Q: I rent a three-bedroom home. I pay a gardener $60 per month to cut the grass and shrubbery. It seems odd to me that I should pay for this when I don’t even own the house. Who is responsible for lawn and garden maintenance of my rental home, me or the landlord?

Property Manager Robert Griswold replies: There are no laws regarding who is responsible for taking care of the grounds. It is subject to negotiation between the parties.

But I strongly suggest that the landlord retain control over the landscaping. Most tenants will not properly care and maintain the property because they don’t have the same incentive as the owner. You may be different, but I am sure you can see why I have my doubts about the desire of a tenant to pour money into anything beyond the bare minimum of mowing and edging.

My experience is that most tenants will not make any improvements or upgrades to the property as they are highly unlikely to reap the long-term benefits. Thus, I would suggest you contact the owner and offer to pay $60 more per month in rent and let the owner pay the landscaper directly.

While this may not seem to help you — you are already paying $60 per month — it will be great to be out from under that liability should the landscaper fail to properly maintain the property.

You could be unpleasantly surprised to find out the cost of replacing the landscaping if the landscaper you selected, supervised and paid is negligent. Let the landlord be responsible for the landscaping entirely and never give any basis (however weak) to claim that it is your fault if the landscaping isn’t perfect.

Q: Are there any regulations in California to give the tenant a grace period to pay the rent after the first of every month?

Tenant attorney Steven R. Kellman replies: There is no specific code in California granting residential tenants an automatic grace period to pay rent late. Rent that is due on the first of the month is due on the first, and late if paid on the second. Having said that, there are numerous ways a tenant may get a grace period anyway, although paying rent late is certainly not recommended.

If rent is not paid on the due date, a three-day notice to pay or quit may be served, allowing three more days in which to pay the rent. Therefore, there is sort of a grace period built in to residential tenancies where you will get those three extra days to pay before any eviction proceedings may be commenced. If the third day lands on a weekend or legal holiday, the “third” day to pay extends to the next business day.

Mobile-home parks have an additional requirement wherein they must wait five days before serving that three-day notice to pay rent.

Rental agreements in which a late fee is charged may be construed as allowing a grace period because it appears to offer the tenant the option to pay late as long as the late fee is paid.

But remember, taking advantage of these legal avenues to pay rent late may work for the moment, but eventually your landlord may tire of getting rent late and perhaps seek to replace you with a tenant who pays on time.

Send questions to Rental Roundtable, 5703 Oberlin Drive, Suite 300, San Diego, CA 92121-1743, or by e-mail to rgriswold@retodayradio.com.

Source:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/06/REGUOPL2SL1.DTL