<p>Does anyone else remember the tv show or maybe it was a movie…where someone had old toilets delivered to someone’s front lawn?</p>
<p>I would not report a neighbor for overgrown grass but I would offer to cut it.</p>
<p>That was The Help.^</p>
<p>I would call town hall on such a situation (completely unkepmt lawn) but first I’d have to know the reason. I’d only call if it was due to laziness and it was an ongoing problem. The neighbor in this case is clearly being thoughtless so I doubt that a ‘neighborly chat’ would be motivating. </p>
<p>A person who is having health issues and the like would be treated completely differently.</p>
<p>That said, I’ve never done this but thankfully, I’ve never needed to. My neighbors all keep up with the mowing reasonably well. A skipped week, esp when we’ve had a lot of rain, is never cause for alarm.</p>
<p>When my sister-in-law’s lawn gets too long she reports it to all of us, via registered letters. In her words her house is no longer livable because the grass is so long and she can’t mow it herself is because her head will explode. (Yes, she’s crazy).</p>
<p>We have a Property Maintenance Dept . Why does everyone assume that these houses are filled with sick and elderly people ? In fact most have 40 something people who don’t care about their yard . I do not feel sorry for them . They are healthy and able bodied,just lazy . One guy almost lives at a girlfriend’s and never comes home . After getting the summons he cut his whole lawn with a weed whacker ! I do nice things as well . I donated an upright piano to a family who said they wished they had a piano . I buy Girl Scout cookies and wrapping paper from our local elementary school .</p>
<p>I don’t “assume” anything about my neighbors. I get to know them. It just so happens that the two unkempt yards that I can think of (within 2 blocks) are sick and elderly people. And we live in a friendly place where folks help one another by helping out.Strange but true. That’s probably why we don’t have any HOA rules or a resident yard policing force.</p>
<p>You asked the question(“do you report neighbors who don’t maintain their front yard?”)…some of us just answered with big NO.</p>
<p>I have never owned a house on less than 2 acres, or in a subdivision, or in a place with an HOA, or on a street with sidewalks, or in a place where a “developer” built all of the houses. Perhaps that’s why I find the idea of grass-cutting ordinances completely foreign.</p>
<p>BTW, Ema, it is not that houses in these areas were not well kept or ramshackle and poor. Quite the reverse, considering that my first two houses were in Southern Fairfield County. (Well, actually, our first house really WAS a bit of a shack, but it was down the street from David Letterman. 
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<p>I think that the kind of towns we have in New England, where there is a mixture of houses built across a couple hundred years, often with 2-4 acre zoning, are rare to non-existent in most other parts of the country.</p>
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<p>This is exactly what the area that I grew up in is like (also in CT although a different part of the state) and I think that’s part of why the question is making me go “what?” There were about 15 feet minimum of woods and a broken down stone wall between our yard and the neighbors’. We’d have to really be paying attention to see what state their grass was in and it really wouldn’t affect us. Across the street, obviously, we could see, but that also wouldn’t affect us.</p>
<p>I still can’t imagine calling anyone to complain. Yeah, it might bring down property value, but it is their yard, and there are things that people do legally on their property that annoy me much more. For example, I have a neighbor that sits outside to smoke, and the smoke wafts into my basement apartment through the window. Super annoying, but I don’t think I can do anything except close my window.</p>
<p>We live in a neighborhood in which the properties are right next to each other–the lawns connect, there is no fence, no wooded area. If your next-door neighbor lets his yard go to pot, that has a direct impact on the value of your own lot. Of course, if it’s a sick or elderly person, you’re not going to call the SWAT team. But if it’s somebody who just doesn’t care and won’t respond to a friendly request, then I see nothing wrong with reporting them if there is some authority that can do something about it. Here, that behavior by a neighbor could literally cost you tens of thousands of dollars when you go to sell your house.</p>
<p>Our lots are similar to hunts. Some of the neighborhoods we have looked at, the houses are about 30 feet apart and their lawns connect-- that is considered spacious. Most of the homes are a lot closer together than that, and also nothing in between. I’ve never seen a neighborhood with wooded areas in between the lots, these must be much bigger lots than what I am picturing! I think that would be a much different situation than when the houses are all slapped together. I could stand at the edge of my property and sneeze on my neighbors house. Their ugly yard is in my face ALL THE TIME. If the lots were bigger with things in between… well, I can’t even picture a neighborhood like that to know for sure what it’d look like, but I can much more easily imagine not caring what the neighbors yard looks like.</p>
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I’m really skeptical that your neighbor’s unmowed lawn could cost you tens of thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>In my neighborhood, there are those who have landscapers and those who do their own lawns. One end of the cul de sac kind of looks like crap, but as long as the grass isn’t long enough to attract snakes that will slither into my yard, I say let it go</p>
