So how F-ed I am? The renters in our house decided they couldn't afford to water the St Augustine yard. It's dead. Who knows how long they haven't been watering. And it's not just the drought. The neighbors have been able to keep their yards in good shape. You can see the property lines where the sprinklers stop.
Is there any chance of it coming back with the right care, or is the whole thing going to have to be replaced?

They turned this:


Into this:






[This message has been edited by YellowPot_97 (edited 9/30/2011 12:04a).]

Resod

Have you been inside? Yikes on the outside.

Resod. That grass is dead. You might be able to force them to pay for it.

The last time I rented a house, there was a clause in the lease agreement stating that I the tenant would be responsible for lawn maintenance. If you have that in your lease, resod and send them the bill.

Looks like you need some new landscape shrubberies, too.

My rent house has the following clause in the lease: landlord controls sprinkler system. Ours has a lock box.

IMHO, Watering should not be optional. If you can't afford it you are living in the wrong house. Many rent houses near me have totally dead yards. It is awful!

Dude, there is no such thing as two year old grass. It will come back next year.

P.S. Shrubs are dead. Foundation may be at risk.

yeah, the contract requires them to take care of the yard. but our agent says that we can't keep the deposit because it wouldn't hold up in court on account of the drought. I think she's full of ***** I'm keeping it. I know for a fact they can't afford to take it to court and even if they do, I got a feeling they'll lose.

the bushes are ****ed was well





[This message has been edited by YellowPot_97 (edited 9/30/2011 7:33a).]

how much is this gonna cost?

Did you have certain conditions pertaining to "taking care of the yard?"

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http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-1080p-Media-Player/dp/B003MVZ60I/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1317390415&sr=1-1

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Several thousand dollars to hire a landscaper to replant shrubs & grass. Do you live in the same city with your rent house? Seems this is long term neglect that could have been stopped before it got this bad.

Holy crap!

Your front yard is even shaded too. I'm surprised your HOA hasn't come down on them and sent you a letter.

We're several states away. The agent that was supposed to go by "every week or so" says she hasn't been by since July. So who the F knows.

I'm shocked we didn't hear from the HOA. They're usually hard asses about *****



[This message has been edited by yellowpot_97 (edited 9/30/2011 9:20a).]

Maybe they're being more lenient due to the drought.

Your agent needs a talking to though.

I have the exact same issue with my rental property in Kyle. Tenant hadn't watered in over a year. The yard looks like a blanket of dry hay. Needless to say, he lost a significant chunk of his security deposit for failing to maintain the yard.

my grass looks only marginally better than that and Ive been watering - St Augustine is getting ripped out

Your agent is wrong. If the neighbors were able to keep the grass alive by watering some, so could your renters. I would jump their arse over this. Make sur eit isn't chinch bugs though.

I was gonna rip your *** for not going by. But you have an agent, and depending on how much you pay them, I would unleash hell on that agent, keep the tenant's deposit and probably take the agent to court for the difference.

If your neighbor's yards are alive, yours should be too! Man, that pisses me off and I don't even live there.

Full disclosure:
I water like crazy, and I haven't been able to keep my shrubs alive now that we're on stage II. I don't know if I hold that against them or not.

What Terk says x 100. I would be all over that damn agent. We are in Stage II restrictions-so water once a week, and while our St. Aug is definitely stressed, its not anything close to that. I moved into a house with a yard like that once and managed to get the grass to come back, but it took a lot of time and effort on my part and I had much more energy then. Now I would just pay and start over.

Find a new agent.

In B/CS I thought it was standard procedure to try to keep the deposit no matter what. Every landlord we had tried to keep it until we made a stink.

Get a good picture showing the neighbors green lawn next to your dead lawn to prove neglect versus drought.

Depending on what shrubs you want planted it might cost you a 1-2 grand to have flowerbeds re mulched, cleaned, and replanted, might be able to make a deal and get the yard resoded for 2500.

I said oh **** out loud when I scrolled down. Office though something was wrong....

That foundation really needs a long soak with a soaker hose.... a few times a week for a while....

dude. im sorry to hear that. I think your royally f-ed.
Your going to have to resod.

Me and wifa did it last year at our house and its come around nice.

When we leased out house, we required them, by contract, that the sprinklers were not to be touched and that yard maintenance as a must.

Turns out, our manager went over there and cranked up the water timing to TWICE a day for 5 MIN A ZONE! From what i hear, the St. Augustin looks GOOD!

That deposit would also be going in my pocket.

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agent says that we can't keep the deposit because it wouldn't hold up in court on account of the drought.

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I don't know where you live, but if the house is inside of a city, then it is almost guaranteed that they had water restrictions, at which point they would have a very good case. However, I would still hold on to the deposit and be furious at the agent for gross negligence. Something like that doesn't happen overnight and it only takes them going over there to discover the problem. Heck, they don't even have to get out of the car. You don't even live in the state and since July you've been doing the same quality of job as the agent.

quote:

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You don't even live in the state and since July you've been doing the same quality of job as the agent.

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your agent needs to hear this exact statement

I'm just getting madder. How can people not give a *****about others property?

Sorry your going through this and sorry that your yard was destroyed.

Look at the lease and see if there is specific verbage about the maintenance of the yard. Does it state that the tenants will water the yard? It depends on the type of lease and what is filled in as to who is responsible. I would be happy to take a look at it as well if you would like. Email is in my profile.

Currently there are no water restrictions in College Station. The tenants were lazy and didn't want to foot the water bill. Really, really sucks for YP97.

Consider sodding or seeding with Bermuda, especially if you are going to continue to rent the house.

LOL...did some of you never live in a rent house? I think if they were required to maintain lawn than maybe a loss of some deposit is fair. However, for those of you aggravated by this, a big reason you rent a home is b/c you don't want to maintain a home AND none of you should ever be landlords.

It's blessing you didn't lose any trees...