Who is responsible for tree maintenance on a tenant’s individual lot?
In my park, tenants are responsible for maintaining the landscaping on their own lots, including mowing. I have a tenant whose tree has low-growing branches that make it difficult to mow underneath the tree.
The tenant said it is not a safety issue—the branches are simply too low to get the mower underneath—and is asking that the tree be “limbed up.”
Would you consider routine pruning/limbing of a tree on the tenant’s lot to be the tenant’s responsibility, or would you have the park pay for it?
I am super interested in thoughts on this as well. To date, we have trimmed up the trees to avoid tree-fall issues, which seem to be so common in our neck of the woods. That being said, do your park rules speak to this? If not, that would be worth clarifying once you get an answer from this group.
Depends on the tree and on your lease. You are responsible for trees and landscaping in common areas but not for individual lots as that is the homeowner’s responsibility as per your lease. Now if the tenant is conscientious in their landscaping, is elderly has some other reason trimming their own tree would be prohibitive then maybe you do it for them. Kindness counts sometimes more than money counts.
We have owned parks for over 20 years. The first 5-10 years or so we would trim the trees regularly.
After trimming them a few times, I decided to just remove virtually all trees. This approach has saved money in the long run. The tree’s roots also get into sewer lines. We have way less sewer backups since we have taken most the trees out. Pay for removal once or keep paying for trimming over and over is how I see it.
I am getting killed on trees. We can’t pull them all. It’s impossible for tenants to hire a tree person. They ask me to cut them all the time but I cannot see them being able to afford that.