No to the built-up flower beds. Instead plant shrubs at ground level that are caning or don’t mind being cut back hard so they can be cut back if you need to rake the porch roof or when you paint. Have at last some be evergreen, and choose shrubs that will stay below the level of the porch floor or a bit taller except for perhaps for the corner closest to the drive. Underplant with a flowering evergreen ground cover. You may be able to reuse some of what groundcover is already there, but I can’t see well enough what it is. Make the front beds deeper front to back, at least 6’ deep so there is room for plants and so the garden is sized proportionate to the house. Remove the current tall skinny trees. Mulch well, and give the beds a clean, easily maintained edging. Replace the front walk. Put in a generous landing at the base of the steps that extends the whole width of the steps, and have a front walk that is a minimum of 4’ wide. If there isn’t a walkway from the base of the steps to the drive, add one. It can be close to the width of the current front walk.

I would get it power washed to start and make any repairs necessary to the steps and aluminum siding. I think you can get away with keeping the brick as is if you put a pretty flowering bush between the two units, something that blocks the massive front wall. Ideally it will keep its leaves all year, or offer something pretty like white berries during the winter. Also, replace the front door of the right unit, and plant something in front of the mismatched brick. Definitely upgrade lighting and put in a stamped concrete walkway - will be less then pavers.

Great advice already, I just wanted to give support as a fellow renter (regarding landscaping). We sold our house and decided to rent for a while ... I went from having a yard that won awards to having a yard with not one plant. No way could I live that way! We’ve been here two years now and it looks really nice. Neighbors compliment us all the time. The biggest challenge has been: How much do we spend on a house we don’t own? I think we found a good balance for us. We definitely heard lots of, “WHY are you spending time and money on someone else’s house?!” Well, right now it’s our house and we’ve enjoyed every dime spent. :) We’re well aware we won’t get it back financially, but the investment has still been worth it for us, because we love landscaping and have a passion for it. I totally understand not everyone feels that way. I did things a bit different than if this was our “forever” home. I keep future renters in mind, so have planted with more drought-tolerant plantings, small to mid-size shrubs (so that nothing can get overgrown with lack of care), smaller beds, easy care perennials, native ornamental grasses, ground covers. I’ve used bird baths, yard art, etc, to fill in some areas. I do annuals in pots and hanging baskets, rather than in beds. We found free rock to use as edging and boulder art (check your local trade pages online and/or ask around for plants, hardscape, anything). It’s tough for me to not go overboard, to not to do exactly what I want .... it’s been a lesson in restraint. But very rewarding! Our house looks loved. And you have more to start with than we did, it’s really going to look nice! Enjoy! (PS: We aren’t in an HOA, great advice from Denita about checking on that.) ETA: Just noticed your hell strip. IF you can plant there (and even want to!), I wanted to share how we did ours here — one side is quite long, so I just dug up a bed around 4-5 ft long on each side of the driveway. I planted a few drought tolerant perennials around Mexican Feather grass in the center of each one. I used stone as border in between the beds and grass. We have lots of dog walkers and they always express appreciation at what we’ve planted. :) This was in spring, by summer they’ve filled in completely. I broke this side up with a stepping stone/rock and Asian Jasmine. This was the smaller strip that meets the neighbor’s, you see we left grass on the other side. Even doing just a small section at least breaks up all the boring grass (and uses less irrigation). It’s made a big difference in curb appeal. Literally. :D

As you pull in the drive, the gate and fence should be one flat straight line in your view connecting to the side fences. That means a triangle corner of your land will be outside the gate and fence. Do a more decorative fence on that entire front line of the gate fencing that converts to the other fencing where they meet. Preferably the access for the shared well would be outside your gate and fence. If they need to get inside your fence, what is the point of a second gate? Not knowing where or how access to the shared well works, it is hard to say how a second gate might work.