Muck heap removal when paying livery

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HappyDayz

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Hi all!

For the last 6 months I have had my horses at a private yard which currently has no other horses in other than my own. I have been paying for DIY Livery but have effectively had sole use. We are now moving yards due to relocating and the lady is insisting we need to pay for the muck heap to be removed.

When we viewed the yard this was not mentioned and there is no contract between us. Where do we stand? I don’t feel it fair that we have been paying the local rate for livery and are now expected to pay for the muck heap?
 
I would expect that muck heap removal was the responsibility of the YO and included in the price of your livery, which you have been paying. I would simply leave it for her to deal with.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I would expect that muck heap removal was the responsibility of the YO and included in the price of your livery, which you have been paying. I would simply leave it for her to deal with.
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This, unless it was in a contract.

There are a few local mini yards to me and all the tenants have to get muck heap removed at least annually and on exit, as per contract.
 
As it wasn't in your contract and hasn't been mentioned previously then it isn't really your responsibility. Having said that is there a local farmer you can approach to see if they will remove it? I don't know if you were paying the going rate for DIY but as a goodwill gesture you could offer to pay a percentage of the removal cost.
 
Hmmm, normally on a private yard/sole use it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect to pay yourself for muck removal.
At the end of the day if it’s not in a contract then they can’t enforce it but do consider if you would like to be welcomed back there one day .....
 
I have sole use of a yard and we have no contract. However I’ve paid for the field to be harrowed and rolled and will pay for the muck heap removal as I intend to stay there. If I was on a conventional livery with other liveries I would expect the YO to pay tho.
 
If you rent a house you broadly leave it in the condition you find it in, there would be an argument that this would apply to a yard as well. Which would apply to clearing rubbish / muck etc. What would you view be on leaving a big pile of empty feed sacks/ bailer twine/ haylage wrap?

But I can see both sides if nothing was mentioned by either party at the start of the rental.

The horse world is small so for the sake of £1-200 I'd probably have it cleared just in case you wanted to relocate back again at any point.
 
As one who offer's DIY livery (at my home address, just the one livery), I consider it my responsibility to pay for muck-heap disposal, I wouldn't expect the livery to pay for it - I use the muck-heap as well as her so appreciate a rather different circumstance to the one outlined by the OP where she is the sole-user and all the muck-heap is stuff that she's put there basically.

This is a difficult one: mmmm can see where YO is coming from, they want the livery to leave the place ship-shape for the next person and obviously the muck-heap is going to cost money to shift (unless you can find a local garden centre or market garden, or farmer who will oblige for a bottle of fire-water - we've got a local one who will).

Just a suggestion to keep the air sweet: OP perhaps you could offer to pay half?? That might help to keep things amicable?? You don't want to be bad-mouthed locally do you, and it might be better to part with peace & harmony rather than aggro..... just a thought.
 
If there was no muck heap there when you moved in and you were on DIY livery then its your responsibility to leave as found. If however you were on Full livery then its the responsibility of the person providing the service, for which you are paying, to have it removed. As above its like leaving your rubbish behind and so your responsibility to remove.
 
It doesn’t sound to me like she is renting the yard as sole use, just that she is on a livery yard and happens to be the only livery at the moment.
Not her fault there are vacant stables.
If you are paying livery, not rent then the cost of muck heap removal should be included in what you are paying.
 
HappyDayz said:
Hi all!

For the last 6 months I have had my horses at a private yard which currently has no other horses in other than my own. I have been paying for DIY Livery but have effectively had sole use. We are now moving yards due to relocating and the lady is insisting we need to pay for the muck heap to be removed.

When we viewed the yard this was not mentioned and there is no contract between us. Where do we stand? I don’t feel it fair that we have been paying the local rate for livery and are now expected to pay for the muck heap?
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If it is mainly your horses poo, I would leave on good terms for the sake of a couple hundred pounds for removal. If it is huge I would go halves with YO
 
If you were on a 2-3 horse yard and paying diy livery rates you would not expect to have to clear the muck heap at the end of tenancy. assuming you were not intentionally there as the sole livery and others were intended to be there I wouldn't see why you should have to pay for the muck heap removal
 
gallopingby said:
If there was no muck heap there when you moved in and you were on DIY livery then its your responsibility to leave as found. If however you were on Full livery then its the responsibility of the person providing the service, for which you are paying, to have it removed. As above its like leaving your rubbish behind and so your responsibility to remove.
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I have never heard of a DIY yard that requires individual liveries to dispose of their share of muck when they leave.

