How do I politely get my neighbors to stop mowing my lawn?

Maybe they are just being nice but I admit it would chap my ass to have my neighbors deciding to conduct yard maintenance on my property.

I have a next door guy who every year asks if I want to cut down my oak tree (the leaves scatter on his yard) or he asks to trim my dogwoods (so he can have a panoramic view). He’s a part time resident who lkes to putter around on his riding lawnmower, so he tidies up the whole neighborhood, trimming lawns along the roads edge, sweeping up leaves and dumping them on vacant private property (not his own).

Last year I stuck in the ground several of those foil whirly twirly thingies along the property line, it’s a cheerful whimisical way of saying keep the fuck off my property. :stuck_out_tongue:

Tricky situation.

If you don’t mind spending a few hundred bucks, ask for a surveyor to come out and mark the boundaries. Leave the stakes in for a few weeks, so that they get the hint. If the neighbors ask what’s up, just tell them that you were confused as to where the boundaries were and wanted clarification in case you ever wanted to put up a shed or a fence.

If that’s not feasible, then I’d come out with a beer when I see them out, talk about the weather, sports, etc. Then I’d casually bring up that I’m confused as to where the property lines are, and even ask them to show you where they think their land ends. “Yeah, the realtor told me that this strip is mine, but you’ve been mowing it, and I feel bad because I’ve never reciprocated.”

How sure are you about the property line? Did you have a boundary survey done when you bought it? I guess I’d strike up a casual conversation about what they might think about it if you planted a row of hedges along the line.

You have to regard this situation as temporary. They will eventually move or die. They may just eventually just stop for no reason. Their lawnmower may break. Things change. Life goes on. Enjoy it while it lasts. Climate change may take your lawn like it took mine last summer. Just let it go.

OK, now I’m concerned. I always mow a couple of feet into my neighbor’s yard, and he always mows a couple of feet into mine. I’ve always assumed that we’re both being polite. Maybe I should mosey over and ask him if he’s happy with this situation sometime when we’re both outside.

(He mows his yard to a lower height than I mow mine but that doesn’t bother me.)

If you are concerned look up the adverse possession laws for your state. For many, it is not as easy as described in WhyNot’s post (not saying she’s lying because it can be) and involves paying property taxes on and having open and exclusive use of the property in question.

If they’ve been doing it since they moved in, they probably don’t know where the line is. Assuming you do for sure, then I think you can casually mention to them at some point that they’re mowing more than they have to. As nodding neighbors, the tricky bit will probably be setting up that casual encounter (maybe you can pull your mower out when they do).

Especially since they mow shorter than you, and guessing they might mow before you do in the spring, the assumed line can easily be misunderstood. As someone mentioned above, everywhere I’ve lived, whoever mows first in the spring more-or-less sets the line for the year (but we all mow to about the same length).

Somewhat on topic story:

We built our first house in a new sub-division, and had no neighbor behind us. We mowed the grass/sod that was layed down.

The lot behind us was eventually built, and the guy who lived there loved his lawn (us, not so much), and took very good care of it, up to the new sod line.

Our right-hand neighbor put in a fence, using the apparent property line. Then, he took it down and put up a new one, about four feet back. Turns out, where we all assumed the line was, was wrong. Lawn god was not happy about inheriting a strip of my crappy lawn, and we had a bit of a passive-aggressive battle (basically, I was a bit of a dick, and just stopped mowing the old strip).

Razor wire.

Both of my neighbors do this too, but I don’t mind.

They are nice folks are are just being helpful. One likes to do the whole yard at once which includes the space between our houses, plus he likes the sideways pattern he mows in as opposed to the linear pattern everyone else uses. The other is just a nice guy who extends his yard into my area a bit. Since I have such a big back yard, I don’t mind if they shave a little off the front- less work I would have to do.

If these two are ever out of town, I do their front yards for them in exchange- A big job in exchange for many, many little jobs they have done for me. I have even mowed the back of one neighbor when he was out of town, but would not feel too comfortable doing the back of the other since we are not as close and their yard is much more private and enclosed.

I’d advise not only not letting this bother you, but to appreciate it.

My neighbour (a Korean pastor) has mowed my front yard on several occasions while I was at work. I assume that he’s just being a good Christian, but I can’t help feeling it’s a criticism of my lawn care philosophy as well. And I don’t like feeling that I somehow owe him a favour in return.

Yes, I’m a grouch.

Are you people crazy? You’re helping in the wrong direction.

The solution is easy. Look over what they have in their yards. Go out and buy duplicates, but just a little larger. Two to three sets should do it.

Sneak out in the middle of the night and replace their lawn doo-dads with the slightly bigger items.

The next morning, as they’re mowing away, their sense of perspective will be off–the larger items will make them think they’re closer to their own house than they are … so they’ll mow just a bit further.

Repeat a couple times–it shouldn’t take long, because you’ve got them coming in from both sides.

Three, four weeks tops and you have your neighbours mowing your lawn for you.

As it happens, my neighbor was outside this morning, so I wandered over and asked him if he was distressed with the way I was mowing his lawn. Not only was he content with it, he told me I could mow as much of his lawn as I wanted - and while I was at it, could I walk my weed-and-feed spreader over his lawn as well?

So I guess we don’t have a problem.

Whatever you do, don’t be so polite as to be vague. My neighbors are both elderly and mobility impaired. When they first moved in, they didn’t mow for over a month. While I was doing mine, I did the strip between their sidewalk and the street. They waved and smiled and it only took me an extra 5 minutes or less. The lawn between the sidewalk and the house is behind a picket fence, so I left that be. As the summer wore on, the Mrs. would come out while I was doing that little patch, and say “You don’t have to do that.” I always replied that I was happy to do it since I was doing mine anyway. I’m usually a little slow on the uptake and the rest of the time, I’m really slow.
:slight_smile:
About the third time she said that, I realized what she MEANT was they’d prefer if I didn’t do that. So I stopped. About the time someone else was probably going to call the city, their son started mowing their grass about once a month and that’s the way it’s been ever since. We are still friendly and all is well.

Either they think those parts are theirs or they’re just being nice. I’d make a point of trying to mow those parts before they do and see if they ask you about it. If they were just doing it to be nice they’ll probably be content to let you keep doing it. If they think the property is theirs, they’ll likely ask you about it and you can fix their misunderstanding.

I think I have it… 2" high stones strategically placed on your property.

Three foot rebar driven to 2" from the ground. :slight_smile:

I think Robert Frost had the right idea:

Good fences make good neighbors.

I think people should understand the context of that quote before using it.

My particular yard is fully equipped with 2-inch-high exposed tree roots. I normally mow my lawn to somewhere around 3-to-4 inches, and the one time I tried mowing it closer to the ground those tree roots taught both me and my mower a lesson.

By mowing into your property they are creating the appearance that they have a larger piece of land. They might be doing this to impress their friends, of just for seeing their land larger then it is. the simple solution is create a physical break somewhere so it is obvious where one property ends and the other begins. That will destroy that illusion and should discourage them. Add something at the edge of your property and also in your property that matches, so that end piece is visually yours.

They could be (and you can be) confused where the property line is, but doing the above should bring that discussion up between you and your neighbor, though you may have to move the above if you are wrong.

You can reseed a area and rope it off from the property line to your house with little flags. You don’t have to do a large area, just perhaps a 20’x20’ box against the property line. It would be interesting to see if they mow around that into your property.