Lawncare investment and maintenance

[Adam Carskaddan]

Hello BiggerPockets,

Recently invested in my first rental property in CT thanks to the help I’ve gotten here! Very excited to start my journey, however, now that I’ve started talking to the tenants and it’s springtime I’ve found out the backyard is a mess! Weeds, stumps, random overgrown beds, and unruly shrubbery everywhere! Part of me wants to just rip it all up and the other wants to minimally cut and maintain what I’ve got now (will be a big hurdle at first and not sure how it will look afterwards). I don’t have any equipment yet so that’s another investment and need storage so I would need a shed. I want as little maintenance as possible going forward and I’m also not sure if I want the tenant to maintain it for a rent reduction.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Should I put the money in to rip it up?

Thanks all,

Adam

[Alex Craig]

@Adam Carskaddan

Stinks you have to maintain it. Our tenants have to maintain their yard on single family yards. Maybe invest into making it nice now where futures maintenance is routine. Whatever you agree on with the tenant, get it in writing and write in that agreement the expectation of the standard. If landlord laws in your market can allow you to push this on the tenant, then I would. If they don’t, you can charge them for you having to do it. Again, consult your local landlord laws.