What general maintenance things to you let your tenants do?

What general maintenance things to you let your tenants do?

Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes

I'm look for answers to my question both on a specific situation (which I'll describe) and as a general overview.

This is my first rental. Tenants moved in a month ago. Summer is in full swing now and in my location it is very hot and dry. So if you want a green lawn you have to have irrigation. I went by the house yesterday to water to flower bed since its not hooked up to irrigation (yet). The tenant is moving from Alaska, so he is gone for a couple weeks and asked me to help, I dont mind doing something small like this, plus I would just rather be helpful than deal with having to replace an entire flower bed, even if they have to pay for it. Anyways, back to my problem. I noticed a couple sprinklers were not getting the pressure they needed to properly cover their required areas and thus giving me some nice big dead areas in between sprinklers. I know what the cause was - the filter needed to be cleaned out. Not a big deal, it take 5 min. But I had just cleaned it before the tenant moved in, which mean the filter needs to be cleaned at least once a month. Now I normally would not want the tenant messing with the irrigation stuff (like replacing or repairing) but since this is a SFR, not MF, and they are in charge of lawn care (per the contract), is this something that I should pass off to them? It requires shutting off the water at the street before removing the filter and rinsing it off. Not a complicated task but still multiple steps to insure its done right. So with this kind of "equipment" would you put that task on the tenant or would you do it yourself? Also, where do you draw the line for things like this that seem like easy maintenance but you just choose to do yourself for one reason or another?


TL;DR - Would you put the "burden" of making sure the irrigation system filter is cleaned out once month on the tenant or would you do it yourself? 

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Rental Property Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
7y

@Nik Moushon I would hire a lawn maintenance company if you are that concerned about the lawn being green. Maintenance, for me, is changing the HVAC filter and mowing the lawn, I wouldnt expect them to do anything else.

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  • Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2016 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    7y

    @Nik Moushon. Long story short I would probably do things a bit different: remove flower bed and remove irrigation. These things will likely only break over time.

    I wouldn’t assume your tenant is going to fix the irrigation and I wouldn’t want to do it if I were you. This isn’t a scaleable strategy

  • Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    7y

    Well for starters , put a cut off valve on the pressure side of the filter . Then cleaning the filter becomes quick and easy . You never have to cut it off at the street to do it again 

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Caleb Heimsoth:

    @Nik Moushon. Long story short I would probably do things a bit different: remove flower bed and remove irrigation. These things will likely only break over time.

    I wouldn’t assume your tenant is going to fix the irrigation and I wouldn’t want to do it if I were you. This isn’t a scaleable strategy

     Removing the irrigation is not an option. Here it is very common to have irrigation for residences. You WILL have completely dead lawn by the first of June if you don't. And a .25ac lawn of yellow dead grass is a way to turn off renter is a heart beat. Plus the water is "free" and I can use as much as I want. And by "free" I mean I dont pay a monthly bill for it, I just pay for it in my taxes. So whether I use it or not I am paying for it. 

    It is very common to have only 1 or 2 rain storms during the entire summer. And those "storms" usually only last about 30min at the most.  Our area basically turns into a dessert in the summer. The irrigation system actually runs off irrigation water, not domestic. So it is very dirty, thus the filters are a must. Here if you don't consider irrigation, and its maintenance and costs in both time and money, you might as well not buy rentals outside of D Class areas. Thats about the only areas that dont water their lawns, even then most do, even if they dont have an irrigation system and just hook up a hose and a sprinkler.

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Matthew Paul:

    Well for starters , put a cut off valve on the pressure side of the filter . Then cleaning the filter becomes quick and easy . You never have to cut it off at the street to do it again 

     I thought about doing that. I'm not the savviest plumber but I think that could be easy enough. I also thought about buying a larger filter so cleaning times are farther apart, but not sure what that would cost. Still doing research. Oh and the filter is on the front side corner of the house and only about 25' from the cut-off at the street, so its not like its a huge inconvenience or time consuming.  So might not be worth the time and effort to put the extra valve in. Thats why I'm asking if its not out of the ordinary to just ask the tenant to do it once I show him how.

  • Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    7y

    If its PVC , it should take a whole 15 minutes 

  • Rental Property Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y

    @Nik Moushon I would hire a lawn maintenance company if you are that concerned about the lawn being green. Maintenance, for me, is changing the HVAC filter and mowing the lawn, I wouldnt expect them to do anything else.

  • Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes
    7y

    Sounds like the Waldorf Astoria over there at your rental . I would not allow water to be used like this instead I’d call a local trucking outfit and have limestone delivered and dumped in the yard to replace the grass

  • Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    7y

    I'd ask about 60% of my people comfortably.  It depends on the tenant.  Handier person, more blue collar?    White collar prince/ princess?  

    Since its local to you, not a huge burden to do this if your tenant can't or is uncomfortable with it.  Just ask them to or let them know you'll be doing it at rent time.  Easy to remember.  

  • John MorganPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Grand Prairie, TX · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y

    I stay away from properties that have nice lawns. Tenants won’t water them and take care of the yard. Period. You might get lucky on some really responsible tenants. But for the most part assume they won’t water anything or do ANY landscaping..even if it’s in the contract. I leaned he hard way...

  • Rental Property Investor · Edison, NJ · Member since 2016 · 753 posts · 565 votes
    7y

    @Nik Moushon I am not familiar with irrigation systems but if I had a property with one I would not trust a tenant to maintain it. If you live nearby I would stop by and do it yourself. If not I would hire a lawn company or a handyman to do it.

  • Real Estate Agent · Princeton, NJ · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    @Nik Moushon - you’ve heard the truth - very few tenants will maintain the yard if it goes beyond anything but mowing grass. I think you’d have a tough case in court if you had a dispute against the security deposit and you knew the filter was very difficult to clean (is it legal to turn your water on and off at the street?). What happens to the sprinklers if the filter is removed? They all get clogged? I’ve never had a tenant maintain a flower bed despite offering them cash back to both buy flowers and to mulch themselves. So if you want your yard to continue to look nice you’ll have to maintain the filter yourself and at best expect them to turn on the sprinklers for you. I think you also overestimate how nice people want their yards to look vs the effort they’ll put into it. If you really really want to try to outsource it to the tenant, create a picture or video guide on what to do and share it and inspect for dead patches.

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Jason D.:

    @Nik Moushon I would hire a lawn maintenance company if you are that concerned about the lawn being green. Maintenance, for me, is changing the HVAC filter and mowing the lawn, I wouldnt expect them to do anything else.

     I'm not trying to have this perfectly green lawn that looks like a golf course. I just dont want giant yellow rings of dead grass. Its an easy fix, make sure the filter is clean. I'm just trying to get opinions if thats something the tenant should be able to do or me. Its not time consuming or hard. But one more little thing I can pass off to them is one less thing I have to worry about. I'm not going to be this lawn nazi lol. I just dont want it dead.

  • Rockaway, NJ · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Nik Moushon:
    Originally posted by @Jason D.:

    @Nik Moushon I would hire a lawn maintenance company if you are that concerned about the lawn being green. Maintenance, for me, is changing the HVAC filter and mowing the lawn, I wouldnt expect them to do anything else.

     I'm not trying to have this perfectly green lawn that looks like a golf course. I just dont want giant yellow rings of dead grass. Its an easy fix, make sure the filter is clean. I'm just trying to get opinions if thats something the tenant should be able to do or me. Its not time consuming or hard. But one more little thing I can pass off to them is one less thing I have to worry about. I'm not going to be this lawn nazi lol. I just dont want it dead.

    Personally, given everything you've described, I would try to find a way to reduce the likelihood that an unclean filter would leave dead spots. Can you add another sprinkler or two, so that even a less than perfect filter will still hit the majority of the grass?

  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    7y

    I learned a long time ago some stuff is just not going to get done unless you do it:

    • Anything with a filter besides the HVAC system and even those are iffy;
    • Anything attached to the house that does not directly damage their property if left undone (i.e. gutters)
    • Any kind of landscaping beyond cutting the grass, including proper edging
    • Anything outside that needs periodic cleaning (house/deck/sidewalk/driveway)

    When it comes to any of that stuff, you're going to have to do it yourself, OR have it explicitly in your lease and be prepared to enforce the provision. And then of course some stuff you really *don't* want tenants messing with - I can't imagine my tenants, most of whom are college students, properly pruning trees on the property or cleaning the gutters without destroying something. So I just assume those things will be part of ongoing maintenance for the property.

