Should landlord give notice of when he will call to cut lawn

windmilllane

My brother owns a house and he rents it out. He looks after the lawn and depending on weather /his other commitments he calls at different times of day / Days of week. Needless to say he never goes into the house. Tenant says she would like prior notice of him calling. He is tempted to tell her to cut the lawn herself. Does anyome know is he obliged to inform tenant he will be calling to cut lawn. Thanks

Pelvis

Wtf is he cutting the grass for?

Yes he should give notice.

punisher5112

If he has to enter any part of the property then yes he would need to arrange.

What lease has he in place?
If he decides now to let them look after it they probably won't and he may cause issues where they will then bring a case or just stop payment.

delly

I'd say it's absolutely fair to ask for notice. I know he's not going in the house, but he would be in very close quarters to the house and that can feel like an invasion of privacy if it can happen at any time.

Samuel T. Cogley

YEs he shoud give her notice and yes get her to cut her own bloody lawn.

colm_mcm

I assume a text in advance is all she wants, not too much to ask.

4ensic15

windmilllane wrote: »

My brother owns a house and he rents it out. He looks after the lawn and depending on weather /his other commitments he calls at different times of day / Days of week. Needless to say he never goes into the house. Tenant says she would like prior notice of him calling. He is tempted to tell her to cut the lawn herself. Does anyome know is he obliged to inform tenant he will be calling to cut lawn. Thanks

He is not obliged to give the tenant notice. Under the RTA he is obliged to maintain the lawn unless the contract provides otherwise. She can undertake to cut it herself or pay to have it cut if she doesn't like him coming.

colm_mcm

This is more a common courtesy thing than anything IMO. Nobody wants to be in a situation where their landlord could be in the garden unannounced at any given time.

It’s great that he maintains the lawn, but it does eat into the tehants’ privacy in reality.

windmilllane

Thanks for all the replies

TheBoyConor

Is she not being a bit precious here?

He's trying to be a good landlord by maintaining the property by cutting the grass and actually making things easy for her so she don't have to do it or pay for someone to do it. In my opinion she should be thankful.

Lucky my landlord cuts our grass here where I rent my house. We didn't agree it, he just has always done it and that's the way it's always been. I literally couldn't give two sh!ts when he does it as long as it's not 3am or whatever. I wouldn't want to be bothered getting calls or texts saying he was coming to cut it because I simply don't give a monkeys about the grass.

ted1

The tenant should be cutting their own grass, it’s akin to hovering.

It’s a bit ridiculous to want the security of a home but not treating it as one.

PucaMama

Yes out of manners give notice. Could be simple as sending a text?

Landlords are supposed to maintain the outside of the property.

ted1

PucaMama wrote: »

Yes out of manners give notice. Could be simple as sending a text?

Landlords are supposed to maintain the outside of the property.

I wouldn’t classify cutting the grass as maintenance just like I don’t classify hoovering

Most leases where there is a garden will state this tenant is responsible

Graces7

colm_mcm wrote: »

This is more a common courtesy thing than anything IMO. Nobody wants to be in a situation where their landlord could be in the garden unannounced at any given time.

It’s great that he maintains the lawn, but it does eat into the tehants’ privacy in reality.

Houses have windows.

4ensic15

Graces7 wrote: »

Houses have windows.

Windows have curtains.

Caliden

My dad does this purely because he doesn't want the tenant suing him if he leaves them a lawnmower and something goes wrong.

seamus

Caliden wrote: »

My dad does this purely because he doesn't want the tenant suing him if he leaves them a lawnmower and something goes wrong.

He could avoid this by not leaving them a lawnmower and letting the tenant buy their own...

Franz Von Peppercorn

ted1 wrote: »

The tenant should be cutting their own grass, it’s akin to hovering.

It’s a bit ridiculous to want the security of a home but not treating it as one.

It’s the landlords duty to cut the lawn. That removes her right to privacy though. The lawn isn’t considered the internal part of the property.

ArthurG

You have to despair of people sometimes. Unless your wan is dancing around in the nip in curtain-less rooms, whats the big deal. Then again out of courtesy it wouldn't kill the LL to send a text.

Why must we always have the drama lol.

omega666

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

It’s the landlords duty to cut the lawn. That removes her right to privacy though. The lawn isn’t considered the internal part of the property.

