Tenant - Landlord dispute
Trying to follow all the rules here and keep this simple.
Location: North Carolina, USA
We are moving out of a rental. Our lease stipulates three specific things with regards to lawn care:
mow the grass in a timely manner
trim the shrubs and clean the gutters semi-annually
keep trash and clutter out of the yard
we have done all of these items over the years, not perfectly, but generally. we were prepared to do some yardwork before we moved, however, our landlord came by yesterday with a landscaper who quoted him $1,600 for landscaping work that includes removal of an invasive vine (not a shrub) that we have been asked to trim back from the house (and have done multiple times) and removal of limbs from specific trees on the property. He is suggesting that we split the cost and pay $800 and he's saying he's doing that as a favor to us because the yardwork is our obligation, not his, "no exceptions".
I asked if we could do the work that is stipulated in our lease ourselves as we expected to. He said yes we could feel free to try and then he could come by and decide if it's good enough. When I asked for specifics on what would be "good enough" he would not say. He also said that previous tenants had paid for outside help for the yard...again that's not a requirement of our lease, even if it was nice that other tenants of his did it.
I guess my question is, if we do the work specifically outlined in our lease, does it sound like he still has grounds to keep our deposit if he is decides it's not done right or that we're obligated to do all this other work that is not stipulated in our lease?