Garden Maintenance Services for Landlords Dublin
Gardens can be a bit of a headache for landlords, especially if you discover the tenant hasn’t maintained it and the weeds are ten feet high.
Gardens are a selling point of a property for many tenants. Even if they don’t enjoy the actual work involved in maintaining a nice garden, tenants do enjoy having an outdoor space where they can entertain guests, their kids or pets can play, and they can soak up some sun on a hot day.
Some outdoor space is highly desirable, as we are discovering while lockdown rumbles on. Even a small patch of sunshine where you can sit with an early morning cup of tea or a late afternoon cold drink is better than nothing.
Plenty of would-be tenants will actively filter out properties that don’t have a garden. Families with kids and/or pets want an outdoor space and even shared houses benefit from communal backyards and gardens where tenants can hang out their laundry and socialise with housemates.
If you’re considering investing in a rental property, it’s worth paying extra for a house with a garden, even if the garden is relatively small. However, the larger the garden, the more work is involved, especially during the summer months.
In general, tenants are expected to maintain the garden so it looks largely the same when they hand the keys back at the end of their tenancy. Landlords can’t ask a tenant to carry out garden improvements but you should expect it to be in a similar state at the end.
Landlords Garden Responsibilities
Landlords are responsible for some aspects of garden maintenance, in particular anything that falls under the guise of health and safety. It’s up to you to take care of jobs a tenant can’t reasonably be expected to do safely, such as:
- Pruning trees
- Trimming hedges
- Maintaining additional land belonging to the property
Since you may not be able to do these jobs yourself, for example, if you don’t live locally or you are a portfolio landlord, it makes sense to hire a professional company with much experience in this area such as Dublin based Lavin Landscape & Ground Maintenance – to do the work for you.
If you are unsure your tenant will keep the garden area to a reasonable standard – there is a good case for hiring a gardening team to maintain the garden. Paying a professional company like Lavin Landscape & Ground Maintenance is more cost-effective if you are a portfolio landlord with multiple properties. We can visit once a month and keep the garden tidy, with more regular tasks, insuring your investment property garden is maintained to a high standard.
Do a cost-benefit analysis if you’re not sure whether paying a gardener is worth the expense.
- Consider how much work is involved in keeping the garden looking nice – larger gardens will probably benefit from a monthly visit by a gardener
- If you wish to do the work yourself, do you have time?
- Are your tenants the types to enjoy gardening? Or do they work long hours or have a young family?
- Are you concerned with the gardens appearance?
- Is it made up mainly of areas that don’t require upkeep, such as concrete paths?
- Will the neighbours complain if the exterior of the property isn’t maintained to a high standard?
Since a well-maintained garden is a major selling point, particularly in high-end properties, it’s not unreasonable to add the cost of a gardener to the monthly rent.
By taking a few simple steps and considering employing a professional gardening team, you can easily prevent future problems if a tenant fails to take adequate care of the garden.
A neglected garden can cost time and money to fix, so it is important landlords don’t skip due diligence when considering how to best maintain it to a high standard. Whether or not you or your tenant likes gardening, someone needs to take on the responsibility and to protect your investment to insure your property will be kept to a standard that you rent it out. With this in mind, engaging the services of Dublin based Lavin Landscape & Ground Maintenance makes maintaining your garden easy and well worth the investment.
Call Now to Book Your Service!
Call us today on 01 8394444 and talk to Cian about what you want to get done. We’ll be able to arrange a viewing at your property, so you’ll get an onsite assessment of price, and be able to make your requirements known in person.