Lawn Issues?

[elitewolverine]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NM

So I am a tenant though on the lease as only living in the home or allowed to. Currently the lease is in my wife's fathers name as the 'security' holder because well, he is very well off and they liked his salary more than mine. But we are on the lease as the actual tenants living in the home.

Short explanation so that people know why i havent done this sooner or asked sooner. We are in our second year lease with the property. When we started the rent it was in June. The lawn was in bad shape and before we rented it, they had people still working on the home/yard. They stated "It will be done when you move in". Which it wasnt. When we moved in, the lawn which the landlord wanted to put a small section of grass for the large yard, was put on the shoulders of one man. That said man was a handy man with no license or any formal business. He asked to use my tools, which i stated no, the only thing we supplied was a wheel barrow, which we didnt really want to. The person didnt have a vehicle and asked us many times for a ride. Thankfully they used him only a few times. However, he started work on the yard, displaced rocks out of the rock covered yard, and never actually removed them. Goat heads even before moving in were a huge huge huge problem. There is a volley ball pit in our yard that has never been safe since we moved in. He never finished the job and even left his sifter for the rock/sand here. We contacted the landlord agency. We were told since it was so close to fall they wouldnt be finishing the grass. Which we were ok with, figuring come spring it would be fixed. Which it was not. I was suspecting they were going to not renew the lease. But they renewed the lease (after a 10$ increase no big but meh).

So year two rolls around. We get two visits early summer to see about the 'yard'. Supposidly they thought we were going to be helping (cash included) to buy sod etc for the yard to be finished. All i ever said to the handy man, and this was because he asked, was that my friend does landscaping and maybe can get help with the sod pricing. I gave the handyman the # and that was all. I never claimed to ever put in cash on a repair/fix up, that was supposed to be finished before we even moved in or even signed a lease. So during the summer, it went back and forth, emails where we asked and delay and delay with no response. Letting my wife and her father handle it because its his name that is the name on the lease in terms of responsibility. So another fall rolls around. Yard still not finished, their tool still not done.

I have done my part for two years, to keep the weeds at bay, at a newly exposed bare spot in the yard that is a magnet for goatheads and their spawn.

So my question after all that, is with my new lease coming up in june, which we will hopefully be resigning in May (we have been great tenants with no reason to evict and no problems with the landlord or the agency, not a single complaint). Can i after the resigning so it doesnt hurt my chances, with hold rent to have the lawn actually finished.

The way i see it as a tenant, is that during our stay they have worked on the lawn with their own contractor (if you call him that), and have left the work completely undone and in a mess from what it was when we were shown the property. Or is it something that I have to do, pay up, and live with eating a potential 2,000 lawn bill just so i can have a good lawn to be outside in the back in. It is a large lawn and have been wanting to hold good get togethers there, instead of the "hey be careful over there" type of meetings i have.

 

[Zigner]

No .

 

[Gail in Georgia]

" Can i after the resigning so it doesnt hurt my chances, with hold rent to have the lawn actually finished."

Sure...if you wish to face an eviction due to your failure to pay rent.

Gail

 

[elitewolverine]

So we cannot get the leasing company for not finishing a job? That they started and have drug their feet on?

 

[Silverplum]

So we cannot get the leasing company for not finishing a job? That they started and have drug their feet on?

See the answers in posts 2 and 3.

 

[FarmerJ]

What you would do re the lawn after your lease is renewed is take pictures of it , have them dated & printed then send to the landlord a on paper letter via certified mail , dear landlord this letter is about the lawns condition and to remind you that the lawn work has been left unfinished during our first two years here. ( keep a copy for your self , WHY because if it becomes a issue where the LL attempts to claim deposit money to correct it when you move out you would have to take the LL to court and in court you could show them your copy of the letter, your printed pictures and the dates on them to dispute any claim by the LL that you should pay to correct the lawn.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

Not all states allow a tenant to withhold rent for repairs that have not been adequate addressed by the landlord.

For those states that do, these required repairs must be significant enough to impact the health and/or safety of the tenant. Does having an unfinished lawn make the rental unit uninhabitable? This is the excuse you would need to use if hauled into court facing an eviction for nonpayment of rent.



What Justifies Tenants Paying Less Rent in Nevada

Before you can withhold rent or use the repair and deduct remedy, make sure that the circumstances justify you paying less rent and that you comply with state legal requirements on things like notice you must provide your landlord. Check Nevada state law (see resources below) on the following:

the type of repair and habitability problems that qualify for rent withholding or repair-and-deduct
the type of notice you must give the landlord and the amount of time the landlord has to fix the problem before you can withhold rent or use the repair and deduct remedy
the limit on how much rent you may withhold or deduct and how often you can use a particular remedy
your protection from landlord retaliation, such as a termination notice or a rent increase, for exercising your legal right to pay less rent because of a habitability problem, and
any other conditions that apply before you can withhold or deduct rent, such as a requirement that you pay rent into an escrow account.

Nevada Tenant Rights

For advice on handling a tenant problem in Nevada, see http://www.nlslaw.net/housing.html.
Nevada State and Local Law on Rent Withholding, Repair-and-Deduct, and Landlord Retaliation

For state law on rent withholding, see Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 118A.490.

For state law on repair and deduct, see Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 118A.360, 118A.380.

For state law prohibiting landlord retaliation, see Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 118A.510.

See the Laws and Legal Research section of Nolo for advice on finding and reading statutes and court decisions.

Also, check your local housing ordinances for any city or county rules that cover tenant rights when it comes to repairs. Contact your local building or housing authority. To find yours, call your mayor or city management.


Gail

 

[elitewolverine]

Thanks for the help will do a little more research. I would have done it first few months when they started the work and left it undone. But family politics had me sitting on the sideline.

As for 'well being'. I would consider metal grass care that is designed to seperate rock and grass and be covered when all is said and done, being exposed, a hazard to children trying to play. That is like a contractor leaving tools out and refusing to pick them up and then getting mad you throw them away.