Who is Responsible for Rental Home Lawn Care? Explained by a San Gabriel Property Manager

How attached are you to the condition of your lawn and landscaping? In your own home, you might give it all the attention you want. What about your San Gabriel rental property? If you insist on a perfect-looking lawn at your investment home, you’ll want to think carefully about how you handle the landscaping there. 

Healthy lawns and well-landscaped homes create curb appeal and keep your property looking attractive and maintained. No one will attract great tenants with overgrown grass or tree branches falling onto the roof. You don’t want shrubs covering windows or trash and debris gathering against patio furniture. 

Who should be responsible for rental home lawn care? You? Your tenant? A professional company?

There’s no single answer. The best solution for you will depend on a number of factors, including what type of property you’re renting out, what your lawn looks like, and whether the tenants you place are interested in maintaining their outdoor space. 

Let’s explore the options.

Should the Landlord Maintain the Lawn in San Gabriel Rental Homes?

There are some good reasons to hold onto the landscaping responsibility yourself, as the property owner. 

Many owners care very deeply about lawns and grass, and if you have high standards for how your home looks, you’ll want to take care of the exterior on your own. Or, if you don’t have the time to maintain the landscaping yourself but you don’t want it to be your tenant’s responsibility, you could hire your own team to go to the property weekly or monthly to mow and take care of the garden and lawn. 

We’re often dealing with drought conditions. There may be restrictions on how often you can water. Plan for this as you approach your lawn care. 

Hiring professionals to care for the landscaping at your rental property will ensure that your standards are met. Tenants who don’t want any lawn responsibilities will be attracted to this setup as well. You can always build the monthly landscaping charges into the rental amount to keep your own costs down.

Requiring San Gabriel Tenants to Manage the Lawn Care

Another option is to make all the lawn care and landscaping your tenant’s responsibility. This will always work better with a single-family home. In a multi-family property, tenants would have to work together on lawn care. In a residential detached house, you could ask your tenant to mow and water the lawn, trim back any bushes and trees, and keep the exterior of the home in acceptable and attractive condition. 

This will probably work best if you have a small and uncomplicated outdoor space. If your yard is large and your landscaping complex, it’s better to hire a service. 

There’s a population of tenants who will embrace and appreciate lawn care responsibilities. They may enjoy the work around the yard that comes with living in a single-family home, for example, but they don’t want the extra and involved maintenance that homeownership requires. 

And, if you’re going to make your tenants responsible for landscaping, they can always hire their own lawn professionals to mow and care for the grounds. 

Whichever direction you decide to go, make sure you include the lawn and garden maintenance in your lease agreement. Be specific about how it will be handled and who is responsible for overseeing its care. 

Still struggling with this issue? Contact us at ZenPro Property Management. We can help you make good decisions about your San Gabriel rental property.