Hi to all,
Reading through this site, there is a lot of great info for everyone.
I'll keep it as breif as i can.
My wife and i rented a house in Melbourne where the lawns were virtually non existant when we moved in. Over the year and a half we were there, we planted lawn seed, planted some plants to make the property look less like a rental property and dug in two small ponds in the side yard.
The owners were ok with this and were quite happy that we were looking after their property so well. Our rent was always on time and we paid an extra months rent to give us the time to clean and ensure the property was in as good, if not a better state when we left.
The owner asked us if we could fill the ponds in as he didn't want the next tenants to maintain them. We spent the weekend doing this and the owner came over (without 24 hours notice) as he often did. (we never complained as we wanted to keep a good relationship) and was happy with the job that we did. We sowed lawn seed over the top for the grass to grow back.
When we went over the inspection report the following weekend, he was very happy with the inside of the house as we polished and cleaned everything, even had a paint sample matched to touch up wear and tear marks on walls over the year and a half.
When it came to the outside, he had changed his mind from the following weekend and asked us to lay instant lawn in all the places that we had planted plants and over the filled in ponds.
My question is, we have photos of the property when we moved in showing that the overall condition of the outside was pretty average and current photos showing the improvements including a photo of the covered ponds where the lawn seed is starting to grow. Is this right or acceptable for an owner to insist that instant lawn be laid when the agreement was to sow seed that is now currently growing?
I also wonder as i imagine that there would be some tenants who place cars or other large objects on lawn that dies over the period of the lease.
I appreciate your response.
Reading through this site, there is a lot of great info for everyone.
I'll keep it as breif as i can.
My wife and i rented a house in Melbourne where the lawns were virtually non existant when we moved in. Over the year and a half we were there, we planted lawn seed, planted some plants to make the property look less like a rental property and dug in two small ponds in the side yard.
The owners were ok with this and were quite happy that we were looking after their property so well. Our rent was always on time and we paid an extra months rent to give us the time to clean and ensure the property was in as good, if not a better state when we left.
The owner asked us if we could fill the ponds in as he didn't want the next tenants to maintain them. We spent the weekend doing this and the owner came over (without 24 hours notice) as he often did. (we never complained as we wanted to keep a good relationship) and was happy with the job that we did. We sowed lawn seed over the top for the grass to grow back.
When we went over the inspection report the following weekend, he was very happy with the inside of the house as we polished and cleaned everything, even had a paint sample matched to touch up wear and tear marks on walls over the year and a half.
When it came to the outside, he had changed his mind from the following weekend and asked us to lay instant lawn in all the places that we had planted plants and over the filled in ponds.
My question is, we have photos of the property when we moved in showing that the overall condition of the outside was pretty average and current photos showing the improvements including a photo of the covered ponds where the lawn seed is starting to grow. Is this right or acceptable for an owner to insist that instant lawn be laid when the agreement was to sow seed that is now currently growing?
I also wonder as i imagine that there would be some tenants who place cars or other large objects on lawn that dies over the period of the lease.
I appreciate your response.