Sole occupancy, yes- but this wasn't: it's just chance OP was the only livery.
 
If you have sole use of the yard then I would expect you to leave it as you found it and that includes moving your muck .
 
Goldenstar said:
If you have sole use of the yard then I would expect you to leave it as you found it and that includes moving your muck .
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As I read the OP, it was purely incidental that there was sole use of the yard, not that OP was renting the yard for her sole use. I can see why no-one else wanted to livery on the yard though, if the YO has a reputation for doing this kind of thing.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
As one who offer's DIY livery (at my home address, just the one livery), I consider it my responsibility to pay for muck-heap disposal, I wouldn't expect the livery to pay for it - I use the muck-heap as well as her so appreciate a rather different circumstance to the one outlined by the OP where she is the sole-user and all the muck-heap is stuff that she's put there basically.

This is a difficult one: mmmm can see where YO is coming from, they want the livery to leave the place ship-shape for the next person and obviously the muck-heap is going to cost money to shift (unless you can find a local garden centre or market garden, or farmer who will oblige for a bottle of fire-water - we've got a local one who will).

Just a suggestion to keep the air sweet: OP perhaps you could offer to pay half?? That might help to keep things amicable?? You don't want to be bad-mouthed locally do you, and it might be better to part with peace & harmony rather than aggro..... just a thought.
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This is exactly how we feel about the situation. It is this ladies private Home who sadly lost her horse last year. When we viewed she said she is looking for another horse. She asked what sort of livery we wanted as she was happy to provide full livery also. I pay 2 lots of DIY, there are 4 stables so it isn’t my fault I have sole use, just that she hasn’t bought another one yet. We will refuse to pay the whole amount but will happily pay a contribution to lee things sweet. We are relocating halfway up the country so it makes no difference if we leave on a slightly sour note. Since we have been there she has been rather difficult. This week she asked for more money as we are now soaking our ponies hay for the summer..... I do sadly see a bit of a trend with her.
 
little_critter said:
It doesn’t sound to me like she is renting the yard as sole use, just that she is on a livery yard and happens to be the only livery at the moment.
Not her fault there are vacant stables.
If you are paying livery, not rent then the cost of muck heap removal should be included in what you are paying.
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This is how I read it too
 
I got muck removed from my yard last year... I am YO. Cost me £500 ��
I didnt charge the DIYs extra but it now universally known that if the muck heap is not kept tidy and allowed to spread everywhere like it was last timeit will be added to their bill.
I have a very tidy muck heap ��
 
To have my muck removed costs £140 by a company that complies with all the waste regulations. I have a very tidy compact heap that usually lasts the winter which is about 4months, it fill a huge lorry.I have been on yards where no one stacks the heap and spreads every where.
I have a contract with someone who is using my sheds and I have took £150 deposit for removal of the heap, if they can find someone cheaper fine, but I want it removed when they go.
If you break down the cost of your livery, water, electric, repairs, muck removal,rates and any loans paid on the buildings most people are not charging enough.
 
HappyDayz said:
This week she asked for more money as we are now soaking our ponies hay for the summer......
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I personally don't think you should pay for muck heap removal if you are on DIY as opposed to renting the whole yard. But at least I do see that there is some logic to the 'leave it as you found it' perspective. More money for soaking hay makes no sense at all! On what basis? Just for the water used??
 
I think they should have thought about that when deciding on a rental charge and adjusted this accordingly. You need to negotiate this before you actually move. Perhaps suggest a reduction in rental if you have to sort this out yourself or look elsewhere if you have time. You don't know yet how easy or difficult it may be to arrange.
 
It seems to me that they didn't really think a few things through when they decided to rent out some of their stables.
 
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