Investor · San Jose, CA, Bellevue, WA · Member since 2016 · 327 posts · 257 votes
Hi Everyone,
I'm getting very close to the end of a BRRRR; going to list at the end of this month for rent. It's a 3/1 SFH in a B class neighborhood in Renton on a flat 7500 sqft fenced lot; all grass with just one oak tree in the front yard, and a green bush near the front door. Good condition, just very simple landscaping. Rent is going to be in the $2200/mo range
What do you recommend to do about landscape maintenance? do you generally have tenants maintain; or do you sub it out to a landscape company?
Either way I plan to sub out 2x yearly gutters & pest control/etc
I'm thinking about offering the house up for rent with 2 options; $2200/mo with tenant maintaining landscaping, or $2350'ish (depending on landscaping quotes) for rent which includes landscape maintenance; then the tenant can choose. Please let me know your thoughts!
Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
9y
Dont give an option , include it . Charge enough extra for grass, trimming and leaves . It will cost more in the long run to put the property back in shape
Rental Property Investor · Olympia, WA · Member since 2014 · 777 posts · 744 votes
9y
@Christian Wathne I always have tenants responsible for yard care. But make sure you have clear written expectations in your contract, and just know that you will have to observe and give notice when they don't do it. Even in my nice neighborhoods most tenants treat the yard like a rental. If you have an Hoa be sure that they have a copy of the cc&r's and they are liable for any fines or fees for noncompliance.
I always let them know they can hire outside yard maintenance or do it themselves but either way it must be maintained regularly.
Here's a sample: "Yard must be kept in green, growing, and trimmed condition. Repair or replacement will be at tenants expense if not maintained. Landlord reserves the right to hire landscaper at tenants expense to maintain yard after proper notice."
Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
9y
Dont give an option , include it . Charge enough extra for grass, trimming and leaves . It will cost more in the long run to put the property back in shape
Rental Property Investor · Dallas/Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2017 · 64 posts · 59 votes
9y
We have a similar property and initially had the renters responsible for maintaining the lawn. Some renters do not have prior experience with home/lawn maintenance, so unfortunately, the lawn care can be lacking, even though they are good tenants otherwise. We experienced this with prior tenants and received notices from our HOA due to the lack of adequate lawn care, and we forwarded the HOA notices to the tenants. Our tenants receive the HOA rules/regulations upon prior to or upon move-in. We have been fortunate to have good tenants that take care of the issue once notified. For the most recent lease, we increased the rent for both appreciation and to include all lawn maintenance which we have arranged. That way, we can avoid the notices from the HOA and avoid having to nag the tenants to keep the yard maintained. We think it is worth it to save the time and potential headache.
Rental Property Investor · N. CA · Member since 2015 · 32 posts · 23 votes
9y
In our experience having the tenant responsible for it never pans out and we payed more during turnover to bring it back to life then just paying to have it maintained. We now just include it as an expense in our numbers when we purchase and include as part of the rent. But that's our experience.
Broker · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2015 · 351 posts · 273 votes
9y
I include it and charge extra. In the listing, I promote that all of the landscaping is professionally maintained. Most people are lazy and don't want to take care of yard work. Also when money gets tight, they sometimes turn off the irrigation, and I end up with hundreds of dollars in dead plants. Then comes the fines from the HOA. Now I have to bill my tenants for the fines and damages, which at best causes torked off renters, and at worst I have an eviction. So I avoid all of this and hire landscapers, and as an added bonus they are eyes on the property. For example, the landscapers let me know if they see dog poo in the yard of a no pets house.
Real Estate Agent · Seattle, WA · Member since 2016 · 65 posts · 29 votes
9y
You'll get hit and miss with this, depending on the tenant and what they are being paid. I managed an apartment building for a number of years and did it all myself, but the lawn and garden area were small and didn't require much work. Some apartment buildings have extensive grounds, which can definitely attract tenants. If you want to keep it nice and keep up the street appeal, spring for professional maintenance. If the maintenance is on the small side and is not a huge incentive to attract renters, having the tenant perform the maintenance for reduced rent might work for you.
Investor · Bayside, NY · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y
I have a SFH for 35 years. Early on I had tenants do lawn maintenance. Then had one tenant with medical and mental issues, grass got to be a foot high, with neighbors calling us and the town. Claimed his mower broke, at this point, had someone come and clean up the mess. It was a neighbor's teenage kid who came twice till his mower broke, and the kid's dad blamed our lawn. Then 6 months later, same story, grass is a foot high again.
