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First, I admit this is such a silly question I can't believe I'm asking it.
I'm a first time homeowner, and so is my new neighbor next door. Our property boundary is such that there's a triangle of land next to their driveway and my front yard that kind of angles toward their house, but is part of their yard. I noticed that they just mowed their front yard (they are the corner lot) but left the triangle.
So, I'm not sure they realize it's theirs and they're probably wondering why I let that part of my yard get so overgrown (the last owner of my house used a lawn service, which didn't mow their part, and the lawn is so far nice on my side).
The answer I suppose is to go talk to them but I want to mow today.
So -
--should I just go ahead and mow their part? It's kind of a pain because it's just out of the reach of my long cord, but I think I can get to it. I don't really mind, but -
--if I go ahead and mow their part, is that rude?
If they end up wanting me to just do it so it matches in height, that's fine. I'm there anyway (as long as the cord can get there).
A friend of mine thinks I should just mow it because it seems petty to leave this strip (maybe four feet at the widest part, maybe 10 feet long). But - it's their property?
...there's a triangle of land next to their driveway and my front yard that... is part of their yard.
they just mowed their front yard but left the triangle.
So, I'm not sure they realize it's theirs...
The answer I suppose is to go talk to them but...
1) yes, always talk to the neighbor.
2) I have one of those corners too... we tend to both mow it.
(but neither of us has short cord issues)
It's really nice to have neighbors who aren't territorial about a little patch of land. In my childhood home, the neighbors owned about 2 feet on our side of their driveway. Our yard was very large. This house had a huge turnover for whatever reason. In the 30 years my parents owned the house, we mowed all the way up to their driveway. It made sense. They didn't want to bother mowing 2' x the length of a very long driveway that went from the street down to the back of the house. It looked better having it the same height as the grass in our yard too. (After all, who wants to highlight that they only own 2'?) BUT there was one homeowner who was very territorial and was always out there mowing that 2'. It's not like there was a war. We'd see him out there and just laugh.
At my current home, our neighbors have a 5' x 22' section of land that isn't accessible from their yard. It's on the other side of their garage and fence. They would literally need to bring their lawnmower up our front steps to reach this little patch of land they own. It also truly does look like our property. We've been mowing that for the 20 years I've lived here, and hubby was moving it for over a decade prior. I always think of that crazy neighbor in my childhood home and pray someone like that doesn't move in next door. Then it would be a war because we would not want him trying to carry a lawnmower up our concrete steps for liability reasons. Fortunately, our neighbors sold their home to their son so we are assured another generation of peace that will probably last our lifetime.
Yes, talk to your neighbor. They might not realize it's their land. Definitely be willing to cut it if that makes sense aesthetically.
Thanks both! It does make sense to just do it. I'm guessing they don't realize.
It's funny, on the other side there's one of those long strips of grass between driveways, maybe a foot wide. That neighbor goes by his fence line, but his fence is actually about a half foot over on to my yard, I noticed on my survey. I really don't care because my driveway extends there anyway. The funny thing is that they will rake that long strip, but only half of it. I came out one morning to find a neat line of leaves running down it. It looked completely ridiculous.
It turns out the whole strip is on my property, but I raked the whole thing anyway before I knew that! Surely it takes more time to eye the fence line and cut off the raking than to just move your arm another six inches and rake :-P
When we lived in a that type of situation, if I was out mowing, I just mowed the neighbors lawn too and if they were mowing they mowed ours. the hassle was getting the mower out and then cleaning it, mowing a few extra feet of lawn was irrelevant. It worked out well.
I had a corded electric mower for a while but I hated it. Every time someone tried to do me a favor and mow the lawn they ended up hitting the cord. Extension cords get expensive after a while, so I bought a gas mower. The electric one did not do well in tall, thick, or wet grass anyway.
My brother has a cordless electric riding mower. That thing is pretty neat, but you cannot mess around. Although it has decent power, the batteries drain pretty quickly.
I'm kind of in the same situation. My neighbors driveway is about 8 feet from the side of my garage with grass between. When I mow I mow to his driveway. When he mows he mows to my garage. Never realy talked to him about it. It's just something we have done for many years. Our mowing times seem to be pretty close together so whoever goes first just mows that strip of grass. And in the fall when we are raking leaves we always rake the strip also.
The property line is about the middle of the strip but neither one of us pays any attention to that.
My situation is similar. My old neighbor and I would just overlap where we cut the grass. He moved and the new neighbor hired a guy who uses a riding mower. His goal is to cut the grass as quickly as possible and he has decided the property line moved about 10 feet. There is an area by the neighbors mailbox that he can't mow easily with the riding mower so he leaves it. In the back yard the grass is thin and he will mow when it is wet and rip up my yard.
I've mentioned this to the new neighbors and the guy who mows their grass but nothing ever changed.
He also convinced the neighbor they need fertilizer and weed killer, but he stops 10 feet short of the property line in the front yard. When I applied fertilizer up to the property line, it was obvious that this 10 foot wide section from the street to between the houses was not treated.
I finally gave up, and cut and fertilize at least 10-12 feet into the neighbor's property.
Didn't you have a survey done before you closed on the house. Stakes/markers would have been put up to truly show the lot lines. If it becomes an issue, not even a reason to talk. Just point!
But since you have the mower out anyway, just do it.
Didn't you have a survey done before you closed on the house. Stakes/markers would have been put up to truly show the lot lines. If it becomes an issue, not even a reason to talk. Just point!
But since you have the mower out anyway, just do it.
I'm not the one who doesn't know the property boundary. It's my neighbor, who bought their house after mine. I had a survey, but I don't know if they did.
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