A tenant in the UK took to Reddit to vent about a puzzling demand from his landlord regarding his lawn maintenance.
In a post on the r/LegalAdviceUK subreddit, a user explained that their landlord is demanding that they mow their lawn "every few days or at least once per week" in order to keep the grass healthy.
"Past the reasonable expectation of keeping the garden tidy to get my deposit back, I do not care about the health of the grass or the attractiveness of the property to buyers," the user wrote. "I also hate wasting my time and money on running the lawnmower. As I understand the garden should be in the same state it was when I moved in when I move out."
It's just one of countless frustrating demands that landlords make of their tenants around the world. Other landlords are making it harder for their tenants to live green lifestyles. Some are cracking down on money-saving personal gardening, while others are blocking solar panel installations and making it difficult to own electric vehicles.
For more information on how to navigate landlords and HOAs, visit TCD's HOA guide. For instance, the guide outlines how to effectively gather support among fellow tenants, draft proposals for eco-friendly amendments, and navigate the voting process within HOA meetings.
Fortunately for the Reddit user, commenters explained why the landlord probably doesn't have a legal leg to stand on when it comes to lawn maintenance.
"'Your honour, I would like to evict the tenant because... er.. he doesn't cut the grass as often as I'd like.' Yeah, don't think that would fly really. If you're in a fixed term, landlord needs specific grounds to evict you and letting the garden get a bit overgrown isn't going to meet the criteria," one user wrote.
"As long as you look after the place in a reasonable manner, you're fine. The landlord can ask you to do it twice a week if they want, but you're under no obligation to," another user said.
"Ask him to subsidise the electricity bill if he's expecting you to use an electric lawnmower," a third user suggested.
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