If you don't mow it, they will....

[Steve]

If you don't mow your lawn, the town will! I have heard towns handing out fines for not maintaining your property but the this town will actually mow your lawn and then bill you $300!!!! How is that possible? How is that not trespassing? Crazy! Have you ever heard of this? Residents keeping up with their lawns - Codes office can levy fine if grass isn't kept in order - If the city gets a complaint about an overgrown yard, someone from the codes office will visit the property, O'Brien said. After seeing what the lawns looks like - and sometimes taking photographs to document it - codes enforcement officers will attempt to contact the property owner, he added. “We give them a short period to respond, then if we don't hear from them, order the mow,” O'Brien said. If the city public works employees have to mow the lawn the property owner gets a bigger bill - $300 - than they would if they took care of it themselves. The fee is charged to the property, so the city gets its money back. It would rather not have to deal with the problem however, O'Brien said.

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[myrlin]

Lawn care business tips

It does seem crazy, but it's true. Here in Florida, our County will fine you if your lawn is not kept up especially if they receive complaints. Actually today we received a call from someone asking if we could mow their lawn because code compliance had posted a notice on their door. They had to have it mowed by Monday or they would be fined. My husband did mow it. Most of the lawn was 2 foot high! Also, if you own a vacant lot and don't maintain it, some areas here will have the County mow it and then charge the homeowner. Myrlin

[kc2006]

I used to be the guy out there doing that

We used to get a minimum of $150 for the average 5000 sq ft lot. Most places were way more though. We used to get to these places when the grass was about 2-3' tall so we'd end up telling the neighbors (who would come and yell at us that we should be maintaining the yard weekly???) to call the township when the grass would get to 6-9" and by the time they send us out it'll be at the one foot mark which is where we were legally supposed to go in at.

One time we got to a property and the guy came out with a bat, the owner of the company was with me at the time and ended up having to call the police and have them stand and watch as we mowed.

[Steve]

What happens if the yard is gated and locked? Would the lock be cut to mow the lawn?

We have a $45 fee here that the city issues. They first give a warning, and the resident has like 10 days to mow it, if they don't mow it then the city mows it. And then if the person doesn't want to pay the bill it will be assessed as a lien on their property.

Another local city around here does it for $85.

[kc2006]

I used to have to cut locks for locks or chain link fences (cut the little metal clips that hold the link to the pipes and then use zip ties to put it back in place), we had to pull out screws/nails and remove a 8' section of wooden privacy fence a few times. Most of the time the houses are just abandoned so they weren't locked, but we'd open it up to get the mowers back there.

The township would just take the fee we charged onto the property owners tax so we always got paid.

[myrlin]

I am not sure what our county charges for the fine. I know they do warn you first and if you don't take care of it, you are in violation and have to go before the county commissioners and are assessed the fine.

I am not sure what they do if there is a locked gate.

[Steve]

And these weren't even home owner associations?

[shadrach]

here it is 10" and the fine is around $150. Seems like it is more of an issue because of all the foreclosures & houses that people walked away from.

[SouthallMowing]

Here in Waverly, City Council made this law last year. If it's overgrown, they will send you an official notice by mail. Then some time later, in person, then the PD comes and issues you a citation. However, the ONLY time it's ever happened was when a client of mine, a realtor, who was renting his house out noticed that the grass hasn't been cut for about a month. So he calls me and we agreed to our old price (from last year) and we showed up to mow. No one is there when we roll up. As soon as my ZTR touches the lawn about 8 people came out of that house. One, I recognized, why? Because I picked his brother up on the squad because he beat his brother about half to death. About this time, I didn't even confront them, just put the mower back in the trailer, locked the trailer up, had my helper go call the PD and the landlord. PD gets there with two units, and all heck breaks loose. OVER A FREE MOWING TO THEM!!!! End of story, they got a $100 ticket for not having lawn kept up, and I got to make $35 from it cause they retained the guy til I was done mowing. That's the only time the a lawn in town has been an issue.