Renting out a house with a garden

Checking out tenants who are moving out of a property that has a garden can be a nightmare writes property blogger Lea Beven of Limecastle.

Often you are left with problems of overgrown grass, weeds and rubbish being dumped in the back yard.

When people initially view a property to let, it appears much more attractive to rent if there is a tidy, low maintenance garden.

It is much easier to rent out a house where the tenant knows that they will not have to look after the garden too much.

It would be quite rare to find a tenant who would look after the garden if it had a lawn to mow and borders to maintain.

Many landlords do not bother with their gardens and have a huge bill, year-after-year, when they pay someone to come in and tidy everything up and start again.

Really it makes sense really to pay once, do it properly and keep it low-maintenance.

Pricing up gravel is tough – but recently we did a front garden and drive that fits about five cars with 20 tonnes of gravel for £200.

This just left us the task of putting some weed membrane down and a day's labour – job done!

This has now made the property very attractive – it not only extends the drive, but makes the front look much better than having an overgrown garden.

It still means that tenants can put some pots down and then take them with them when they move out.

So my tip of the week: Don't waste your time and energy every year with a big nightmare job when you can do it much more efficiently in one go.

It's simple maths – if you keep the property for 20 years and have the garden completely overhauled once a year, then you'll pay £200 twenty times. That's £4,000!

• Read more of Lea's property blogs