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Who is Responsible for Maintaining the Lawns and Gardens at a Rental Property?

According to Legislation, maintaining the grounds at a Rental Property is generally the Tenant’s responsibility.

However, it may be written into a Tenancy Agreement that the Owner takes responsibility for part or all of the exterior maintenance. (For example, the lawns or gardens). This is often done when the gardens are particularly high-maintenance or require special attention.

In either case, Owners need to be aware that large-scale garden maintenance, such as pruning large trees or disposing of a large amount of garden waste, could fall under property improvement and may not be considered part of the tenant’s responsibility. Therefore, if a property is on acreage or has a high-maintenance garden, it would be wise for the Owner to have a contractor attend to the grounds on a quarterly or annual basis to keep it under control.