IP (future PPOR) has *huge* areas of garden beds and I pay gardeners to come and maintain it as part of the lease because I reasonably couldn't expect a tenant to. I also go in and replant or help weed etc in between leases and every few months to try and keep on top of it. Consequently I spend a fair bit on it, both own time and money. My accountant has said I can claim the replacement plants and the gardening maintenance costs as deductions (obviously not my time).
One particular area of the garden bed- about 15m x 10m size! - is becoming increasingly costly and time consuming to maintain while rented though. We have tried planting all kinds of things to fill the space, but nearly everything dies (some of the time I think the gardeners kill the new plants when they spray the weeds too
). I don't want to keep throwing away money putting new things in (if I lived there it would be different because I could keep an eye on things), but without plants in there the weeds and grass seem to have taken over and now it is constant spraying and pulling of weeds that costs. I have thought about pulling up the garden bed edge in this section, getting someone in to scrape off the top layer of bark so at least it can be mowed with the rest of the yard. It would cost me less in regular plant replacement and in garden maintenance every fortnight, but not sure of the expense to get someone to take away the top layer -and whether that is something that could be claimed because it will reduce current ongoing costs? Or if this is still seen as a capital improvement (I could understand that if I was putting turf down!)?
Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
One particular area of the garden bed- about 15m x 10m size! - is becoming increasingly costly and time consuming to maintain while rented though. We have tried planting all kinds of things to fill the space, but nearly everything dies (some of the time I think the gardeners kill the new plants when they spray the weeds too
). I don't want to keep throwing away money putting new things in (if I lived there it would be different because I could keep an eye on things), but without plants in there the weeds and grass seem to have taken over and now it is constant spraying and pulling of weeds that costs. I have thought about pulling up the garden bed edge in this section, getting someone in to scrape off the top layer of bark so at least it can be mowed with the rest of the yard. It would cost me less in regular plant replacement and in garden maintenance every fortnight, but not sure of the expense to get someone to take away the top layer -and whether that is something that could be claimed because it will reduce current ongoing costs? Or if this is still seen as a capital improvement (I could understand that if I was putting turf down!)? Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
