One of the best parts of living in a house is being able to plant flowers, trees, beautiful landscaping, and enjoying your backyard. While homeowners can do what they want freely with their yard space (with exceptions of city ordinances or HOA regulations), families renting their homes might not get to enjoy this perk of single-family home living. If your tenants ask you about planting a garden, adding or changing the landscaping, or upgrading the backyard, there are a few considerations you can make as a property manager before deciding.
- The Owner-At the end of the day, the property owner will decide what kind of landscaping or improvements/upgrades can be made to the property. As the property manager, you might just have to explain to tenants that the decision is out of your hands if owners don’t agree with what the tenant would like to do.
- Lease-The lease is a legally binding agreement, and the rules about gardening and landscaping or changes to the existing property may already be outlined in the lease. Making exceptions for tenants and bending the rules is frowned upon and can get you into a tricky situation when other tenants ask for exceptions to be made for them as well.
- Cost-One thing a property manager must keep in mind is the cost of the improvements or landscaping. While the tenant may offer to pay for and maintain the landscaping themselves, what happens when the tenant decides to move out in the future? Will they want to dig up all the plants and take them when they move, leaving a mess of dirt and holes in the yard? Is the property owner willing to have the landscaping maintained after the tenants move out?
- Curb Appeal-Landscaping can significantly improve curb appeal and add value to the home or attract new renters quickly. However, complicated and intricate landscaping and garden beds could be challenging to maintain or unappealing to other renters.
If you do decide to allow tenants to change or add landscaping, make sure that you are working together to come up with the best plan and design. There’s nothing wrong with limiting the tenant’s options as long as all parties are following the terms of the lease. Coming up with a plan together is a great way for a property manager to increase resident satisfaction and retention as well.
Contact a Charleston Property Manager
If you’re looking for a property manager you can trust, call Scott Properties at 843-790-4929.