Mowing, rain, long grass, what to do?

I would not change a thing with your brother's routine/scheduling.

I'd tell the tenants exactly that.. and if they want the lawns mowed on a particular date then they are at liberty to go ahead and arrange it themselves. You are already paying enough and they should be grateful that you care enough to provide lawn mowing as part of the rent/tenancy.

It's a classic case of 'give them an inch, they'll try take a mile'

 

You're not being unreasonable at all- I think that's the perfect thing to tell the Agent to tell the tenant.

 

That’s so cheap! You would be paying double to contract someone else. They should be happy with that!

 

in the USA landlord gets blighted/fined for long grass would you believe

 

Depends too on the standard interval. If its in QLD and monthly its going to be long grass quickly. If its each fortnight in summer that possibly reasonable.

 

Depends on the schedule and what “delayed due to rain” means.

When it stops raining does the whole schedule move back a couple of days - or does family go to the back of the queue .

 

Just say no and it is when it is - all you can be is reasonable, and that is as soon as practical for the work to be done - can't mow in the rain the mower just gets clogged up. I've been in QCAT and the Tenant sooked at how long it took to get a job done etc, the Adjudicator gave the tenant a reality check on their expectations lol, was pleasing to listen to.

 

This is what I've being trying to tell you lot on here for a while, the rents are high and tenants want some type of satisfaction regardless of the cost incurred at the owners expense, you'll find if the tenant complains to these tenant advocacy groups you'll have no option but to mow the grass as it turns into a safety concern.

 

There is an option... and it's an easy one.

The rent gets reduced and the tenant becomes responsible for the mowing, edging and maintenance of the lawns, gardens and all other external areas of the property.

See how they like it then !!

 

This is why I only schedule work Mon-Thurs
If it rains or I pick up an extra job during the week I have Friday to play catch up (even Sat occasionally).

As it comes into growing season they days get longer (both sunlight and work hours) to cover the same area's I'd do in winter in half the time

I try to look at every mowing job as an annual job lot then divide it by 13 (4 weekly) or 20 (2 weekly during dls & 4 weekly winter), yet another ver winter some customers think they're being ripped off, yet mid growing season or Autumn they are getting more than what they pay for that day (most don't get it still).....

Plenty of people take on more job's over winter, then at this time of year they just can't keep up, rookie mistake

Otherwise I'm with @Phoenix Pete

at their (the tenants) own expense

 

This ^^^
We try to bundle an area or suburbs together, otherwise we lose too much time traveling back and forward across town.

It's hard enough to be competitive with so many undercutting just to win jobs, then every second strata wants to cut costs because manager/council/water fee's went up (so they screw the cleaner/gardener) or people think it's Bali and want to barter

With our insurance/public liability and running costs going up unless you are servicing the top end of town it's a mugs game now

 

I've been fighting this in the backstage for years and it totally drives me insane, when you leave the mowing up to them, they rarely mow it all and the weeds overtake the lawn in Qld, when they leave they just give it a short mow and then a few weeks later you have a yard that is 80% weeds again.

All the down pipes and external plumbing pipes get damaged by their whipper snipper, they just don't care. I don't really care if they have a yard full of weeds but the houses look terrible when you go to re rent again and it can upset some neighbours when they take pride of their own place.

 

Longer grass much better for the planet. Mines a bit long at the moment, a mini carbon credit.

 

We were sacked by our whipper snipper man. Text read 'dear BFL, today I edged your grass for the last time' and some other stuff about an employee. Didn't read it all.

Made me feel very small.

The tree fell down in the wind, the council took sooo long to move fallen tree that the grass grew, the whipper snipper man was annoyed. That was it .. we were sacked!!

True story!!

 

Agree. My tenants just moved out and the lawn was so bad I had to mow first then spray with weed and feed. Now there are large dead patches everywhere.

 

Yes, this is pretty much me also after every tenant leaving. I don't understand how their logic works, weeds tend to need mowing more often than normal grass cover as the weeds grow quicker, also if you have exposed soil you generally drag more dirt into the home = more cleaning, not only that, but you look like the most untidy person in the street.

 

It's threads like this that feed the Shares v Property debate no end.

 

Overthinking a very easy solvable issue.

Opinion only.

Keeping grass in order isn't that hard, it's more a people and relationship thing?