The tenant and property owner should share the cost of repairbecause it's fair and the owner has a vested interested in making sure that the repairs are done correctly. If the property owner had hired a gardner and this had happened most likely he would have to pay for the replacement because it was caused by a rock in the middle of the yard.

Lisa:  Thanks for your view.  I appreciate it.

If the property owner had hired a gardener he (the owner) would probably have had to pay for the replacement.  However, because he is leasing with a provision that makes the tenant responsible for yardwork, the tenant also probably pays less in rent... 

I hate to be a fence-sitter.  But in all likelihood, the expense probably needs to be shared.

I think the burden of proving the level of responsibility falls more to the owner...

I know that if I got stuck at either end of this dilemma, I'd be ticked!!

The tenant should be responsible.  There are way too many what if situations in life to blame it on someone else.  The tenant takes responsibilty of the landscaping and the what if's in life.  What if the he was running a tiller and ran over an underground utility...owner's fault...no...what if the rock hit the guy in the eye and he was blind...is that the owner's fault...NO.

Shannon and Brian:  Thanks for your ideas, good thinking.

Robert:  My guess... the tenant was mowing the grass under the direction of the owner.  It is the owner's house.  First guess... owner pays.  Reality... split the cost.  It's not worth the hassle to fight over.

Then again... if the tenant were George Bush... he'd always blame the other guy.  LOL.  Sorry... could not resist.  He'd even consider blaming Al Gore.  :)

I would think depending on the lease agreement the tenant would be responsible for any damage by default. In the real world the landlord will pay.

By law, the tenant is responsible for all normal wear and tear damage on the property which I believe that this constitutes.  In reality, I would ask my landlord to share the expense.  We are deaing with an issue just like this on one of our managed properties this week.

I would be seriously hacked off if I was the tenant and was told to pay the expense.  Sharing would be ok...but, in my mind, the owner should pay for the repair.

Robert,

This is thought provoking. For the sake of being practical, I'd say go with the path of least resistance and avoid the suit. However, how would the law look at this? It sounds like a contract issue. With no clear provisions in the rental agreement for accidents or negligence on either side, it seems the owner ultimately bears responsible for the repair since he/she didn't stipulate any protections against these issues. I'm not an expert on law or leasehold rights, but I'm thinking all this boils down to the rental agreement.

Michael:  The contract states "Resident shall pay Owner for costs to repair, replace, or rebuild any portion of the premises damaged by the Resident or Resident's guests and Owner recommends that Resident purchase insurance to protect Resident's interest in case of damage or injury caused by Resident.

But, with gardening, can the resident be liable for a small stone kicked up by the mower?  This is a customer service nightmare. 

Both split the cost 50/50. If otherwise noted to do something different it should be shared equally.

Tenant pays and bills their renter's insurance.  If either the owner or tenant had hired a PRO yard service, their insurance would pay...tenant's insurance pays or tenant pays if he has no insurance.

Wallace:  I am not sure a random stone in a grass area coming off a mower would be the responsibiltiy of a yard care professional.  If they are doing their normal mow, why should they pay?  This could have happened to the homeowner just as easy as the yard pro.  The yard pro has insurance with a deductable, but probably does not charge enough monthly to cover things that are not really negligence, just a random thing.  The rock in the lawn is the cause and would be impossible to prove who put it there. 

I've had many stone-thru-window incidents with professional firms and they pay for window pane replacement to stay in my good graces.....I paid my lawn care firm over $25,000 last year - a $200 window is NOTHING for that kind of annual income.

In my area, with little or no yard care for 4 months in winter, I keep them busy with yard upgrades and storm clean up and they appreciate not having to let workers go in slow season....

Wallace:  I understand the idea of having your gardener that has many accounts paying for the broken glass.  But what if you paid a guy $75/mo to cut your lawn and the window was broken by a rock.  If the window cost was $400.00 would it be right to expect the gardener to pay?  I question it under the theory that if your employee was cutting your lawn, you would have to pay as you are the employer/owner.  So why does the independent contractor get the screws put to him?

I'm with Lisa Lambert on this one - think the tenant and landlord should split the cost.  It was an accident, not intentional and the landlord should be thrilled that the tenant is actually maintaining the yard.  So they should either split it or the landlord pay a little more like 75% and the tenant pay 25%.  My 2 cents.

It turns out the the window was a large dual pane slider and the cost came in at about $1,600.00.  No one is happy about that except maybe the window company.