    On a side note: where is your house that it's so dry in the summer that the grass will burn dead, yet the municipality can afford to give away unlimited quantities of water for a flat price (just part of your taxes)? Sounds completely insane to me. 

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  • Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2018 · 1 post · 3 votes
    7y

    Speaking from a renter’s perspective, I would never go through the hassle of cleaning out a sprinkler filter or keeping up with a flower bed. Renters won’t take the same pride in your property that you would. Maybe you could convince them to hook up a hose sprinkler once or twice a week - just depends on your tenant. But it would be a waste since you have a nice sprinkler system. What does your lease specify is included in “lawn care”? Think about how much time it takes you to perform these maintenance tasks. How much is your time worth to you? If it takes you an hour a month, then sure, that’s not so bad. Price out a local lawn company and discuss what you need done. It might just be that the cost to hire them is so worth the extra time you get back in your life. 

  • Rental Property Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y

    @Nik Moushon I understand, but unless you have a tenant that really cares about green grass, they'll do the bare minimum to get by. On top of the fact that, if they're paying the water bill, they are going to shut that off if it start to cost them money. It's the same as a pool. You could probably get them to skim it, but anything more than that wont happen.

    It would be worth looking into a drought resistant option in the future.

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Dennis M.:

    Sounds like the Waldorf Astoria over there at your rental . I would not allow water to be used like this instead I’d call a local trucking outfit and have limestone delivered and dumped in the yard to replace the grass

     You're from the midwest, I grew up in the midwest so I know that irrigation system are typically for the rich. I didn't know much about them until I moved here.But thats not the case here. There is probably about 75-80% of all houses in my area of irrigation systems. Damn near 100% if you have irrigation rights to the canal. If your property has irrigation rights that tacks on...maybe $50-80/yr in property taxes (more if you have more than one share of water rights). So its dirt cheap water that is ONLY used for irrigation. It is not safe to swim in (unless you dump tons of chemicals in it) or never safe to drink.  Like I said in another post, it rains maybe once or twice all summer so by the first of June your entire lawn is dead if you dont have an irrigation system. It is a completely separate system than the domestic water supply, which is not used for irrigation. A good chunk of houses here do use their domestic water for irrigation bc they dont have water rights to the canal but that can get expensive (even though we have some of the cheapest water rates in the nation) and not applied to this rental. 

    This is a 1200sf house that sites on .25ac. Thats .22ac of lawn, so no way am I going to spend $50k+ to remove the irrigation system, 3-4" of top soil and hauled away and then truck in and spread over 800 hundred yards of gravel.  Not only to completely destroy my renter pool and make me drop my price. I'll stick with the small maintenance of the irrigation system and keep my $600/m in cash flow and the $50k in my bank.

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Jason D.:

    @Nik Moushon I understand, but unless you have a tenant that really cares about green grass, they'll do the bare minimum to get by. On top of the fact that, if they're paying the water bill, they are going to shut that off if it start to cost them money. It's the same as a pool. You could probably get them to skim it, but anything more than that wont happen.

    It would be worth looking into a drought resistant option in the future.

     They dont pay for the irrigation water, I do, in my property taxes, which is about $50-80/yr. Well, i guess they do in the sense that their rent covers my property taxes but they dont get a monthly bill. Also the system is all on timers that I have set up and locked. Their only responsibility is to mow the grass. 

    I think I will just be doing the filter changes though. Gives me a good excuse to come over and check on the property. Thanks for your opinions.

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Steve Vaughan:

    I'd ask about 60% of my people comfortably.  It depends on the tenant.  Handier person, more blue collar?    White collar prince/ princess?  

    Since its local to you, not a huge burden to do this if your tenant can't or is uncomfortable with it.  Just ask them to or let them know you'll be doing it at rent time.  Easy to remember.  

