Can a landlord charge for lawn care or yard cleanup from the deposit?
Short answer
It depends
If the lease made the tenant responsible for the yard and they let it badly deteriorate, cleanup can be chargeable — but not for normal seasonal growth or landscaping you'd maintain anyway.
Where the lease clearly assigns lawn and yard upkeep to the tenant, a yard left seriously overgrown, weed-choked, or damaged can support a cleanup deduction. Where the landlord handles landscaping, it's the landlord's cost.
Normal seasonal change — grass grown since the last mow, autumn leaves — isn't damage. Any charge should reflect restoring the yard to its move-in condition, not upgrading it.
Usually normal wear & tear
- ✓Normal seasonal growth
- ✓A yard maintained as the lease required
Often chargeable damage
- •Severely overgrown yard the tenant was required to maintain
- •Landscaping killed through neglect
More deduction questions
This is general educational information about how normal wear and tear is typically distinguished from tenant damage — not legal advice. Deposit rules vary by state and locality; confirm your state's rules or consult a local attorney before relying on any specific deduction.