On a let property the garden should be durable, safe and unambiguous about who maintains what. Hard surfaces, robust boundaries and nothing that needs seasonal skill. Avoid anything that creates a maintenance obligation you then have to fulfil, and fix the things that are a liability — loose paving, a failing wall, blocked drainage — before anything cosmetic.
- Liability first: trip hazards, unstable walls and blocked drainage are the landlord's problem whatever the tenancy says.
- Anything needing seasonal skill will not be maintained. Design that out.
- State clearly in the tenancy who cuts what, and make it achievable without a shed full of tools.
- A let garden does not need to be impressive. It needs to be unarguable.
Fix the liability before the appearance
On a tenanted property the first pass through the garden is not a design exercise. It is a survey for things that could injure someone or damage the building.
A landlord has obligations around the condition of the property, and a garden defect that causes injury or damage is not resolved by a clause saying the tenant looks after the garden. Maintaining a lawn is a tenant matter; a retaining wall about to fail is not.
The items that matter:
- Trip hazards. Rocking slabs, a lifted paving edge, a broken step, a path that has settled. The commonest and most avoidable claim.
- Unstable walls. A leaning retaining wall or a bulging boundary wall is a structural matter, and if it falls the consequences may extend beyond your boundary.
- Failing fences. A collapsing fence onto a footpath or a neighbour, and a boundary that no longer encloses the garden where children or pets are expected.
- Blocked drainage. A blocked gully puts water against the wall and causes damp inside, which then becomes a disrepair complaint.
- Unsafe steps and level changes with no handrail where there should be one.
- Dead or unstable trees, and large limbs over the house, a neighbour or the highway.
- Unsecured outbuildings and anything with a failing roof.
- Unguarded water features and sunken areas, particularly where the property will let to families.
That list is the budget priority. Everything below it is optional by comparison.
What survives a tenancy
| Element | On a let property | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Paving and hard surfaces | Good | Durable; nothing to maintain but sweeping |
| Lawn | Acceptable | Needs a mower; state who provides one |
| Robust shrub planting | Good | Survives neglect; no seasonal skill needed |
| Herbaceous borders | Poor | Needs knowledge and seasonal work |
| Pots and containers | Poor | Die in the first dry fortnight |
| Gravel | Mixed | Migrates, gets kicked about; needs firm edging |
| Timber decking | Poor | Needs annual treating; gets slippery |
| Composite decking | Better | Higher cost; no treating required |
| Hedging | Mixed | Needs cutting twice a year, with the right tool |
| Artificial grass | Good | Usable year-round; brushing and rinsing only |
| Water features | Avoid | Maintenance plus a safety question |
| Fruit trees and veg beds | Avoid specifying | Lovely; nobody inherits the work |
The pattern is simple: anything requiring seasonal skill or specific equipment will not be maintained, and the garden you are then looking at in two years is the one you should have designed in the first place.
Make the obligation clear and achievable
Most garden disputes on a tenancy come from an unclear or unrealistic division of responsibility rather than from an unwilling tenant.
Say who does what, specifically. "Keep the garden tidy" is not a specification. Mowing the lawn, keeping paths clear and not allowing the garden to become overgrown is. Hedge cutting, tree work and anything structural sensibly sits with the landlord.
Make it achievable. If the tenancy requires the lawn mowed, either provide a mower or do not expect it. Expecting a tenant in a flat to own a hedge trimmer and a ladder is unrealistic, and unrealistic obligations are not enforced.
Record the condition at the start. Photographs in the inventory, including the garden. Without them there is no way to establish what changed.
Consider taking the maintenance on. For a small garden, a periodic visit by a gardener costs little against a void period or a dispute, and it means the garden is never the reason a property shows badly between tenancies.
Deal with the boundary question before letting. Establish which fences are yours, so a mid-tenancy collapse is not an argument.
Wear and tear in a garden is normal. A lawn thinner than it was is wear; a garden two feet deep in brambles is not maintenance that happened, and the difference is much easier to argue with photographs.
Where the money is wasted
- Decorative planting schemes. They look well at the viewing and they are gone within two seasons unless someone maintains them.