     Thanks Steve, he is an electrician and a vet. So i know he is handy. But more I think about it I will probably just stick to me cleaning the filters. Gives me an excuse to check on the property. Or until they turn into long-long term tenants and then I might pass that off to them once some trust is built.

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Andrew B.:
    Originally posted by @Nik Moushon:
    Originally posted by @Jason D.:

    @Nik Moushon I would hire a lawn maintenance company if you are that concerned about the lawn being green. Maintenance, for me, is changing the HVAC filter and mowing the lawn, I wouldnt expect them to do anything else.

     I'm not trying to have this perfectly green lawn that looks like a golf course. I just dont want giant yellow rings of dead grass. Its an easy fix, make sure the filter is clean. I'm just trying to get opinions if thats something the tenant should be able to do or me. Its not time consuming or hard. But one more little thing I can pass off to them is one less thing I have to worry about. I'm not going to be this lawn nazi lol. I just dont want it dead.

    Personally, given everything you've described, I would try to find a way to reduce the likelihood that an unclean filter would leave dead spots. Can you add another sprinkler or two, so that even a less than perfect filter will still hit the majority of the grass?

     That is an option and I have thought about that. But thats time and money I dont have right now, more time than money. I have another big project on my table right now that I am pushing forward with. I think it will be easier for me to schedule a once a month visit during the summer months.

  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Nik Moushon:
    Originally posted by @Dennis M.:

    Sounds like the Waldorf Astoria over there at your rental . I would not allow water to be used like this instead I’d call a local trucking outfit and have limestone delivered and dumped in the yard to replace the grass

     You're from the midwest, I grew up in the midwest so I know that irrigation system are typically for the rich. I didn't know much about them until I moved here.But thats not the case here. There is probably about 75-80% of all houses in my area of irrigation systems. Damn near 100% if you have irrigation rights to the canal. If your property has irrigation rights that tacks on...maybe $50-80/yr in property taxes (more if you have more than one share of water rights). So its dirt cheap water that is ONLY used for irrigation. It is not safe to swim in (unless you dump tons of chemicals in it) or never safe to drink.  Like I said in another post, it rains maybe once or twice all summer so by the first of June your entire lawn is dead if you dont have an irrigation system. It is a completely separate system than the domestic water supply, which is not used for irrigation. A good chunk of houses here do use their domestic water for irrigation bc they dont have water rights to the canal but that can get expensive (even though we have some of the cheapest water rates in the nation) and not applied to this rental. 

    This is a 1200sf house that sites on .25ac. Thats .22ac of lawn, so no way am I going to spend $50k+ to remove the irrigation system, 3-4" of top soil and hauled away and then truck in and spread over 800 hundred yards of gravel.  Not only to completely destroy my renter pool and make me drop my price. I'll stick with the small maintenance of the irrigation system and keep my $600/m in cash flow and the $50k in my bank.

     Interesting re: canal water and dual water systems. Not common at all in the US.

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  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @JD Martin:

    I learned a long time ago some stuff is just not going to get done unless you do it:

    • Anything with a filter besides the HVAC system and even those are iffy;
    • Anything attached to the house that does not directly damage their property if left undone (i.e. gutters)
    • Any kind of landscaping beyond cutting the grass, including proper edging
    • Anything outside that needs periodic cleaning (house/deck/sidewalk/driveway)

    When it comes to any of that stuff, you're going to have to do it yourself, OR have it explicitly in your lease and be prepared to enforce the provision. And then of course some stuff you really *don't* want tenants messing with - I can't imagine my tenants, most of whom are college students, properly pruning trees on the property or cleaning the gutters without destroying something. So I just assume those things will be part of ongoing maintenance for the property.

    On a side note: where is your house that it's so dry in the summer that the grass will burn dead, yet the municipality can afford to give away unlimited quantities of water for a flat price (just part of your taxes)? Sounds completely insane to me. 

     Those are some very valid points. Thanks for sharing. 

