ARGUS COMMENT: A sensible outcome (From South Wales Argus)

ARGUS COMMENT: A sensible outcome

12:40pm Friday 15th March 2013 in News

WE ARE delighted to be able to report a sensible outcome of the row between a landlord and former tenant over the removal of a garden.

Elaine Rolfe and her husband David invested £20,000 and much time and effort over 11 years creating an award-winning garden at the home they rented from the Llanover Estate.

So it was with sadness and anger that they heard they were expected to pay £5,000 to clear the garden after they had had to leave the house.

Due to Mr Rolfe’s deteriorating health problems the couple were left no option but to downsize their home and had to leave their beloved garden behind.

What shocked most who read our story was the fact that Llanover Estate, with incredibly insensitive timing when Mr Rolfe has only a short time to live, demanded that the couple paid £5,000 to clear the garden.

The landlord wanted to relet its property, which is of course understandable, but the insistence that the couple pay the cost of clearing the garden was, in our view unreasonable. Now the trustees have stepped in to say Mrs Rolfe need not worry about a penny of the cost and they are to be commended for that.

Perhaps the most salutary lesson for all tenants of rented property is not to invest time and money in creating a high-maintenance garden which will then have to be cleared.