bringing back bermuda

Ouch!

Is there any of it left? Hard to tell in the pic. I'm pretty sure what the US calls Bermuda we call Couch grass, lots of low skinny runners, happy to go under and over anything, but makes a lovely tough lawn? It should still be around under the sand, under the sheds even, depending how long they've been there, and giving it some air and water will have it popping up in a week. After that, I'd suggest you reseed major bare patches and topdress those. In a few weeks, you'd have a better idea of the overall condition.

We have a reasonable amount of couch cover in the front paddock - our place was empty for three months over a very dry spring/summer and after we moved in there was some autumn rain, but I didn't irrigate the paddock at all. The grass sits more or less in stasis till it rains then kicks off again. So hopefully you have grass there just waiting for some TLC.

Thank you for your reply.

Pretty much what you see IS what is left; little tufts here and there.  That's the thing I really like about Bermuda is that it can't really be "killed" and with some TLC it can come back.  With it being as bad as it is I'm hoping there is a fertilizer or something I can accelerate the process.  Also, I'm in San Diego so my soil clay.

Sorry but it it needs watering to keep it alive isn't it better to grow something else? or nothing at all. Throwing good water onto grass seems a criminal waste to me.

If that is what we call couch grass it will be back, but to get anything looking nice this year you'll need to reseed.

If you have clay it's probably easier to get it going again with a couple of light soaks, the aerating will help with that. I'd add some Seasol/seaweed solution too before any actual fertiliser, let it come up and see what you have to work with. If you end up adding new seed hold off on fertilising till that's up. Good luck with it.

I am not sure how an absentee owner can deal with bringing back bermudagrass.

I have planted a lot of bermudagrass in my lifetime and it takes a lot of work.

My only suggestion would be reseeding and watering or using sod and watering.  Would the renters be up to that?

Maybe something in the rental contract that they maintain the lawn?

I am over there every other day working on the upper part of the yard.  The tenant insisted on taking responsibility for the landscaping, saying he had a "guy" for that.  So I said ok and look what happened!  Because he took control of it I can use his deposit towards the landscaping.  But it won't cover all of it, including other things I have noticed, so I'm going to try and use him for as much labor as possible.  This house is literally 800 steps from the one I live in.