Grounds maintenance

The services you'll receive

Your outdoor spaces are an important part of your home. We work with your contractors to keep them in great condition and create pleasant, safe places for you and your families to enjoy.

Your contractor will visit your estate every two weeks (or 25 times a year) to maintain your communal gardens, landscaping, paths, verges and the car parks we own. Some of your outdoor areas may be council-owned, and your local council will maintain these. 

Your contractor won't complete every task listed below each time they visit - they'll focus on the work which needs the most attention and is most appropriate for the season or time of year. 

• Grass areas

  Areas with grass will be cut regularly during the growing season, if ground conditions allow it. The growing season usually starts in March and finishes at the end of November. We'll collect grass cuttings and sweep hard surfaces after the cut. Grass will always be kept below 100mm in height.

• Flower beds

  We’ll maintain flower beds and replace plants and shrubs when needed. We'll also pick up litter in flower beds at every visit. Shrubs will be pruned and shaped after they have flowered in late summer and the autumn. Our winter works programme runs from October to March and during this time, your flower beds will be mulched - this means we'll cover the soil with a layer of organic matter to nourish it and suppress weeds.

• Hedges and large shrubs

  Through regular maintenance, we'll make sure that hedges are not overgrown, causing an obstruction or damage to property. Major reductions of hedges will happen as part of the winter works programme. Our contractors will be careful not to disturb wildlife during bird nesting season (the end of March through to late August) and will leave areas of hedge untouched where birds are nesting until the autumn. Hedges and shrubs that are overhanging paths or car parking areas or preventing access for meter readings will be pruned back throughout the year.  

• Hard surfaces

  Roads, paths, alleyways, courtyards, car parks and washing line areas will be swept to keep them free from leaves, litter, and overgrown weeds. We'll spray hard surface areas for weeds once in the spring, once in the summer and again in the autumn.  

• Trees

  We'll survey and monitor our trees on a regular basis. Overgrown tree shoots and saplings will be cut back and hanging tree branches under 2m above ground will be removed. There'll be times when tree works are urgent, but generally works will be planned for October to February. Emergency works will happen as needed. We don't routinely cut back trees for cables to improve light or television signals. 

Frequently Asked Questions

• Does Moat provide my grounds maintenance services?

  If you live in one of our homes, your grounds maintenance service will either be provided by Moat's contractors or by your managing agent.  If your service charge includes a separate item for grounds maintenance, then the service is provided directly by one of Moat’s contractors. You can find details of your service charges on the statements that we send to you every February and September.

  If you’re still unsure whether Moat provides your service, please phone us at 0300 323 0011 or email customer@moat.co.uk and we’ll let you know. 

• Which communal areas are the contractors being paid to maintain on my estate?

  Some communal areas on your estate may be owned and maintained by your local council. We have a map of your estate that shows which areas our grounds maintenance partners are responsible for. Copies of this map will be on the new estate noticeboards we will begin installing in autumn 2024. We can also send you a copy of the map; please call us on 0300 323 0011 or email us at customer@moat.co.uk to ask for a copy. 

• What will my grounds maintenance contractors be doing?

  Your contractors will visit your estate every two weeks. There is a standard set of duties we’ll expect your contractors to carry out but we’re also able to tailor these services to the needs of customers and their local communities. For details of the standard service you’ll receive, click here.

• Does my service run all year round?

  Your grounds maintenance service will run all year, except over the Christmas and the New Year period. For 2025/6, your service will pause over the weeks starting 22 December 2025 and 29 December 2025 and will restart on the week of 5 January 2026. 

• How often will my grass be cut?

  Our contractors should visit each site twenty-five times a year. Grass cutting will be prioritised during the growing season, usually starting in mid-March and finishing in late November. The weather and ground conditions will also affect when grass cutting can happen – so, in high summer when the grass may not need a cut, we would expect the contractors to focus on other tasks, such as weeding, pruning, and spraying. 

• Will the grounds maintenance contractors cut the hedges every time they visit?

  At each visit, your contractors will focus on the work which needs the most attention and is most appropriate for the season or time of year. During the early summer, this is likely to be grass cutting. We would expect most hedge trimming to happen in the autumn and winter months. Our contractors will be careful not to disturb wildlife during bird nesting season (the end of March through to late August) and will leave areas of hedge untouched where birds are nesting until the autumn.

  Hedges and shrubs that are overhanging paths or car parking areas or preventing access for meter readings will be pruned back throughout the year.  

• When will the contractors visit my estate?

  Your grounds maintenance contractors should visit your estate on the same day of the week every fortnight. If there is a change in your scheduled attendance date, we’ll let you know by updating the information on your noticeboard once these have been installed.

• What happens if it rains on the day my estate is due to have a visit?

  Sometimes a visit may need to be rearranged because the weather is poor, or the contractor has had staffing or equipment issues. If this happens, they must reschedule their visit and let us know of the new attendance date; we’ll let you know this new attendance date, too. The contractor is expected to return to their original schedule for future visits.

• How do you know if a contractor has missed a visit to my estate?

  If your contractor misses a visit, it will be picked up and confirmed through our regular estate inspections, through the attendance checks that the contractors complete, and through the regular meetings we have with our contractors. We will also investigate reports of missed attendances raised by customers with our contractors, so please do let us know, either by phone (0300 323 0011), email (customer@moat.co.uk), or web chat (www.moat.co.uk) if you have any concerns. 

• Will I be charged if the contractor misses a visit to my estate?

  If our contractor has missed a scheduled estate visit and did not attend on an alternative day, you will not be charged. We’ll ensure customers’ service charge accounts are only recharged for visits that have been completed. 

• How do you monitor the service?

  Our Neighbourhoods Team completes regular estate visits and grounds maintenance surveys every month. Our contractors and our specialist Estates Services Officers will visit each site regularly to troubleshoot problems and complete audits and quality checks. We publish dates of our inspections on MyMoat and you are more than welcome to join us when we visit. 

• Will the contractor be paid if they do a poor job on my estate?

  If the grounds maintenance contractor misses your scheduled visit without rescheduling it, they won’t be paid for that visit. If contractors visit and do a poor job, they will only receive partial payment for that estate visit. At each visit, the contractor will take photos at the start and end of their visit to capture what work has been done. We’ll use the photos, regular site inspections and the reports of customers to judge the quality of the service provided.  

• Do the grounds maintenance contractors look after trees on my estate?

  We have separate contracts with local tree management specialists who we’ve appointed to look after trees in communal public areas on your estate. The contractors we use are:

  • Chevron Green in Kent
  • Connick Tree Care in Essex
  • Southern Land Services in London and Sussex 
• What services will my tree management contractor provide?

  We’ve asked each of the contractors to visit all the sites where we have trees. They’ve recorded the condition of trees we own in shared and communal spaces and produced a schedule for planned maintenance. Tree works identified as urgent are completed as soon as we’re aware that they need to be done. Tree maintenance works will be completed in autumn and winter each year.  

• Am I responsible for any trees in my back or front garden?

  If you’re a shared owner or leaseholder and have trees within the boundaries of your front or rear garden, it is your responsibility to maintain these trees. If you are a tenant, check your tenancy agreement as it will set out your and our responsibilities for trees. 

• Who do I contact if I have a question or request related to grounds maintenance?

  In the first instance, you should contact our Customer Service Centre and we'll try to answer your query. You can contact us by emailing customer@moat.co.uk, calling 0300 323 0011 or chatting with us via webchat at www.moat.co.uk. If our Customer Service Advisors can’t resolve your query, they’ll pass it onto our specialist teams who manage the grounds maintenance contract for your area.