Claude Monet once declared his garden to be his 'most beautiful masterpiece'. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same and when it comes to tenants, it can go one of two ways. While some tenants will maintain their garden just as their landlord has lovingly handed it over. Others – and this is often due to inexperience rather than intention – will allow the garden to deteriorate, returning it to the landlord in an unrecognisable condition.

Prior to the tenancy commencing, an agent should advise landlords that any outside space and gardens should be left in neat and tidy seasonal condition. Landlords are typically responsible for trimming, cutting back and lopping of hedges, trees, shrubs and so on throughout the duration of the tenancy. If a landlord passes any further gardening responsibility to the tenant, they should provide the gardening tools/mowing equipment they’d like them to use.

Any special ‘caring’ instructions for particular trees, shrubs, plants and so on should be made clear to the tenant in an addendum to the tenancy agreement with the tenant being made 100 per cent clear about what is expected of them. Ultimately, however, the tenant cannot be held responsible for plants or trees that die. If any plants hold sentimental value, the landlord should either consider continuing to care for the garden themselves or move the plants out.

Assuming a gardener is not included as part of the rent, agents ought to advise tenants to keep their garden neat and tidy and in seasonal condition. This includes the day-to-day garden maintenance: weeding, leaf clearing, watering (especially in the dryer summer months), deck cleaning, cutting the grass, and so on.

If a landlord does not provide gardening tools and no specific instruction is given in the addendum to the tenancy agreement, the tenant will be expected to provide their own tools. Savills tenancy agreements specifically forbid tenants from lopping, pruning, removing or destroying any existing plants, trees or shrubs without the written consent of the landlord.

A landlord with a full management service can expect their agent to visit the property at least once a year, and at least once during the tenancy, to check it’s being looked after. However, it’s important to remember that agents are not gardeners and their expertise in garden maintenance is quite often limited.

Remember: gardening is subjective and one person's idea of a well-maintained garden is not necessarily another's. Monet, incidentally, employed eight gardeners and spent a small fortune on maintaining his 'beautiful masterpiece'.

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