No it's not the landlord duty.
It depends on the individual tenancy and should be covered in the lease agreement.Some leases would specify that the tenants are responsible for
maintaining the garden.

ted1

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

It’s the landlords duty to cut the lawn. That removes her right to privacy though. The lawn isn’t considered the internal part of the property.

Not if it’s in the lease.

_Brian

Cutting the lawns and general tidying is in the lease with my tenant and I’ve supplied a lawnmower to complete the task.

ted1

Caliden wrote: »

My dad does this purely because he doesn't want the tenant suing him if he leaves them a lawnmower and something goes wrong.

Your father should have landlord insurance which would protect him from this. Thus making his life easier

winksblinks

I had this in a previous place I rented - landlord preferred to do the lawn himself which was fine. He arrived early one Saturday morning, I came down to see the garage door open at c. 8am and assumed it had been broken into.

After that he agreed to pop a text through when he was coming over to cut the grass! Its not so much a privacy issue, more a security issue IMO and having knowledge that someone is around the property.

TheShow

a quick text or arrange a time that he will normally be there could solve all of this.

TheBoyConor

Caliden wrote: »

My dad does this purely because he doesn't want the tenant suing him if he leaves them a lawnmower and something goes wrong.

seamus wrote: »

He could avoid this by not leaving them a lawnmower and letting the tenant buy their own...

The problem with either of these approaches is that in many cases they simply won't cut it and will leave it go wild. If you give them the use of your mower they will probably wreck it or leave it full of wet grass and leave it rot or run it out of oil.

If you ask them to get their own mower they simply might not do it.

It's all well and good writing the tenancy contract so that the tenant cuts the grass but it's quite another thing to be able to enforce it. As we all know at this stage, tenancy contracts are hardly worth the paper they are written on because they are effectively totally meaningless after 6 months when Part IV kicks in because they tenant basically has free reign with little on no consequences in reality.

You just have to cross your fingers and toes that your tenant doesn't have a 180* personality flip after 6 months.

ted1

TheBoyConor wrote: »

The problem with either of these approaches is that in many cases they simply won't cut it and will leave it go wild. If you give them the use of your mower they will probably wreck it or leave it full of wet grass and leave it rot or run it out of oil.

If you ask them to get their own mower they simply might not do it.

It's all well and good writing the tenancy contract so that the tenant cuts the grass but it's quite another thing to be able to enforce it. As we all know at this stage, tenancy contracts are hardly worth the paper they are written on because they are effectively totally meaningless after 6 months when Part IV kicks in because they tenant basically has free reign with little on no consequences in reality.

You just have to cross your fingers and toes that your tenant doesn't have a 180* personality flip after 6 months.

And if they don’t then a bill from a professional gardener would be a legitimate deduction from the deposit

Of course notify. Tennant doesn't need the owner to find out she has 20 other people living there

TheBoyConor

They'll just tell you that in their opinion it didn't need to be cut/the mower was broken/they were on holidays/the weather was too wet/ etc etc and possibly withold rent.

If I was renting out the home house (which I never will) I'd be insistent from day 0 that I would take responsibility for the upkeep of the garden and general exterior. If they don't like that they can just go rent elsewhere.

It also allows you to keep an eye on any dodgy or damaging activities that might be going on. For example, when my sister rented out her house the tenants decided to turn the back garden into a small scale scrapyard - at the back of the house there was a big engineless transit type van with all the front taken off of it, another partially dismantled car with all the axle off or something, buckets of dirty oil overflowing from rainwater, broken oily engine parts lying around.

You can't have that kind of thing going on. If my brother in law hadn't been going around cutting the grass from time to time this would never have been noticed and the first we'd have heard about it is probably the prick of a neighbour complaining about oil film running into his garden in the rain. And the coward probably wouldn't tell us either, he'd just complain to the council and we wouldn't know until we get letters in the post about a council inspector coming.

And these were actually Swedish professionals and the last type of person you'd think would go at this craic. The wife was lovely as was the husband but him and either a friend or a brother just couldn't tell the difference between what was reasonable and what was taking the piss as regards their hobby.

