failure to maintain lawn - Landlord Forum thread 321571

failure to maintain lawn by J (FL) on July 21, 2014 @12:49

I have the tenants responsible for mowing the lawn.

In the lease, what is the best way to handle a situation where the tenant fails to mow and it has to be taken over by me or someone else? Would you send them an invoice for the lawn costs each month? I don't believe I can build in an increase of rent for this if the person is still under a one year lease. Also how much am I allowed to charge for my own labor and time?

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Re: failure to maintain lawn by Kim (WV) on July 21, 2014 @13:25	[ Reply ]

What does your lease say about what will happen if they fail to maintain the lawn? If it doesn't say anything about the consequences then you should add that in future leases. In the meanwhile, I would issue the tenant a lease violation notice. And whatever it says in your lease about the penalties for a lease violation is the action you could take to address the lack of failure to mow. If you have not specified the possible penalties for violating the terms of your lease, then things get a little more complicated. You might need to have a discussion with the tenant. Options might be to (1) terminate his tenancy due to lease violations or (2) negotiate a lease addendum that specifies what the penalties are for failure to mow. If you negotiate a lease addendum about the failure to mow, be sure to be specific about how often they are to mow or what the maximum height of the grass can be...something that is enforceable so you don't have any arguments over when the lawn is maintained properly. I have observed that many tenants are lousy at maintaining the lawn and any outside landscaping so that is something we do and the cost is included in the rent. All our rentals are SFHs and some are on double lots. We pay anywhere from $10 to $40 per lawn for mowing: $10 for a 55 by 63 level lot and $40 for the double lot that's 80 by 140 and all on a steep slope and $20 to $30 for the lots that are in between those two in size and grade. It's well worth it to us, especially since our city will charge $200 if they get a complaint about the grass being too tall.

Re: failure to maintain lawn by Katiekate (New York) on July 21, 2014 @13:50	[ Reply ]

I had such problems a long while ago. I had a maintenance company come out and I gave the bill to the tenants. In told them that when the mowing was done without a contract it costs a lot more...and they will pay for it. OR. We could sign an addendum now that the rent will be increased by the cost of the monthly contract (about $50 per month). Now...I just have a contractor do all the lawns. The cost to me is built right into the lease...never a mention in the lease about it. Just "landlord provides all yard maintenance...if unusual costs are incurred because of tenant..tenant will pay the additional along with the rent in the next rent payment". I had to do that because I had a tenant throwing dirty diapers into the bushes in front of the house. My maintenance guy charged me $100 per diaper. (He was real mad).

Re: failure to maintain lawn by J (FL) on July 21, 2014 @14:59	[ Reply ]

Thanks to you both, but...if I have to take the mowing over in the future, and I end up doing some of it myself, can I just charge the average rate for my own labor (say, $30 a mow)?

Re: failure to maintain lawn