Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not compensation at all, the lease will just be redone, the rent will go from for example $2000/mth to $1900/mth, tenant is responsible for maintenance of the yard.
No different than one apartment I rented, I was responsible for upkeep of my front entrance way define by blah blah and that is also where my trash would go for pick up, the next apartment I rented I had no such responsibility at all and taking the trash to the complex dumpster was my responsibility.
I am not being compensated for any of it, it is just the scope of the lease in regards to my responsibilities.
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. I agree with everything said, and ordinarily, I would not consider this kind of arrangement. However, I am moderately acquainted with these folks. They rented a home not too far from mine, and had this same arrangement with their former landlord. So, I have seen where they were living, and it was kept up nicely.
While I wouldn't call it a friendship, I believe I can take them at their word. In 16 years of ownership, they are the first tenants to ever sweep up leaves and pick up papers in the yard! They keep their home nice, and I think they care about where they live. It's impossible to find reliable and ethical workers in the tiny remote place where I live, so this arrangement could be a win-win. It's a small yard, and the compensation would be a set monthly sum, not hourly. If it doesn't work out, I can always change back.
The only concern I have is possible liability if he were to injure himself. I have found nothing that addresses this issue.
What terms/arrangement did they have with their former LL? Maybe a good person to talk to, not only to get suggestions for your own agreement (or clarifying for yourself what you DON'T want) but how hard it was in practice to actually carry out the plan.
I can't see how a tenant doing yard maintenance as part of their obligations under a lease and thus paying less rent than if the yard work were the landlord's responsibility, could be seen as ”employment” in any rational world. If the tenant pays more rent because the landlord arranges for all yard work, is the landlord the employee of the tenant?
I think at least half of all rentals have the tenant responsible for yard maintenance - the limits of that being different from lease to lease - but realistically the most you can expect out of tenants no matter what you put in the lease will be mowing when the grass looks really bad. Tenants doing yard work is not compatible with immaculate landscaping.
Thank you. That sounds good. I just made up an amendment to the rental agreement, in which I stated that I assumed no responsibility for tool purchase, tool maintenance, or injury resulting from Tenant's performance of yard work.
In CA, it doesn't matter what agreement you have in place, anyone can sue you for anything. But at least I tried.
Tenants doing yard work is not compatible with immaculate landscaping.
Neither often is the maintenance provided by landlords. Nobody's trimming the hedges into sculpture at my complex, trust me. The landscapers come out and mow, and weedwhack along the edges of the sidewalks. That's it. I can't even think of expensive places in my area with elaborate landscaping. Some might have flower beds that I assume the landscapers keep weeded and watered, but that's well within the skillset of a tenant tasked with keeping up the yard.
I'm not 100% certain from OP's post whether they're talking about tenants in a single-family rental home keeping up that home's yard, or tenants in an apartment building wanting to do the yard maintenance. If the former, I'm with you-- I see very few house rentals in my area where lawn maintenance is included in the rent price; tenants are expected to do it themselves, or pay on their own for a service if they don't want to do it themselves. And, I assume those landlords don't worry about being sued if the tenant gets injured working in the yard (and I suspect most, if not all, don't provide the tools/equipment).
I have a fairly nice duplex rental unit, and I like to keep it that way, so I've always had yard service. Renters don't generally have a lawnmower, and other yard care tools, and really don't want to be bothered with keeping up someone else's property, so they don't. I try to be fair with people, and have even put in $3k worth of drought tolerant landscaping in order to keep the tenant's watering expense down. This is a self-contained unit with it's own meters, so they pay for the water. I just feel that this is the trade-off for enjoying the benefits of a nice little lawn and pretty plants and trees. So, if it's not worth an extra $10 a month for watering, they should find a place surrounded with rock and cement.
These new tenants have all their own equipment, and have shown an interest in keeping the leaves and papers swept up, so I'm going to take a chance and see how it goes. As mentioned earlier, this is not something I would ordinarily do, but I think they're going to be good tenants.
Your lease should already include a section about yard maintenance; if it doesn't then you need a new lease. All you need to do is ammend that section from landlord responsibility to tenant responsibility and ammend the rent amount.
There is no need to try and lawyer your way out of liability because you already have none; it is not only normal but expected that tenants who rent homes keep the entire property clean and neat.
Back in the 80's the LL took 15 dollars off the rent for me to mow the grass, (4 family house) we did have a lot of grass also, and on a little slope.
Once the mowing season was over rent went back.
She was a nice older woman.
I lived there for 4 years and mowed the last 3. I liked yard work.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
