House handover with a garden: getting the grounds, patio and garage ready

The rooms are empty, the kitchen is gleaming – and then, at the inspection, the property manager asks why the grass is knee-high. At a house handover with a garden, the inside is only half the story: flower beds, hedges, patio, paths and garage are part of the handover too, as long as they are included in your lease and the contract makes their upkeep your job.

If you are giving back a detached house or a flat with its own garden, plan the outdoor work one to two weeks ahead. The five steps below show what is typically expected and how to protect yourself.

Why the garden matters at the house handover

When you move out, you return the property in the condition that results from using it as agreed in the contract. With a detached house, the rented property usually includes the garden, patio, garage or carport. The Swiss homeowners' association HEV expects that the flat and ancillary rooms are cleared and cleaned thoroughly, including windows, shutters and blinds. Outside, the property management looks just as closely as inside.

Who does which garden work is set out in the lease or an annex to it. Tenants of a detached house often take on routine maintenance: mowing, weeding, trimming hedges, raking leaves. Bigger jobs such as felling or thinning out trees are usually organised by the landlord. Find out more in our guide garden maintenance: tenant or landlord?.

1. Check the lease and the move-in report

Start by digging out the lease, the house rules and the move-in report. They show which tasks are yours and what condition the garden and garage were in when you took them over. Photos from your move-in are worth their weight in gold now: if the hedge already had gaps or the garage floor was stained, that is not your damage.

If you changed anything – planted a vegetable patch or shrubs, built a raised bed, set a rotary washing line in concrete or put up a garden shed – ask the property management in writing whether it can stay or must be removed. Without an agreement, the usual rule is simple: whatever you brought, you take away.

2. Get the lawn, beds and hedges ready

Stagger the garden work so that everything looks fresh on handover day:

• Hedges and shrubs: trim them one to two weeks beforehand if this is part of your maintenance. In spring and summer, watch out for nesting birds.
• Beds: weed thoroughly, cut back faded plants and clear the paths between the borders.
• Leaves and windfall fruit: rake up and dispose of them, including under bushes and in corners.
• Lawn: mow two to three days beforehand and trim the edges. That way it looks cared for without clippings lying around.

Green waste goes to your commune's green waste collection or to the collection point. Nobody expects flowering beds in November – the aim is a tidy garden that suits the season.

3. Clean the patio, paths and outdoor areas

After the garden come the hard surfaces:

• Sweep the patio, terrace and paths, and remove moss and green algae.
• Clean exterior blinds, shutters and outside window sills.
• Wipe the letterbox, house number, outdoor lights and doorbell.
• Take away or dispose of garden furniture, flower pots, parasol and barbecue.
• Check the outdoor tap and roll up the hose if it belongs to the house.

Use a pressure washer on slabs with sand-filled joints only with care, or you will wash the joints out. Don't let cleaning water containing detergent run into the street drain.

4. Clear the garage, carport and driveway

The garage is often forgotten, yet it is where most leftovers tend to be:

1. Empty everything, including shelves, hooks and bike racks you fitted yourself. Fill dowel holes as agreed.
2. Remove cobwebs from the ceiling and corners, and wipe the garage door inside and out.
3. Sweep the floor thoroughly and soak up fresh oil stains with an absorbent or cat litter. For older stains on concrete and paving, see remove oil stains from paving.
4. Sweep the driveway and carport, and remove tyre marks and leaves.

Used oil, leftover petrol, paints and solvents are hazardous waste. Take them back to the shop or to the commune's collection point – never into the household rubbish or down the drain.

5. Clear out and dispose: bulky waste, green waste, hazardous waste

Anything that doesn't belong to the house has to go. Typical leftovers are old garden furniture, a broken lawnmower, firewood, sand from the sandpit, flower pots and compost.

• Bulky waste: via the commune's bulky waste collection or collection point, see dispose of bulky waste.
• Green waste: clippings, leaves and plant remains via the green waste collection.
• Compost: ask the property management whether it may stay or should be emptied.
• Electrical appliances: lawnmower, hedge trimmer and leaf blower go back to a shop or a collection point.

Common mistakes

• Only planning the inside: outdoor work often takes longer than expected, especially after a wet summer.
• Mowing on handover day: wet clippings and marks on the paths don't make a good impression.
• Weedkiller on paving: banned and bad for rivers and lakes – weed mechanically.
• Felling trees on your own initiative: bigger interventions are generally the owner's business.
• Signing the protocol without reading it: check every point, including the garden and garage.

Priority Clean editorial teamOur cleaning team from Alberswil, Canton of Lucerne, shares hands-on experience from move-out, house, office and window cleaning across Central and Northwestern Switzerland.