Complaints about my garden - am I required by law to keep it tidy?

Flearoy

kungfuman wrote: »

I live in a semi detached house and in the past year or so, due to work commitments abroad, I've not been able to keep my garden tidy. The grass hasnt been cut in over a year:embarasse.

I have no idea if there are any laws that require you to keep it tidy, but I think you should spare a thought to anyone who is worried about the value of their house in the event of needing to remortgage or sell at present - sellers don't need any factors to drive price down any further at the moment, and a mess of a front garden next door would put me off if I was looking to buy a house. Bearing that in mind, it might not be that unreasonable for your neighbour to act as they did.

pollypenny

Why not be neighbourly? Cut your grass or pay to have it cut and be nice. You never know when you might need the help or friendship of one of these neighbours.

donmaico

pollypenny wrote: »

Why not be neighbourly? Cut your grass or pay to have it cut and be nice. You never know when you might need the help or friendship of one of these neighbours.

whilst i agree with the sentiment it would be very difficult to be so after he was so aggressive to him.There are ways of approaching ppl and that is not one of them

missile

I wouldn't like to live next to a house where the garden has not been tended for over a year

my plan is in the next year or so

I was planning to pave the front garden so it'll be wasted time

If your neighbours don't like it too bad, I'm all right Jack.

longforgotten

What happened to 'if you can't saying anything good say nothing'

It amazes me when people think they can get a result by being outspoken and rude with it.

Weedkiller is good

sunshinetours

donmaico wrote: »

whilst i agree with the sentiment it would be very difficult to be so after his was so aggressive to him.There are ways of approaching ppl and that is not one of them

Probably moreso it would be difficult after he has been so unneighbourly by letting his garden become a jungle. Some people are just selfish, bottom line

I would imagine the aggressive approach was as a result of frustration from the lack of care by OP. There is no excuse IMO

27col

The op has a definite touch of "lack of any idea of civic pride" about him. Just because he is not there he appears not to give a toss about the concerns of others, who do live there. Mind you, he is not alone in having that attitude, as many on these forums already know. There seem to be a large number of people with a similar attitude, even though they do live in the house causing the offence.

sheslookinhot

Given that your embarrassed about it, not without reason, why not cut it rather than wasting time posting questions on an internet forum. It should take no more than an hour. Then you will not be embarrassed

donmaico

sunshinetours wrote: »

Probably moreso it would be difficult after he has been so unneighbourly by letting his garden become a jungle. Some people are just selfish, bottom line

I would imagine the aggressive approach was as a result of frustration from the lack of care by OP. There is no excuse IMO

yes but its his garden and not theirs.The worst one can say is it looks an eyesore.There are plenty such derelict gardens owned by ppl who have no interest in gardening or the means to maintain them and as long as they dont breed vermin there is nothing we can do about them.I know one thing , if someone approached me in an aggressive fashion instead of being civil, I would NOT collaborate.

longforgotten

We're talking about some long grass here.........if the OP had a rusty clapped out car would you want him to replace that too so as not to lower the tone of the area. How about people who have lots of gnomes in the garden. Tacky christmas lights maybe unwelcome.

I'm afraid I think for the sake of some long grass the neighbour should have kept his opinion to himself and be grateful it was not something worse !

Next time sprinkle some wildflower seed in the grass and perhaps that would be perceived as being OK.

Anyway come to think of it, if the OP works abroad how come a good neighbour did not offer to mow it for him ! ??