Getting the garden taken care of

[Savanna100]

I wonder what everyone else's experience is. With my IP in Melbourne (Vermont), its been rented for the last 7 years and it has a standard sort of garden, borders with shrubs and lawn but nothing fancy. I was comparing pics if it when I bought it in 2003 and some taken 3 weeks ago. There are a lot less plants in it and it has become very neglected. I'm in the process of getting development consent for an attached duplex at the rear of the existing house and yesterday spent 3 hours working on the landscape plan for the total development. I am planning to make it pretty simple but still something that tenants will need to look after (no grass though).

The question is, how do you make tenants look after gardens, my last lot just didnt, no matter how many time the PM tried to make them. They even left me with a pile of cuttings I'll have to get rid of.
Should I charge extra up front for a gardener??? what other things could I try to make them even water the garden next time??? is it worth putting an automated system in?

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[Propertunity]

Sad to say, but tenants don't look after gardens ......and you can't make them. Plants can die even if they are looked after.

From personal experience, we only plant drought resistant varieties of plants now. They still need looking after for the first few months but once established, they fend for themselves. Maybe after that, if identified as necessary at a 12 monthly inspection, you could arrange to go around and do some pruning.

Alternatively, hire a gardener as you say, and include it in the rent (just like including a pool guy if you have on of them).

Cheers, Alan

 

[wylie]

I wouldn't spend any money on landscaping that needs looking after if this is going to be tenanted. We look after the mowing and trimming etc on our IPs but keep it really simple. Grass to mow, occasional weeding or spraying and trimming.

We do this because many tenants aren't keen on even mowing regularly, and we got sick of having the house that looked like it was rented. Also, some of our places are big blocks, and we believe that unless we look after the mowing, many tenants will chose another house where the mowing is less onerous.

Our places have changed from looking overgrown most of the time to looking better than most of the other houses in the street for little ongoing cost. It costs us just over a week's rent per house for the whole year to do this.

If it was me, I would make it really simple and only do more in the lead up to wanting to sell the place/s.

 

[The Y-man]

what other things could I try to make them even water the garden next time??? is it worth putting an automated system in?

Thanks in anticipation.

Remember that until 1st of September there were stage 3 water restrictions, and a stage 2 water restriction remains in force.

Make sure anything you plant is drought tolerant.

The Y-man

 

[Lil Skater]

I think if you want your gardens to remain nice, get a gardener in once a fortnight or something and charge a little extra in rent.

We do that for a few of our LL's at work and you will find that your PM will have a few gardeners on the books that are quite reasonable.

 

[chilliblue]

A landscaper I use suggests that you same plants that Council and roads authorities use - gymea's, lomandra etc.

 

[Savanna100]

Thank you very much everyone, you have all put forward interesting points

I'll revise my landscape plans to make the proposed planting a bit more hardy and drought tolerant. *sigh* I just want the tenants to weed the garden and water occassionally. I might really consider hiring a gardener once a month too.

hehe, what I really need is a gardener as a tenant

 

[cmason]

hehe, what I really need is a gardener as a tenant

Reminds me of our neighbor who has an IP around the corner and her tenant has turned the whole front yard including the nature strip(with their consent of course) into a massive flower bed. Everytime I drive past he is in there doing something, he replants about 2-3 times a year and it looks amazing

 

[chrispy]

I also got fed up with the gardens always looking like they needed cutting, so now as they become empty I add $10 to the rent and include a gardener.

It means that they always look maintained and not that "rented" look.

I also get the gutters cleaned and the roof swept every 6 months and the heaters cleaned once a year.

Preventative maintenance saves money in the long term

Chris