The amount of piss takers out there is unreal.

jobeenfitz

Course she should be notified. She could reading the paper in de nip when landlord calls. Nice to have some privacy in your home. This is usually not a big deal if discussed by two rational people, in my experience.

Claw Hammer

The most he should do is just knock on the door before he starts work. That way there is no surprise. No way should he actually have to make appointments or send texts in advance.

Graces7

4ensic15 wrote: »

Windows have curtains.

Not always and usually open in the daytime. If we knew the ll was coming we could ensure they were closed.

Had one landlord who was so nosy that when we closed the gates off, he would walk across his field behind the house and try to peer in through the kitchen windows. As these were low, all we saw was these legs going past... So yes curtains..

Private enjoyment...

TheBoyConor

If my landlord came peering in the windows on the QT all he would see would be me in the nip having some "private enjoyment"

hmmm

Yes of course he should give some notice out of courtesy, it's not an unreasonable request. I think landlords sometimes forget this is someone's home - would he be happy with someone turning up announced in his back garden when his wife is alone at home?

Better he doesn't knock on the door - a text with at least 24 hours notice I would say.

I'm really fed up with amateur landlords and their half-arsed approach to professionalism.

Claw Hammer

hmmm wrote: »

Yes of course he should give some notice out of courtesy, it's not an unreasonable request. I think landlords sometimes forget this is someone's home - would he be happy with someone turning up announced in his back garden when his wife is alone at home?

Better he doesn't knock on the door - a text with at least 24 hours notice I would say.

I'm really fed up with amateur landlords and their half-arsed approach to professionalism.

Texting 24-hour's ahead is nonsense. It might rain, the landlord might have other activities and can only company gets the chance. He may well not know 24 hours prior that is going to be coming. If he had to keep giving 24-hour's notice and failed to show up the garden could end up not being cut at all. What has a tenant got to hide that they can't have the landlord glancing in a window during daylight hours?

Edgware

What's the problem with just texting the evening before and saying "weather permitting"

Claw Hammer

Edgware wrote: »

What's the problem with just texting the evening before and saying "weather permitting"

Because when the weather does permit he will have to text ahead and therefore can't take advantage of the opportunity that the weather now permits the cutting of the lawn. The landlord will have to text every evening saying he's coming in the morning weather permitting so that when eventually the weather does permit he can go there.

ted1

hmmm wrote: »

Yes of course he should give some notice out of courtesy, it's not an unreasonable request. I think landlords sometimes forget this is someone's home - would he be happy with someone turning up announced in his back garden when his wife is alone at home?

Better he doesn't knock on the door - a text with at least 24 hours notice I would say.

I'm really fed up with amateur landlords and their half-arsed approach to professionalism.

You are right , it’s some ones home. They should be cutting their own grass.

henryforde80

Yep,100% should give notice. If he is planning on cutting it that evening send a text that morning to see if it's allright, if he is planning on cutting in the morning send a text the night before.

Nothing worse knowing that someone could appear around your property at any time.

People saying the landlord should not be doing but if he is happy doing it what's the harm.

henryforde80

Claw Hammer wrote: »

Because when the weather does permit he will have to text ahead and therefore can't take advantage of the opportunity that the weather now permits the cutting of the lawn. The landlord will have to text every evening saying he's coming in the morning weather permitting so that when eventually the weather does permit he can go there.

Making a mountain out of a moehill here to be honest.

TheBoyConor

No I'm thinking that a tenant not wanting the landlord coming cutting the grass might have or be doing something illegal. For example, growing their own "grass".

henryforde80

TheBoyConor wrote: »

No I'm thinking that a tenant not wanting the landlord coming cutting the grass might have or be doing something illegal. For example, growing their own "grass".

Ah here, they just want notice of someone lurking around the property. Would you want a stranger going around your house without calling whenever they wanted?

seamus

Claw Hammer wrote: »

Because when the weather does permit he will have to text ahead and therefore can't take advantage of the opportunity that the weather now permits the cutting of the lawn. The landlord will have to text every evening saying he's coming in the morning weather permitting so that when eventually the weather does permit he can go there.

The landlord doesn't need the tenants' acquiescence in this particular scenario. They can text ahead on the day before they pop down and don't have to wait for a response.

If the tenant doesn't want it, they can let the landlord know. But unlike access to the inside of the property, they landlord doesn't need permission to enter onto the curtilage.