That was 15 years ago, then I had a few tenants after that, they just do the mowing, and so so at that. Finally, I had a landscaper do it, he's located several blocks away, and shovel snow in the winter. Then he does a spring cleanup, fall cleanup before the winter comes. Nowadays I include the mowing in the rent, even for those that jumps up and down, and say let me do it. In fact, I showed some what the landscaper does, like when your done mowing, you do edging to give it the nice sharp look. What they do in the spring and fall. When I'm done, they look a a little dazed and tell me, I see now why you have a landscaper do it. Yeh, that's real lawn maintenance, not cutting the grass when you get to it.
I haven't had calls from neighbors or the town now for 15 years.
Investor · San Jose, CA, Bellevue, WA · Member since 2016 · 327 posts · 257 votes
9y
What do you all think about this pricing? $150 per month for twice monthly mowing/edging/weeding of a 7500sqft flat lot; all grass with a 3ft bark perimeter around the house. Service will be March-November; and will do gutter cleaning for $75 each time, before and after winter (small single story rambler)
Pricing seems good to me, but wanted to run it by you all for input.
Investor · Bayside, NY · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y
Sounds about right.
Around here, from small lots like what you and I have, they range from $100 to $150/month. We shopped around and found some guy for $100/month since he lives a few blocks away, and he does the lawn right across the street from us. Some guy further away charges a little more.
Highland, CA · Member since 2014 · 3 posts · 2 votes
9y
Include it!
I usually would include the lawn maintenance in the rent, but my tenant insisted in maintaining the yard work since "he enjoyed working in the yard". He received a deduction on his rent for maintaining the yards (front and back). He did a decent job on the front lawn and bushes. I drove by and checked every 6 to 8 weeks. I checked the back yard every 6 months. In the last 6 months of his 2 year lease he turned off the sprinklers to the back yard and allowed his dog to dig holes. With hardly any living grass and uneven ground I requested leveling and reseeding of the back yard at the time of the move out inspection. He attempted to level but not reseed. I hired a landscaping company for the work. I kept $450 from the security deposit. The tenant expected his full deposit back even after many letters explaining our lease agreement. He sued. The judge awarded me the case since I had before and after pictures and the lease explaining in detail our agreement. But the time spent arguing with the tenant and the stress and worry of preparing for the court date (I've never been to court before) was meant for a lesson well learned! I will never again allow a tenant to maintain the yards. They don't have a choice now.
calgary, AB · Member since 2017 · 9 posts · 4 votes
9y
In most cases, we cannot expect our tenants to take care of the lawn as we wanted it to be and may lead to disputes.Renters are temporary, and they mainly expect to pay for the roof over their head.unfortunately, I had to deal with some similar experience when I rented out my property.I ended up having several dead spots due to urine turf damage.Make sure to clearly state out the lines regarding the lawn care in your rental agreement.I would suggest you make use of residential landscaping services in your locality and add that amount as u said to your rental amount.This way you can avoid unnecessary chaos and maintain your lawns beautiful as the way you want it to be.
They are the ones who get to use the yard, so it makes sense for them to maintain it. :)
If things could be that simple. Rents are high, and problem in renting SFH to hi-paid professionals is they're always on business trips, not around to use the yard. So they rely on a neighbor's kid to do a quick mow when it grows to tall. With this type of maintenance your yard would be overgrown with weeds in no time. Besides, all my neighbors have lawns professionally landscaped which means doing edging etc., or knows and care what lawn maintenance is.
In smaller towns, neighbors don't care what your problem is, they call the town, and the town gets after you. Try telling the town inspector the tenant uses the yard, and it makes sense for them to maintain it. On top of that, neighbors are all homeowners and they've told me over the years they don't want renters nearby precisely because of problems such as lawn care lowering their property values, My having a landscaper who's also a neighbor kept them quiet.
That's the politics of lawn care.
In the old days, I used to rent to rent to blue color types who knows what lawn maintenance is and what makes sense. Not today.
I just got a call from my landscaper requesting I get after the tenants to water the lawn. Told her the tenant is out of town for another week, but fortunately we had two days of heavy rain. Doubt these tenants understand lawn watering as they moved in from the city. Explained to the landscaper these folks are city folks and since they're only two blocks away to keep an eye on the lawn to see if it's watered properly. I'm 40 minutes away and can't make constant drive bys to check on watering and mowing.