So my property has a garden though not huge.
I will have the garden done by a gardener before the tenant moving in, I guess the tenant is then responsible for gardening once moving in?
If so, if the tenant does it himself/herself rather than hiring a regular gardener, is the landlord required to provide a lawn mower?
Do I need to put a clause for gardening in the tenancy agreement to make this clear that the tenant is responsible for gardening?
be good to provide a lawnmower
I do have one (though might need a new one as the current one is ten years old!) but just want to make sure I need to provide relevant gardening tools.
The tenant is only responsible for the gardening if the tenancy agreement says so and if you ever want to enforce it, you need to very clear what maintaining the garden means.
to keep them onside ,a few tools will not cost much
So it’s possible to add a specific clause to the agreement via OpenRent?
I have no problem providing them if needed.
I dont know about the Openrent TA template, but in any event, I would only recommend this if you are legally trained.
We have only flats and so avoid this problem but I would be very wary about providing any tools let alone a powered one, the H&S risk is unnaceptable.
1 Like
Oh dear! That’s a good point.
So what are my options then?
I think it’s tenant’s interest to maintain the garden as well but it would be unfair for me to pay a regular gardener I think…
Didn’t quite understand what you meant by “legally trained”? But after @David150 's comment, I think you were referring to the same thing about H&S risk?
In my ast it states its tenants responsibility.
Dont assume a tenant has actually read the ast before signing it, no matter how long they have had chance to consider.
I always run through key points verbally, including gardening responsibilities.
I used to provide a mower, but my days of wet nursing are over, just more responsibility.
Flymo from Amazon, next day delivery c ÂŁ80. No excuses 
1 Like
Hes saying it’s easier said than done in regard to amending clauses within an ast. Potential to create unintended meanings/consequences.
I haven’t supplied. I considered doing so when a new tenant didn’t have one, but then thought I would need to annually PAT test it.
I put several fire extinguishers in properties LA inspector said " have you trained the tenant how to use them/" I said the instuctions are on the extinguisher. She said “take them out and leave it to the fire brigade” When she had left I put them back. H&S is crazy
This says it’s tenant’s responsibility but it doesn’t mention tools and whether if the landlord provides tooling, is there any H&S complications?
The way I see it is why complicate things. I don’t provide any tools and they still maintain gardens.
If ast doesn’t say landlord provides then they provide.
If you provide a mower you then really need to pat test it annually.
I can imagine a tenant making excuses saying mower isn’t upto the job etc, give them the responsibility.
1 Like
I see.
Now I regret not disposing my 10 years old mower in the shed! It’s probably not functional anyway.
Guess I will make this clear about gardening if I do get a tenant.
Thanks Mark!