As the autumn leaves begin to fall and summer flowers fade, it is important to clear them out of your rental property’s garden and yard before winter drives away the warm summer days. While it may be tempting to leave the leaves on the ground, that really isn’t a good idea. To make sure that your rental’s lawn and garden stay healthy and to encourage strong roots that will help them withstand winter temperatures, the best thing you can do is to remove old growth and fallen leaves each fall.
Clearing dead leaves, flowers, and old-growth from your Orlando rental property’s yard is not only done for the sake of appearances. Cleaning and maintaining a home’s exterior is for more than just its appearance. Some property owners wrongly think that because fallen leaves and old-growth are natural, that it’s fine to leave them on their lawns and in their gardens to decompose over the winter. The problem with doing this is that the layers of dead leaves and other debris can smother lawns and other plants, preventing air, light, and essential nutrients from penetrating the ground below. Healthy landscape plants and grass rely on a healthy root system, which in turn relies on abundant access to water, air, and light.
Now, having healthy plants is already a huge reason to clear your rental property’s fallen leaves and dead garden plants, but that’s still not the only reason. There are additional reasons to clean up. For one, uncleared leaves and dead flowers can result in common plant diseases that can ruin an otherwise healthy yard. As the debris piles up, it covers everything else. This may trap moisture underneath and can result in damaging mold growths and other issues that will kill existing plants. Another risk taken when dead leaves remain uncleared is the likely increase in insects and other pests. Many kinds of roaches, spiders, and small mammals flourish in layers of rotting foliage. As the population of these pests explodes outdoors, they would start to infest an increasingly greater area and would likely reach the inside of your rental home. There is so much at stake. This is why dead flowers, plants, and fallen leaves have to be removed from a rental home’s yard before winter arrives.
There are property owners that rely on their tenants to do the autumn landscaping clean-up. They think that it’s a good idea because they aren’t fully aware of the inherent risks. It may not have crossed your tenant’s mind just how important it is to remove dead leaves and flowers, or perhaps they just don’t know the correct way to do it. There’s also the danger they’re exposed to. If your property has tall trees that shed leaves onto the roof or other elevated surfaces, it would be a really bad idea to ask your tenant to get on a ladder to trim tree branches or clear the fallen leaves away.
You don’t have to send a cleaning crew as soon as one leaf falls and touches the ground. That’s obviously impractical. However, if you have large leaf falls, those need to be addressed in a timely manner. You need to act fast to prevent damage to your rental property’s landscaping, foundation, and even the roof and gutters. There are multiple ways to get the job done. One way is for property owners to rake fallen leaves onto the lawn and then use a mulching mower to shred them into fine particles, which will sift down into the soil and fertilize the grass. Others would source it out and hire a professional company to step in and do an annual clean-up. This method could actually be more efficient and economical.
Whichever method you end up choosing would be okay for as long as the guiding principle is there— that the care for your rental property’s yard does not put your tenant at risk. If you’re not too busy and have the time, you can be the one to do the job. But the saying holds true also for real estate investors: time is money. That is why Real Property Management South Orlando takes care of important seasonal maintenance tasks for property owners who are engaged with more important things. Our excellent property management services will give your Orlando rental property great care that would help get it ready for the harsh winter season and all that it may bring. Contact us online or call at 407-982-2000 to get started.
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