<p>My yard was the source of complaints before we bought it because the house was for sale for two years before we bought it and the lawn was not very pretty. Not to mention the iron stains from the sprinkler system with un-treated well water</p>
<p>I forgot to add that my next door neighbor is in the process of forclosure and it is a source of worry what will happen to that lawn</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand what buying Girl Scout cookies or donating a piano has to do with this issue.</p>
<p>I would not report one of my neighbors unless there was a health or safety issue. And even then…I would most definitely talk to the neighbor to offer help with the yard work.</p>
<p>I’d like to move to the Happyland that some of you live in. If I can sell my house, that is.</p>
<p>We have a property owners’ association in the subdivision–have to sign covenants. I remember H being contacted shortly after we closed on house–the sellers’ agent lives next door, and she told us to get the lawn cut–it wasn’t even that long, nowhere near 12". I was sort of put out by this since we closed before we could move in. We talked to our agent about it–her teenage son had a lawn-mowing business and was happy to do the job. There are always kids putting out notices for “lawn mowing-$25” around here. Maybe you could leave a lawn service card/flyer on their porch? </p>
<p>Another neighbor on the cul-de-sac, single mom with 2 girls, did not maintain her house. I heard others complaining about it, but figured with the bad economy, etc. she couldn’t afford a new roof, exterior paint, etc. Someone probably reported her after a couple years, because she got all the work done at once–looks like a new house. I think the association will contact someone who doesn’t follow the rules, so the one who reports doesn’t need to feel bad or worry about retaliation. There are plenty of bad lawns on our street (single mom’s is 100% dandelions–doesn’t bother me a bit, since mine was about 50% dandelions last year). One neighbor is OCD, the other is a slacker. I started treating and weeding mine this spring, and it is a little better. We have some internationals on our street who really let their lawns go–I think they may be out of the country for long periods of time, or it may be that American suburban lawn maintenance is something they don’t really understand. One woman told me that she grows the dandelions to make “green smoothies” for her husband’s diet! I just MYOB. Anything that’s really bad makes mine look better. I wouldn’t report ANYTHING unless it was a health hazard. (Next door neighbor put up fence too high/against covenants. Why would I care about that? More privacy for me. )</p>
<p>Im a little surprised that so many whove posted here dont care what the neighborhood looks like. The appearance of the neighborhood was one of the top, if not the, most important reason we decided that we wanted to live there. And unsightly lawns in a suburban area are NOT attractive and will definitely affect property values if left that way for a long time (a week or two is not a big deal).</p>
<p>And yes of course if the home owner is sick or something, we would offer to help. But if the person just doesnt feel like doing it, why should we? What if they start leaving trash on the property do we then step in and take care of that too?</p>
<p>When people move into a neighborhood where the norm is a neatly trimmed lawn, then they should try to keep theirs the same in keeping with the overall appearance of the area. If thats not important to them, I can certainly respect that, but then perhaps they should have bought a house in a more rural area where the natural look is appropriate.</p>
<p>Perhaps we all live in different types of neighborhoods. I guess if I had woods and stone walls separating my house from the others, it might make less of a difference. But in our suburban area, an uncut lawn looks like hell.</p>
<p>Recently, my neighbor (2 doors down) decided to pave a second parking spot on his small, grassy front yard, so that he can park more cars on his lawn. This is in addition to the long, 3-car driveway on one side, and 4-car driveway on other side. There is also a very un-attractive carport on the back side of this corner lot.</p>
<p>He also decided that he would erect one of those gazebos on what is left of his front lawn. Under it, there is a gas grill(!), and covered glider. Oh, and he surrounded the gazebo area with a tacky white-picket fence. UGGHH!!</p>
<p>Ooooh, I didn’t even mention he burns refuse every other day, which means I cannot open my windows for fresh air. And, he lets his (barking) dog out at 4:30 am every day.</p>
<p>And, in case someone wonders why I don’t report him to the town: he works for them. :(</p>
<p>This is where one of those dreaded HOA’s would of helped you. We have to submit plans for approval to the board for any changes like that that. The application must include a blueprint of all plans as well as all surrounding neighbors signatures giving their approval. It makes one very hesitant to irritate their neighbor (or allow your dog or kids to do so for that matter).</p>
<p>I reported one of my neighbors once, but not because of their lawn. It was a family living there, with one of the grandfathers too. Grandpa, from the old country, decides to add to their fence by lining up pieces of cardboard, plywood, and other trash he has picked up from around the neighborhood. It looked just awful and it was on our shared property line. </p>
<p>I called the county and they said it they would note it as “trash in the yard” and send them a warning. The trash fence disappeared around two weeks later.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t report anyone for having extra long grass though, it doesn’t seem like much of an offense. I have one neighbor is very OCD and another who is slacker, like atomom has. I would like things to be neat, but those ultra-neat pro lawns bug me too. They are actually quite sterile. I’d rather see more beautiful gardens and flowers.</p>