tenants wont mow lawn

What about a duplex?? - Who mows it?

Not wanting to hijack this thread but what about a similar situation where i own both side of a duplex which don't have separation fences. That is, both units share the large front/back yard.

Who is liable for mowing the lawn and keeping the gardens/trees tidy? At the moment i am paying a garden service and it's costing me a pretty penny as grass seems to grow rather quickly in north QLD:eek: Can i just ask the PM to tell the tenants it's now their responsibility?

Thanks in advance,
 
Ausprop said:
As with all these cases there is no solution other than to go and do it for yourself. Make a fun day of it.... clean out the gutters, replace the hoses, repair the sprinklers, repaint/oil any exterior wood, do a spot of weeding and clean down the windows to give the tenants a real treat.

Maybe buy them a carton to enjoy whilst they sit and watch you.
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Great stuff - can you be my Landlord please ?? :D
 
The bogans next door to me rent an old dump and have mowed the lawn 3 / THREE ... 1 2 3 - times in 12 mths, only after being told to ... also qld where grass grows by the day.

The managers were the same ones who at the time managed our properties, which were handed on by another agent (not our choice) Is it any wonder I moved them again.

They don't give a stuff, it's me who has to fight weeds coming from their jungle. It's up to the property manager to see that the place is clean and tidy, which means the lawn as well. That's what we pay them for, isn't it?
 
With some of our properties, (while we did them up), we arranged with a gardener to routinely, (at his discretion), to maintain the lawns/gardens....then we rented the places out and factored in, part of/possibly all the gardening cost, never sat down and figured it out, been a drought on and stuff struggles to grow down south sometimes.

We have peace of mind these places, which are our IP's with the most garden, to possibly get out of control are maintained. If the tenant wants to potter around, or choose to spend their time otherwise, it is of no concern, the garden(s) are ok.

Turns out our "gardener" has 18 IP's!! I would never have got to know him and chat if we had not made this arrangement, strange the folk you meet on life's travels.

He doesn't have to work, but he loves gardening. Love catching up with him.

One of our other IP's is a bit closer to us, I maintain the garden, (again factored in rent). The people that rent that IP are sent all over the country and world, they have better things to do with their time, and the flexibility we provide re the garden suits us all. I get to have a a squizz how the place is travelling-while they travel. The victa, the whippasnipper and I get on fine...:)
Win/win.

A couple of the other places the tenants maintain what little garden there is, again, droughtish conditions, different circumstances. We get premium rent off these properties and it wouldn't worry us paying for garden maintenance if there was a change of heart anyway.
 
These tenants have a lease, but could I give them notice two months before the end of lease that the rent will be raised $20 plus $10 for lawn mowing when the lease is to be renewed. If they didnt like this and chose to leave so be it.
 
celica said:
These tenants have a lease, but could I give them notice two months before the end of lease that the rent will be raised $20 plus $10 for lawn mowing when the lease is to be renewed. If they didnt like this and chose to leave so be it.
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Get a quote on the lawn mowing ... few would mow it for $10, after all they have to travel there set up, clean up etc.

Check the tenancy act and the wording in the lease I think you need to give them 60 days notice of rent increase so now would be about right... You don't really have to justify an increase but I agree with pointing out $20 for the rent increase and $whatever for the lawn mowing, it makes it harder for them to argue against the increase.

cheers

RightValue
 
Novar said:
The bogans next door to me rent an old dump and have mowed the lawn 3 / THREE ... 1 2 3 - times in 12 mths, only after being told to ... also qld where grass grows by the day.

The managers were the same ones who at the time managed our properties, which were handed on by another agent (not our choice) Is it any wonder I moved them again.

They don't give a stuff, it's me who has to fight weeds coming from their jungle. It's up to the property manager to see that the place is clean and tidy, which means the lawn as well. That's what we pay them for, isn't it?
Click to expand...

key word: BOGUNS
 
DaveJ said:
Not wanting to hijack this thread but what about a similar situation where i own both side of a duplex which don't have separation fences. That is, both units share the large front/back yard.

Who is liable for mowing the lawn and keeping the gardens/trees tidy? At the moment i am paying a garden service and it's costing me a pretty penny as grass seems to grow rather quickly in north QLD:eek: Can i just ask the PM to tell the tenants it's now their responsibility?

Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...

Hi Davej,

My humble opinion is that you keep paying to have the lawns mowed until a dividing fence is in place, giving the individual tenants private enjoyment of what is now common property.

Glenn
 
Glenn said:
Hi Davej,

My humble opinion is that you keep paying to have the lawns mowed until a dividing fence is in place, giving the individual tenants private enjoyment of what is now common property.
Glenn
Click to expand...
Yeah thanks Glenn... That is my opinion too unfortunately. I couldn't see how separate 'households' could be jointly responsible for mowing. And unfortunately i don't have any 'green thumbs' at tenants wanting to garden.
 
duckster said:
Tenants do not like mowing lawns so artificial turf , concrete or pavers is a possible solution.
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Hmmm.... got me thinking. If the lease says "tenants will mow lawn", I guess they could get around it by killing off the lawn - a large piece of cardboard moved around on different segments of the lawn over a period of time should do the trick :p

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
The Y-man said:
I guess they could get around it by killing off the lawn - a large piece of cardboard moved around on different segments of the lawn over a period of time should do the trick :p
Click to expand...

So to avoid doing a simple task like mowing the lawn, you're encouraging Tenant's to de-value the Owner's asset and them sitting on their **** looking out at a barren sandpit in summer and a hip high weed farm in winter ??

The lengths to which some residential tenant's imaginations shall go to, and more importantly what conditions they are quite willing to live in....not to mention the grief they cause their Landlords to avoid a small obligation and small cost is simply mind boggling.
 
When we leased out our new build recently, we included the 4 weekly lawn mowing as part of the package. It's win/win as far as we are concerned. It's even done by the same contractor who does our ppor mowing.

A very easy system, just have to make sure you ask for enough rent in the first place to cover the cost.
 
Tizzy said:
A very easy system, just have to make sure you ask for enough rent in the first place to cover the cost.
Click to expand...

Agreed tizzy, except there is one more eensy teensy step.

Not only do you have to ask for the extra rent, but the tenant has to agree.
 
Sorry Dazz, am confused :confused: - am having a 'blonde afternoon' and can't quite work out what's rude about it?? I shall have to rap hubby over the knuckles - it's one of his expressions! He's such a bad influence!!! :p

But it's really no different to 'renovating by cheque book' or 'cleaning by cheque book' ... etc ... and I just love them too! :D

Cheers
LynnH
 
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