Anyone have a nice, politically correct, letter that they send to tenants to mow the yard, trim the bushes, and weed the flower beds.

It's spring and the grass is growing. I did my quarterly inspections and there are few slackers in the yard care maintenance department.

Tenants will never care like you do.

Start a mowing company, get equipment, hire people to do the work, you just supervise until you know it's done right. Add lawn care fees to the rent by increasing rent.

Use your Rental Agreement. I'm assuming it says that the tenant needs to maintain the yard to the same standards it was when they moved in.

Give them notice that they are in violation of Clause # __, must cure then problem immediately, and copy & paste the clause into the notice. You might also say that the condition of the yard will be re-checked on Wed 4/14 - or whenever. Make a deadline and clear expectation for the future.

Curious: Is this their first summer there? You must set and enforce the expectations clearly right way. Also, don't make the standards too high for tenants. You might need to do bush trimming type stuff a couple times a year yourself - or they may wack them down & kill them, or let them get too overgrown for trimming.

What I need my tenants to do is "work", make money and "Pay their rents on time". There is no need to battle with them over mowing the lawn, sweeping the pool or added chemicals. INSTEAD, I give them with the rental a weekly gardening service and if they have a pool a pool service also.

If I'm not smart enough to charge enough in rent to cover those services, then I'm not such a sharp investor.

'trim the bushes, and weed the flower beds'.

Mowing the lawn yes,...but pulling weeds in the flower beds?

I think I stole this from someone here, but can't find the original post:

We need your help. Someone from our company recently drove by your home and noticed the problem below or someone called it in.

Then list the problem(s)

Then list the lease clauses that deal with it and give them a deadline to remedy the problem.

I try to include a picture, just printed in plain paper in my color printer. Depending on what it is, I may also include print the page from their lease that deals with it and highlight the paragraph.

One thing I do, once or twice a year, is that I send an email to the tenants who keep a nice yard and I say that I drove by their place and, gosh, does the yard look nice.

I really think that keeps them on their toes. They like the compliment and they also never know when the landlord is going to drive by and will see if the yard has gotten shaggy.

The bad yards, I just send an email (or text for those of you who text) and say it is spring and I will let them know when the backflow guy will be there and ask them to let me know if the lawn is coming up OK.

If that doesn't work, they get a polite notice that the lawn looks a bit shaggy, the city (or HOA) is picky about it, and if there is a fine for the grass being too long, they are the ones who will pay it.

Then, I don't renew the bad lawn people and that solves the problem. My leases renew in May, so the tenant can't do too much damage to the lawn before then.

You guys suggesting a lawn service must have cheap gardeners in your area. I got a quote for $80 a week. I can't add that much to the rent.

This is your housing provider, I had actually thought you would take time to keep the exterior of my property in pristine condition in addition to paying to live there while generally the housing provider does the exterior maintenance.

Nice and politically correct? Nope.

Casually ask them if they like living there. If they answer yes, tell them that they won't be much longer if they fail to keep the curb appeal, appealing.

set rent to include the services. its a great way to have extra eyes on the property regularly. that they are on all sides of the property is nice. this works especially well for folks that get unauthorized dogs

I have a clause in the lease that says if the grass gets long we'll send a mowing company and invoice the tenant.

I give one warning via email "Grass is high, you have 7 days to mow or we'll do it at your expense." Worked every time.

I do the same with snow, gutters, flower beds and leaves. They rent the whole single family home, not just the inside, and it's in the lease to care for the outside. There's no way I can make up in rent the cost of maintaining the outside of the properties. A handful of tenants have asked me to handle it and invoice them, which I do, plus a 15% management fee.

In the communities where my properties are they have aggressive code compliance officers. If the grass gets to high they will send a letter the to tenant and myself.

Wow, found the responses here interesting especially in those instances where the property is a single family home. In Iowa, a housing provider and a tenant can negotiate those services that a tenant may perform vs the housing provider. It should be addressed in the lease but it's also fairly common knowledge that if one lives in a single-family home, the tenant is responsible for lawn mowing, weed pulling, snow shoveling, etc., while those who reside in multi-family (even a duplex) buildings are not responsible for such. However, the owner-tenant can still negotiate with a tenant to deal with lawn care and snow removal (best to have a separate agreement between owner-tenant regarding those exterior duties a tenant may undertake by contract rather that simply offsetting the rent by a comparable rent - although some housing providers do that at their own peril as judges are adamant that rent should not be offset for such services and such matters are handled under separate contract). And in the case of condos/townhouses, it depends on whether there is an association that handles the exterior work or in zero lot line situations, the matter is treated like single-family home.

While it certainly is a housing provider's decision to increase the rent and provide the services or have the tenant handle the work. Tenants who reside in a single family home frequently live in such housing because they want the privacy of being in such. I am clear with tenants from the beginning what the expectations are and if a tenant is not taking care of exterior conditions, the tenant receives a 7 Day Notice of Lease Violation and are required to correct. I will send a second non-compliance notice with NO right to cure if the situation occurs again within 6 mos and then I will go to a 3 Day Notice to Quit and boot the tenant.

I am straightforward on this issue because I can't increase the rents sufficiently to offset the cost of lawn care and snow removal by including such in the rent.

A comment: When Wifey and I first set up house by renting from my Dad, I counted it great joy to buy a mower at an auction and mow MY yard myself. It was just a small patch but really felt like I had arrived! Talk about being domesticated!

Residents: My lease is clear: Res is responsible for all mowing and bushed must be trimmed in the Spring and again in the Fall. (we keep the bushes to a minimum)

They hear this at Lease Orientation before they get the keys.

Spring just hit big time in Central Indiana so the grass is growing like CRAZY - 3-4 inches higher over the weekend. Wifey has mowed OUR yard 4 times in the past 2 weeks.

We text them a reminder "We noticed your grass is too long. If the city see it, they charge you $275 to mow. We suggest you do it in the next 24 hours, before the city sees it. Remember, all fines go to the resident."

We USED TO say we would mow it for $100 24 hours from this notice but I decided we have bigger fish to fry.