Having a lush green lawn can make for a nice place to play and have a summer gathering. For one renter, the lawn care demands of their landlord became a Sisyphean task.
R/AmItheA****** is a popular page on Reddit; you may have seen the acronym AITA around the internet. Folks take to this page for advice during almost any type of conflict — including renting a goat to mow the lawn.
One renter turned to the community for help, asking, "I rented a room of a house that was cheaper than market value in exchange for 'maintaining the lawn' (basically watering and mowing)."
Unfortunately, this would prove to be a bigger task than they anticipated. "The landlord kept escalating their watering demands (under threat of eviction) because brown patches had developed in unshaded areas. At the peak I was watering thirteen hours a day every day of the week."
Growing concerned about how much water they were wasting, the tenant looked into local regulations. "I recently discovered watering a lawn more than three days per week in this city is illegal. I told the landlord this and they went ballistic. AITAH for telling the landlord I am decreasing the watering frequency to be within legal limits?"
The OP had a right to be concerned about the amount of water being wasted. In the United States, residential outdoor water use accounts for 8 billion gallons of water a day, according to the EPA.
Many homeowners and renters are beholden to HOAs that have aesthetic rules regarding the appearance of lawns with little regard for the cost. You may be able to work with an HOA to change rules, or — like the OP — you can look into local laws.
Commenters on this post felt nearly unanimously that this person was NTA (not the a******). "No plant needs to be watered 12 hours a day. He's got the wrong plants in the wrong soil. It's lawn sunburn. The only thing that will cure it is shade!" wrote one person.
Someone else advised, "I'd recommend getting his demands in writing." The OP responded, "Oh I have! As soon as eviction was mentioned I began documenting EVERYthing in case this escalates any further."
Hopefully, for this person, the landlord has been paying the water bill.
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