- Timber decking. Needs annual treating that will not happen, then goes grey, slippery and rotten — and a slippery deck is a liability.
- Large lawns at a property let to tenants without a mower. Either reduce the lawn or supply the equipment.
- Gravel without edging. It spreads across paths and into the house within a month.
- Water features. Maintenance and a safety question, for no return.
- Replacing a fence panel at a time over several years, when the posts were the problem throughout.
- Cosmetic work with the drainage unresolved. The damp complaint arrives anyway and the new work gets dug up.
The underlying point: on a let property, money spent on durability returns more than money spent on appearance, because appearance depends on maintenance that may not happen and durability does not.
A sensible specification
The ground
A generous paved or permeable area where people will actually sit and walk, properly laid on a compacted sub-base with falls away from the house and a finished level well below the damp-proof course. Either a lawn large enough to be worth mowing or none at all. No narrow strips, no stepping stones across grass, no change of surface without a reason.
The boundaries
Concrete posts with closeboard or panels, or a sound masonry wall with a coping. Concrete posts matter here more than anywhere, because the posts are what fails and replacing them in a tenanted garden is disruptive. Get the boundary right once and it outlasts several tenancies.
The planting
Fewer, larger beds with robust shrubs planted densely enough to close up and suppress weeds. Nothing that needs staking, dividing, deadheading or lifting. Nothing in a pot. A climber on a boundary does more for the look of a garden than a border will, and asks nothing of anyone.
The practicalities
Somewhere designed for bins, an outside tap, an accessible stopcock and inspection chamber, a working gully at each downpipe, and external lighting at the door and any steps. These are the things tenants notice and the things that prevent complaints.
What it costs
These are the landscaping figures published across this site:
| Job | Typical Coventry guide price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fencing | £80–£150 per panel | Supplied & fitted |
| Patio | £80–£150 per m² | Material dependent |
| Day rate | £150–£250/day | Per landscaper |
| Landscaper, hourly | £15–£40/hr | Task dependent |
On a let property the boundary and the hard surfacing are where the budget belongs, because both are durable and both are the landlord's responsibility regardless of what the tenancy says about the garden.
We survey for the liability items first — loose paving, failing walls, blocked gullies — and price those separately from anything cosmetic.
Frequently asked questions
Who is responsible for the garden in a rental property?
Routine maintenance such as mowing is normally the tenant's where the tenancy says so; anything structural or unsafe is the landlord's regardless. A clause about keeping the garden tidy does not transfer responsibility for a failing retaining wall, a trip hazard or blocked drainage.
What landscaping is worth doing on a let property?
Durable hard surfacing, sound boundaries on concrete posts, and robust shrub planting dense enough to suppress weeds. Avoid anything needing seasonal skill or specific equipment — herbaceous borders, pots, timber decking and water features all degrade quickly when nobody maintains them.
Should I put decking in a rental garden?
Timber, no — it needs treating annually, which will not happen, and a neglected deck becomes grey, slippery and eventually a liability. Composite is a reasonable alternative where a raised surface is genuinely needed, since it needs cleaning but no treating. On level ground, paving is the better answer.
Can I require a tenant to maintain the garden?
You can require realistic, specific maintenance — mowing the lawn, keeping paths clear, not letting it become overgrown. Vague or unachievable obligations tend not to be enforced. If the tenancy requires mowing, either provide a mower or do not expect it to happen.
Is a garden covered by fair wear and tear?
A lawn thinner than it was, or planting that has not thrived, is reasonably wear. A garden allowed to become badly overgrown is a different matter. The distinction is far easier to establish where the inventory included dated photographs of the garden at the start of the tenancy.
Should I pay for garden maintenance myself?
On a small garden it is often worth it. A periodic visit costs little against a void period or a deposit dispute, it keeps the property showing well between tenancies, and it removes the commonest source of friction. It also means you see the garden regularly, which catches the liability items early.
Durability over appearance
We price the liability items separately from the cosmetic ones, so you can see what has to be done and what is optional. Free survey.