Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 13, 2012 4:53 pm It's 6 o'clock on a Friday night and I'm reading a stupid letter from Council asking me to mow my backyard. This wonderful neighbour has made a complaint to Council again. I mow my nature strip and front yard obviously. But isn't backyard supposed to be a private space? Why do I keep getting stupid neighbours and Council staff walking down my driveway to take photos of my backyard?? Council says I violated local law. I found it online, see below: 38. UNSIGHTLY PROPERTY 1. An owner or occupier must not allow such premises to be in a condition which Is unsightly or detrimental to the general amenity of the neighbourhood.- This neighbour must be kidding me. A overgrown backyard has detrimental effect on the neighbourhood? It's called "BACK"yard for a reason, right? Can someone share their view on this? Can Council force me to mow my BACKyard? Cheers! Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 3Jan 13, 2012 5:22 pm to clarify: It hasn't been mown for 3 weeks. Council is only asking to mow because neighbour complained. It will be a stretch to say it's a fire risk though...it's a 600sqm block. Council quoted the local law which says unsightly premise...the issue is I don't think it can be seen unless someone is trespassing my property Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 4Jan 13, 2012 5:47 pm wow seems really harsh! We haven't mowed our backyard for over 6 months due to renovating. Just getting it seen too now. The weeds are over 4 metres high! Does the neighbour look down on your property or are they trying to sell? 3 weeks is standard between mowing imo. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 5Jan 13, 2012 6:03 pm The Council would normally check before sending a notice. Is it a genuine letter from your council? I would ring the council on monday if u believe the request is out of order. If its only been 3 weeks I would dispute it. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 6Jan 13, 2012 7:05 pm Plenty of over grown council lawn anywhere and everywhere.... http://lindeman28.blogspot.com - Our building blog Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 7Jan 13, 2012 9:06 pm Your kidding right. Post up a pic of the yard so we can see what it looks like. As has been said, i would call the council to ensure its genuine and if it is ask them to drop by when you are home as you would like to discuss it. Explain your situation to them and see what they say Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 8Jan 14, 2012 1:48 am Letter prolly came from the neighbor pretending to be the council. With a cheap color laser printer and a rudimentary photoshop skills, any 5 year old can fake a letterhead. 13-08 Moved in 13-05 Build restart 13-04 VMIA compensation 12-08 Builder liquidation 12-03 Fixing 11-12 Lockup 11-11 Frame 11-09 Slab 11-09 Start 11-07 Contract 10-11 2K deposit 10-06 Titled land Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 9Jan 14, 2012 5:14 am As above said how do they actually look in to your backyard? Do you have a fence still to go up etc? They do this in our area and quote snakes and fire as the risk. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 10Jan 14, 2012 6:07 am what local government area are you in? are you in a new estate? Project History Deposit - 20/4/2010 Land Settled - 20/8/2010 Council - 30/9/2010 Slab - 17/11/2010 Bricks - 28/01/2011 Roof - 5/02/2011 Gyprock - 4/03/2011 Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 11Jan 14, 2012 11:14 am You say that you mow the front yard & nature strip so why don't you mow the back yard while your at it, or is it that bad that you can't get a mower in there. Post a pic so we can all see as it seems strange that the council would go to that extreme if it's not that bad apparently. A bank is a place that will lend you money only if you can prove that you don't need it... Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 12Jan 14, 2012 11:40 am Between fires and snakes, it should be kept low anyway. I've lived nextdoor to people that didn't maintain their gardens and yes we did have snakes in our garden. And the weeds all went to seed and infested us despite us keeping ours maintained. It's just rude if you ask me. How can you live with that? It's your home! God, if you're cutting the front, cut the back too. That's just lazy. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 13Jan 14, 2012 1:35 pm Yer, show us a picture. I know that the Council would not send a letter unless it was really bad. because it would have 2 b seen and unsafe. Being in the backyard I find it hard 2 believe that they would waste their time coming out to look at it and then send a letter unless they thought it was deemed 2 b unsightly or a hazard. If its a case of a whining neighbour the Council would not issue a notice. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 14Jan 14, 2012 2:25 pm *MrsG* Between fires and snakes, it should be kept low anyway. I've lived nextdoor to people that didn't maintain their gardens and yes we did have snakes in our garden. And the weeds all went to seed and infested us despite us keeping ours maintained. It's just rude if you ask me. How can you live with that? It's your home! God, if you're cutting the front, cut the back too. That's just lazy. 3 weeks ...lol calm down lady. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 15Jan 14, 2012 11:42 pm If its not a fire risk they can go plow themselves. Snakes is a poor excuse, they are native australian animals and you guessed it, live in Australia. Don't like them, move to NZ. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 16Jan 15, 2012 9:20 am yanchenw It's 6 o'clock on a Friday night and I'm reading a stupid letter from Council asking me to mow my backyard. This wonderful neighbour has made a complaint to Council again. What has the neighbour complained about before? I mow my nature strip and front yard obviously. But isn't backyard supposed to be a private space? Why do I keep getting stupid neighbours and Council staff walking down my driveway to take photos of my backyard?? Council says I violated local law. I found it online, see below: 38. UNSIGHTLY PROPERTY 1. An owner or occupier must not allow such premises to be in a condition which Is unsightly or detrimental to the general amenity of the neighbourhood.- This neighbour must be kidding me. A overgrown backyard has detrimental effect on the neighbourhood? It's called "BACK"yard for a reason, right? Can someone share their view on this? Can Council force me to mow my BACKyard? Cheers! Is your property new? Did it used to get annual letters when it was just a block of land for clearing? Therefore now not necessary? 3 weeks growth - isn't enough to be classified a problem, usually it's more like a years worth and issued around summer time Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 17Jan 19, 2012 3:23 pm We had a neighbour up the road who had long grass on his naturestrip, front and backyard. Council (Stonnington) tried to make him mow it due to it being a fire risk. He got Channel 9 out, saying the grasses were native and that was how they grew and it was his right to be able to have them, and that everyone was out to get him - did I mention that he was a complete nutter? Anyway, that was 5 odd years ago and as far as I know, all that grass is still there! "Whoever says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain!" Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 18Feb 12, 2012 11:09 pm Maybe I should send Phil a letter to mow our lawns more often? Maybe I could also send him one to wash the dishes. . . and cook, clean, etc. Maybe I should just go to bed! nighty nights. Re: Do I have to mow my backyard, seriously? 19Feb 13, 2012 7:33 pm Personally I mow my lawn as often as possible - and quite regularly that means twice a week, not only does it look good, but mowing it is what keeps it healthy and keeps the weeds out. With that said, I think it's a bit rude that the council feel the need to step in after only 3 weeks... However, I'm not sure what part of the country you're in, but the east cost has had a stupid amount of rain in the last month or so, which means in 3 weeks your lawn would be incredibly long, and desperate for a mow. Better post a pic... There are just too many variables!! DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair That laser level looks lovely! We bought one for less than a quarter of that price off eBay. It worked really well for us and it's still going now, five years later. After… 1 16711 It's possible but a soak well is usually much larger. Your 'soak well' only holds 424 litres when full. What is your soil type? Soak wells need sandy soils. 10 9007 Need advice on the backyard plan above. Should I excavate and cut all of the dirt to level with the house slab or semi-excavate as per photo above? Both left and right… 0 24862 |