    I'm in Wenatchee, WA. We are located just on the east side of the Cascades right on the Columbia River and the Wenatchee River (a major contributory to the Columbia). Basically everything east of the mountains in WA is a very arid and dry country so dry we have major forest fire problems, and true fire season is a couple weeks away. But what really gets everyone the unlimited water supply is that this whole region is a MAJOR agriculture area. Wenatchee is known as the apple capital of the world (it was at least at some point in the past but the title has stuck). So most of everyones water rights comes from all the farm land in the past that has now been developed over the last 50-80 years and is subdivisions. All the pipes and canals havent moved, in fact have expanded. On top of that we also have the second lowest power rates in the country due to have 5 major hyro-electric damn within an hour drive of us. 

    Just to be clear we dont technically have unlimited water, every property has a certain number of water shares, which has an amount to it but idk what that is, but there is no meter at my house. They mainly control that my the size of the line to your property and the number of lines off the main you can have, along with native water pressure. So even if I turned my entire .25ac into a giant farm I doubt I would hit my water limit. 

    I grew up in the midwest so this is all new to me. Irrigation systems where for the rich not pretty much everyone since there was not separate irrigation water. If you irrigated it was from your house water. Its still a bit weird to me lol.

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Emily Simonds:

    Speaking from a renter’s perspective, I would never go through the hassle of cleaning out a sprinkler filter or keeping up with a flower bed. Renters won’t take the same pride in your property that you would. Maybe you could convince them to hook up a hose sprinkler once or twice a week - just depends on your tenant. But it would be a waste since you have a nice sprinkler system. What does your lease specify is included in “lawn care”? Think about how much time it takes you to perform these maintenance tasks. How much is your time worth to you? If it takes you an hour a month, then sure, that’s not so bad. Price out a local lawn company and discuss what you need done. It might just be that the cost to hire them is so worth the extra time you get back in your life. 

     Everything is automatic and on timers. They do nothing to control the sprinkler system. The only thing they do is mow the grass. As for the flower beds, we'll see what happens. We lived in this house first so my wife was taking care of it. We were not going to rip everything out. If it all dies then we will decide if we replant or not. 

    I know most people do not have the experience with this type of system as standard for pretty much everyone in town. 

  • Ned J.Pro Member
    Investor · Manteca, CA · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y

    Three options

    (1) Do it yourself...... good excuse to keep a close eye on the property but a big PITA

    (2) Hire a yard maintenance service and tack on the cost to the rent

    (3) Let the tenant do it and be prepared to rip out the dead lawn and replace it with something less water dependent

    That's it.......

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @JD Martin:
    Originally posted by @Nik Moushon:
    Originally posted by @Dennis M.:

    Sounds like the Waldorf Astoria over there at your rental . I would not allow water to be used like this instead I’d call a local trucking outfit and have limestone delivered and dumped in the yard to replace the grass

     You're from the midwest, I grew up in the midwest so I know that irrigation system are typically for the rich. I didn't know much about them until I moved here.But thats not the case here. There is probably about 75-80% of all houses in my area of irrigation systems. Damn near 100% if you have irrigation rights to the canal. If your property has irrigation rights that tacks on...maybe $50-80/yr in property taxes (more if you have more than one share of water rights). So its dirt cheap water that is ONLY used for irrigation. It is not safe to swim in (unless you dump tons of chemicals in it) or never safe to drink.  Like I said in another post, it rains maybe once or twice all summer so by the first of June your entire lawn is dead if you dont have an irrigation system. It is a completely separate system than the domestic water supply, which is not used for irrigation. A good chunk of houses here do use their domestic water for irrigation bc they dont have water rights to the canal but that can get expensive (even though we have some of the cheapest water rates in the nation) and not applied to this rental. 

    This is a 1200sf house that sites on .25ac. Thats .22ac of lawn, so no way am I going to spend $50k+ to remove the irrigation system, 3-4" of top soil and hauled away and then truck in and spread over 800 hundred yards of gravel.  Not only to completely destroy my renter pool and make me drop my price. I'll stick with the small maintenance of the irrigation system and keep my $600/m in cash flow and the $50k in my bank.

     Interesting re: canal water and dual water systems. Not common at all in the US.

     No not at all lol. I grew up in the midwest so this was very foreign to me when I first moved here. Still figuring out how everything works.

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