That is, presuming he's talking about the front of the house and not the back as well.

hmmm

Claw Hammer wrote: »

Texting 24-hour's ahead is nonsense. It might rain, the landlord might have other activities and can only company gets the chance. He may well not know 24 hours prior that is going to be coming. If he had to keep giving 24-hour's notice and failed to show up the garden could end up not being cut at all. What has a tenant got to hide that they can't have the landlord glancing in a window during daylight hours?

It doesn't matter whether or not they have something to hide, it's their house. Yes he's renting the house, but he's not entitled to be prowling around their house while they are renting, whether he's cutting the grass, putting out the bins or furiously masturbating behind a large garden gnome he has erected in the corner of the garden.

If he doesn't want to give them notice, and if they refuse him access, he can evict them if he believes they won't or aren't cutting the grass.

As I said - bloody amateur landlords.

henryforde80

seamus wrote: »

The landlord doesn't need the tenants' acquiescence in this particular scenario. They can text ahead on the day before they pop down and don't have to wait for a response.

If the tenant doesn't want it, they can let the landlord know. But unlike access to the inside of the property, they landlord doesn't need permission to enter onto the curtilage.

It's common courtesy. It obviously bothers this tenant so respect their wishes.
As I said previously would you like a tenant walking around your home whenever they wanted. My guess is no.

Claw Hammer

seamus wrote: »

The landlord doesn't need the tenants' acquiescence in this particular scenario. They can text ahead on the day before they pop down and don't have to wait for a response.

If the tenant doesn't want it, they can let the landlord know. But unlike access to the inside of the property, they landlord doesn't need permission to enter onto the curtilage.

That is, presuming he's talking about the front of the house and not the back as well.

No one ever said the landlord needs the tenants acquiescence. What if it rains and the landlord doesn't come he then has to give another text for another day since he can't rely on the previous text didn't show up?

TheBoyConor

Landlord comes and cuts the grass whenever.
Came to replace a smashed window another day after a stone flew from the mower the previous time he cut it.
Doesn't bother me.

Actually, one time we had a minor leak and he was to come around to fix it but didn't say a specific day or time just "some day". My housmate was off work that day and is a big strong bodybuilder guy and not a type to take any crap. He was in his room. As landlord was coming in the hallway my housemate was coming out of the room onto the landing. They both stopped stunned and stared at eachother up/down the stairs for a moment. The landlord wasn't expecting anyone to be home. Housemate didn't recognise landlord as he had never met him in person. His first thought was that it was a burglar coming in as landlord was wearing rubber gloves, ready to deal with the leak. Housemate moved to the stairs ready to confront or beat the landlord until the landlord panicked and pleaded with him "oh no, no! It's ok, I'm the landlord, I'm the landlord, its OK"
This all happened within a space of 3 or 4 seconds.
So yeah, there can be misunderstandings....

seamus

Claw Hammer wrote: »

No one ever said the landlord needs the tenants acquiescence. What if it rains and the landlord doesn't come he then has to give another text for another day since he can't rely on the previous text didn't show up?

My point is that texting the night before is overkill. He can send a text that morning when he knows how the day is panning out.

If the tenant doesn't like it, he can cut his own grass.

TomOnBoard

4ensic15 wrote: »

He is not obliged to give the tenant notice. Under the RTA he is obliged to maintain the lawn unless the contract provides otherwise. She can undertake to cut it herself or pay to have it cut if she doesn't like him coming.

I would agree with this. If it was being cut by a gardens service, they would just turn up within broad timing parameters.

However, it may be for example that she has an infant whose sleep would be disturbed.. That might justify different arrangements for a while??

TomOnBoard

henryforde80 wrote: »

Making a mountain out of a moehill here to be honest.

There are no moles in Ireland so that's not possible... :P

ELM327

4ensic15 wrote: »

He is not obliged to give the tenant notice.

Under the RTA the tenant is entitled to uninterrupted use of the property.
Having the LL on the property is interruptiung the use.

Notice is required.

4ensic15 wrote: »

Under the RTA he is obliged to maintain the lawn unless the contract provides otherwise. She can undertake to cut it herself or pay to have it cut if she doesn't like him coming.

Correct.
But whatever she does does not absolve the LL from his obligation.