My friend own a house in nj and rent it out.According to the lease the tenant should do lawn care ( mowing).Recently my friend got a summon to appear in court for violation of township code not cut the lawn.Should he plea guildty or not my friend feel that the tenant should be response for this violation. What should he do?Who suppose is guildty from the law points of view?

Tenant mows the lawn unless it says otherwise in your lease.

Unfortunately where the township is concerned, the owner of the house is responsible for the maintenance of the home. If you have a tenant, and that tenant neglects to mow the lawn, you will be charged for it, since it's your lawn, and your home.

It's the same with any snow removal. If the tenant doesn't remove the snow, and someone falls and hurts themselves, it's your insurance that they'll go after, since you own the home.

I'm not sure that the township will care too much that you have a lease that stipulates that the tenant is supposed to cut the lawn. They only care that the lawn wasn't cut, and they'll care who owns the home and property.

Is the friend being billed for this? If so, he may be able to sue the tenant to be reimbursed, since the lease does say that the tenant is responsible for cutting the grass. But the township really can't charge the tenant, only the homeowner.

That's my understanding anyway.

The owner is responsible for meeting local codes and laws. The township is going to ticket the owner and the owner will need to pay the fine.

However, especially if the lease states the tenant is responsible, the owner can then bill the tenant for the amount of the fine. If the tenant refuses to pay, he can be evicted or the fine can be taken out of the security deposit when the tenant vacates. A suit would not be necessary unless the tenant sues to get the full deposit back.

However, since this was a summons and a hearing has not yet been set, the owner should go to the tenant and tell him to mow or he will be responsible for the fine. Follow up before the hearing and take pictures to show the court that town code has been complied with.

If the tenant still doesn't mow, then the landlord can do it himself or hire a service and bill the tenant.

The township expects the owner to maintain the yard. Whether the owner has made arrangements with a tenant (or anyone, for that matter), is of no concern to the township; it just wants the lawn mowed.

Yay, I got one right! :)