Author Topic: Lawn Care/Snow Removal  (Read 2972 times)

accolay

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Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« on: December 26, 2015, 03:48:57 AM »
Wondering how many landlords do or do not cover lawn care and or snow removal in their lease? Why or why not? As I understand most(?) make it the renters responsibility, including equipment including mower or shovels etc. Having the renter makes sense in one hand. Law here provides that renters are "fairly" compensated for these tasks. What's fair?

I think about this as it's snowing now. A house I have is in a high-foot traffic area and I would want it done ASAP (as I would) instead of an afterthought later in the day after the snow is packed down along with adequate ice removal. I'm not so much worried about liability but for one who does occasionally walk on sidewalks and as I know many older peoples who like not falling it's really nice to walk when a walk has been properly cleared. It's also nice to have a rental place that has a nicely taken care of yard.

Not to say that some renters won't do a good job, but it seems like if I want it done a certain way, I'm going to have to do it myself or pay for a service.

Thanks for your thoughts.

MaxRules

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2016, 09:25:39 AM »
My lease says the tenant takes care of lawn care and snow removal. It's a SFR in a nice mid-range neighborhood. So far it has worked fine. I would probably have a lawn service/snow removal company take care of this stuff only if it were a multi unit building, where the lawn and sometimes even the driveway is a shared space.

Megma

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2016, 11:15:53 PM »
I want to revive this thread as it's the only one I could find and am wondering about lawn care for a SFH that's rented (I'm in the south, so not much snow here, but feel free to chime in on that too). I'm currently under contract for my first rental property and as its a SFH with a fab fenced backyard, I'm at a loss of how to handle the lawn. It seems if I want it well cared for, I need to hire a lawn service. Basic services here will run me 70-90$/month, for two cuts a month. I think it would need it twice a month as it rains a lot here.

Despite the cost, I'm leaning toward a service and selling it as a feature of the house. Great yard, no lawn care. Less hassle for a tenant and I don't have to worry that they're mowing.

But I'd like to know - Landlords of MMM, what do you do with the lawn on you SFHs and does it work well? Do ya hire out or ask the tenant to mow? If you hire out, what's it run ya?

Cyaphas

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2016, 11:51:40 PM »
I would put the responsibility on the tenant. If someone asks me to take care of it as the landlord I'd tell them it's 125$ (assuming 4k-7k square foot lot) a month and do it myself. By taking on the responsibility you don't know how picky the tenant is going to be with the yard and it could generate more phone calls from the tenant. I wouldn't look at it as "how much would it cost me to get a lawn service?" I would look at it as "how much should I charge to be the middleman on a fairly frequent task?"

Lawn mower breaks something of the tenants? Lawn service guy stops showing up? The weed eating just didn't look right? The driveway should be edged everytime! and on and on... I could see it being a pretty serious annoyance.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2016, 12:02:11 AM by Cyaphas »

Fishindude

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2016, 09:13:57 AM »
I hire the work out and work the cost of it into the rent.
Very few tenants will keep a rental as nice looking as you (the owner) want it to look.



 

kanga1622

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2016, 09:47:41 AM »
We previously rented a duplex where the other tenant and our family were supposed to split the lawncare/snow removal. Let me just say that we did it ALL the time. We took pride in our yard to continually cut back the hedges, trimmed the rosebushes/plants that impeded on sidewalks, cleaned out the ferns planted by the AC unit, cut trees back that were too close to the roof/gutters, etc.

The tenants following us (over the last 8 years) do not seem to care in the slightest. We drive past that rental at least weekly and always remark that they need to take better care of things. There are trees growing out of the gutters on a routine basis now.

If I were a landlord I would increase the rent to account for the expense of having a service (SFH are more expensive per bedroom/square foot in our town than MFH. The rentals in our neighborhood without services provided by the landlord often seem to have tickets from code enforcement for not following city lawn/snow requirements. It is quite common for the college kids that live behind us to leave town for 3 weeks over Christmas. They don't care if snow is removed while they are gone but their neighbors certainly do! Plus, that lot also has a community mailbox and it is not uncommon for the USPS to quit delivering mail to that box until someone else in the neighborhood cleans the path to the mailbox.

Megma

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2016, 06:11:37 PM »
This is more or less my concern Kanga. With a multi, I think you definitely need a service, with an SFH, I'm less sure.

Max rules, would it change the situation from you view if I was pretty likely to have college or grad school kids in there? It's likely given the area.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #7 on: April 12, 2016, 05:20:55 AM »
If you're going to have college students in there you should definitely get it serviced. They will be gone for long periods of time, especially in the summer.

Megma

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #8 on: April 12, 2016, 10:45:24 AM »
Thanks for the replies everyone! I hope they also helped the OP since I borrowed his thread.

I think I will get the lawn service and include it as an amenity to the house and just charge a bit more for the rent. I will make the tenant responsible for snow, because it only snows here like twice a year max and most people just wait until it melts anyway (life in the south! :-)).

kanga1622

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Re: Lawn Care/Snow Removal
« Reply #9 on: April 12, 2016, 12:15:15 PM »
If you are looking to rent to college students, absolutely get a service. I live in a college town and the "kids" across the street, down the street, and behind us are all college kids. The athletes have actually been the worst in our neighborhood. I think their schedules are just very full and they travel for team events often enough that yard care just doesn't hit their radar screen.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!