Neighbour cutting grass on my land.

[NotAnotherUserName5]

At the front of my house is a lawned area between me and my neighbour. It’s open planned, but all the patch of grass belongs to me.
Three times since we moved in this year, I’ve come home to find it’s been cut!

Today I was literally mowing the back and came around the front to find it done.

It’s all a bit awkward-what should I do? I don’t want to fall out with them, but it’s ours.
I don’t want them claiming in a few years time it’s theirs and being able to do so legally.

Have you spoken with them?

Put up a small fence along your boundary.

Or talk to them.

Go round and say "thanks so much for cutting my grass.." then let the conversation unfold from there.

?
Are they not just being neighbourly. We have had 3 houses with open plan gardens and we just do any extra/odd bits/neighbours when we do ours. Never tried to nick anyones garden.

I would give them a bottle of wine and say thanks but I hate cutting my grass!

He’s just helping you out. It’s obviously neater to do two adjoining pieces of grass at the same time and it saves you the effort. Go and thank him! Next time you see him ask if he would like a cup of tea. He’s not grabbed you grass, he’s just mown it.

A Keep Off The Grass sign?

They can’t claim it’s their land by mowing it a few times!! So relax and next time say thanks? I’m guessing they’re retired? So maybe one dAy you can repay the favour by helping out in their garden if they can no longer manage :)

We have a shared drive you can barely fit a car down where the middle section is grass, about 80cm wide. The neighbours lawn mower seems to cut shorter than ours, so most of the time ours does nothing to it! I think cutting half of that would be very impressive!
I think most things with neighbours can 99% of the tone be viewed as nothing specific, don't get stressed about it! Just say something British like i should be a bit quicker to beat you to cutting the front!
Maybe they feel guilty about not being neighbourly enough so they rushed out to help with the lawn mowing when they notice you at the back!

I had a neighbour who always mowed my front lawn - I was very grateful (and frequently thanked him - I HATE mowing) and it looked neater because the adjoining lawns were always the same length. He did ask me the first time though and I just looked at him like why on earth would I object and thanked him. I was disappointed when he moved area.

I wish our neighbours would have the manners to thank us for mowing our shared lawn. They're well aware it's shared too.

wowfudge maybe you live next door to the OP...

We cut our neighbours front grass the same time as ours. Looks alot nicer then we do it separately because all even at one length. Neighbour always pops head over back fence to say thank you.

Alas no: ours do nothing themselves. They seem to have no social skills or manners. We have said that from now on we'll do what suits us when it suits us. Sad really. We got on really well with their predecessors. I think we are just very different people.

We always cut the front lawn of 5 houses. Just to keep it neat - because of the shape of the road our part was the same size as the others put together.

My neighbour has brought my bins in for 7 years.

They might just be nice people. :)

If it was shared then I would say let him do it. If it's your land then I can understand why it's pissing you off a bit. Shared land / unclear boundaries are often a source of stress.

Is there something in the deeds to say you can't fence it off? If not I would do that if it bothers you. Or could you plant a border etc so that it looks like part of your garden?

wowfudge are you my neighbour mine have taken it upon themselves to have complete control over how my gardens look whilst I’ve been seriously ill (cervical cancer) and unable to do them every week to their standards! Cut all of my trees down and I can see the branches in bags on their outside table. Weird message they’re sending. Most people are just trying to be nice and see it as doing you a favour OP but some just want things to be their way like my NDNs

I don't know what to make of that comment @goldhen.

What you should do is say thank you, and see if there is something neighbourly you can do for them at some point - be that take in parcels, put the bins back, or take round some produce from your garden.

What an odd question.

Just get yours and his first, next time. Turn it into a reciprocal thing because that is the best kind of neighbourly arrangement.

They may be doing it to help you out but equally they may be seeing it as you are making their property look bad therefore they have to do it. I would thank them nicely and tell them that you don't always like the manicured look so they shouldn't feel obliged to do it.

Our old neighbours used to mow the strip between our drive and their lawn, they’d always done it before we moved in.
When they sold up we dug the strip up and planted it, before the new owners moved in. Apart from improving the garden, it defined the boundary.

His fair share we have equal leisure time and if I dropped dead he could run the house and look after them as well as I could.

Anyone who feels like doing our garden / lawn is most welcome.

I would just say thanks though maybe take it as a hint to do it quicker next time. Can't take your garden by just mowing it.