A common question I’ve been asked by rental property owners is “how do we get the tenant to take care of our yard?” Many owners have nice yards that they want to maintain. Some plan to move back in and don’t want their plants to die or to have a yard full of weeds.
The first thing to know is that no one will take care of your yard as well as you can. The best thing you can do is have a system in place to make sure that the yard is taken care of. Here are two things to consider in creating a plan for yard maintenance at your investment properties.
- Hire a Professional Services
- Perform Inspections/Tenants Do Lawn Care
Hiring a Professional for Regular Service
This option comes at a cost but should give you peace of mind that your lawn is properly maintained. There are companies that perform services beyond mowing and leaf blowing. Such services also do replanting, checking the sprinklers, maintaining everything, and weeding.
You can set the schedule as needed for your property. With tenants, you may consider increasing the frequency of their visits. For example, if you had a service come once a month while you lived there because you did maintenance in between their visits, you may want to increase it to twice/month or weekly, depending on what your yard needs.
Hiring a Specialized Service
The services mentioned above will often not do things such as tree trimming. Depending on what you have at your rental property, you might schedule additional, specialized services such as tree trimming. Coconut tree trimming is a common one here in Hawaii.
Performing Inspections/Tenants Do Lawn Care
If you go this route, you should expect to be more involved than in you hire a full-service company. At minimum, you should have a basic lawn care service to mow and leaf blow. If you live near the property, you could personally inspect the it on a regular basis to see what’s needed and let the yard company know.
It’s important to note that tenants may try to save money by not watering the plants and lawn. They may also turn off the automatic sprinklers to save money. If you perform regular inspections, you can check this and make sure that the sprinklers are functioning. You might consider paying the water bill in part or in full to ensure the tenants don’t limit water use for the lawn.
The best way to handle yard maintenance at your rental property is to hire a property manager. When you work with Caron B Realty’s Concierge Property Management team, we coordinate and oversee all the yardwork and other maintenance services at your rental property. Contact us to get started with property management or estate management for your Hawaii home (808) 596-4883 or email concierge@caronb.com
