NEED TO KNOW
- A woman returned home from a family trip to discover that the grass had been trimmed in her front and backyard
- Venting on Mumsnet, she shared that the previous owner of her house hadn’t mentioned their contract with a professional gardener
- “I told him no, sorry I’m not paying and he needs to take it up with them,” she said
A woman is withering up amid a dispute with a gardener!
The woman explained in a post on the U.K.-based forum Mumsnet that she purchased a house in December last year that had been standing empty for at least two years after no longer being used as a rental. Having been unaware of how the former owners managed the property’s large front and backyard, she “took ownership” of the gardening once settled in.
“Anyway, I’ve been away for the last week with family and came home on Wednesday to freshly cut grass, weeds pulled, etc.,” the woman wrote. “I asked my neighbors if they had seen anyone but they were at work.
“It turns out that the previous owners hired a company to do the work and hadn’t notified them that they’d sold the house last year,” she continued. “I only found this out yesterday as the gardener turned up with the invoice.”
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The woman said she politely explained to the gardener that she wasn’t aware of the arrangement and he should contact the previous owners for payment.
However, he soon was at her door again, claiming they were only willing to pay him half of the sum and she should pay the rest because she’s “the one benefiting from the work.”
“I told him no, sorry I’m not paying and he needs to take it up with them,” the woman said. “I do feel bad for the gardener, but it’s their fault. I didn’t ask for this. They were awkward during the conveyancing process too so this doesn’t surprise me. AIBU [am I being unreasonable]?”
Responses to the post were divided on whether or not the woman should pay the gardening invoice.
“I think you ABU [are being unreasonable],” a commenter wrote. “If this happened to me, I’d be happy to pay half and ask the guy when he was free to come again! But I hate gardening, so… The gardener shouldn’t have to be put in an awkward position. It’s fair that the previous owners pay half although you are benefiting.”
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Disagreeing, another said, “OP [original poster] is not ‘benefiting’ as she’s a person who is happy to do her own gardening! This is totally on the previous owners. They didn’t cancel the service, they owe the fee.”
A third chimed in, “The previous owners should pay him in full. If they want you to pay them back half, then they should get in touch with you directly, not expect the gardener to be their messenger.”
“For me, the issue sits with the previous owners AND the gardener,” another wrote. “The POs [previous owners] should have informed the gardener they were moving, and the gardener should have sent them a reminder text/email to say what date he was coming, which would have prompted a ‘oh we don’t live there anymore!’ response. Not your circus, not your monkeys.”
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