden as we want to get on with life, right or wrong but it's the way we are!