Tenant wants a garden
We have a tenant that moved into a duplex about a month ago and asked if she could use a small portion of the yard to make a garden. She moved out of a house that she and her ex-husband owned, so she is accustomed to having a house and maintaining it. To-date she is a great tenant, and has done a terrific job with her portion of lawncare/shrub maintenance. I'm fairly confident that she would maintain a small garden.
A couple questions on the topic though:
- The property is a duplex and currently all outside space is common area, and shared maintenance. Does the garden then become exclusively hers to enjoy and maintain?
- What happens when the tenant leaves? Would you require that they remove the garden and plant grass back where it was? (I can hear the laughter now, not a chance this would actually happen), or rather charge them a removal fee from the security deposit.
- Do you offer some alternative? - ie planters on a porch that can be easily removed.
Has anyone ever had this come up? If so, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks!