Hey Ozbargainers,
Just want to gain an insight on the above topic.
I have been told by a couple of people that I cannot put artificial lawn on council nature strip, however anywhere else on my property it is fine.
Is this true and if it is why?
FYI my property is in Brisbane.
Thanks.
To be fair, he didn't have any self respect to start with.
AFAIK (my experience in NSW) the front nature strip (footpath) is still council property. So any plants/trees/grass is council. I am open to be corrected.
Yes it's not private property and is considered "road reserve". But pretty much every council in Australia encourages residents to mow/maintain the road reserve adjacent to their property. They will only come and mow it if it is a safety issue. Some councils issue permits for planting vegetation or gardens in the road reserve, but Brisbane City merely has guidelines which I've linked below.
everywhere i've lived in sydney it has been mowed by someone other than myself, I assumed they were from the council as they would keep going all the way up the street
Wow okay that's interesting. Doesn't work that way in QLD. And you're talking about houses, not unit buildings?
the guys don't discriminate, they do the whole street regardless of the type of property.
You are correct.
When I lived in Brizzy there was a guy down the street who did it and even had an article about it in the local rag. He spent 1000s on it.
However the Council has some verge garden guidelines which state that:
The use of non-organic materials such as loose gravel, crushed brick or other stone aggregate is not permitted. The use of any hard landscaping materials or irrigation systems is also not permitted
https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/20160908…
You might want to phone/email BCC to ask if "hard landscaping materials" prohibits artificial grass.
Is this true
Yes
and if it is why?
"Council strip" is not your property. Check your land title.
However, it is your duty to maintain it.
Yes it is true, as others have said, it is part of Council's road reserve
It is done for risk and public liability reasons
You will need to check your Council's encroachment policy. Some are more lenient than others
Thank you everyone for your responses.
What annoys me is that I have to maintain it even though council never actually placed proper lawn on the property to begin with. When we built on the land it was cleared site, we never actually got to landscape the front as most of the house was concrete. We even concreted the back to avoid maintenance costs.
The front of the house (verge) has now been infested with weeds and no grass actually grows anymore. I know it is council property and I understand that the council won't look after it. Therefore i would like to replace it with Artificial Lawn. But from everyone's response this seems to be a "no go".
Have you contacted council and raised this concern with them?
yep about 2 weeks ago, still waiting for a written response via email.
I don't see why it's a "no go". No one has found any law or document which prohibits it, and I know for a fact there is/was at least one house in Brizzy with fake turf on the verge. The only thing is the guidelines which I linked above.
Still, fake turf is expensive and it's actually quite ugly compared to real grass IMHO.
If you want a nice verge, just spray some week killer. Then plant some grass seeds, right? Then find a used hand-powered push mower on Gumtree to mow the verge. Otherwise you're within your rights to keep it as is.
If any neighbour thinks your verge is ugly, you can say they're welcome to plant grass and maintain it.
Lol good advice and I wish it was that simple.
The new artificial lawns are quite realistic. You would be surpised, I was when I started researching them.
As for planting seeds and killing weeds, well i have been doing this with very little success. The weeds have one, it is the only thing that grows!
Try with Sir Walter buffalo grass. Very tough and resilient. About $10/sqm if you lay it yourself. Artificial grass is a lot more expensive if you want the good stuff. And it is not self cleaning so you have to vacuum it. Let alone dealing with presents from people with dogs that do not pick up…
council never actually placed proper lawn on the property to begin with.
Council doesn't place lawn on the nature strip. It is the developer who does that (or you if you bought the land from the developer).
cool I did not know that. either way the developer did not put down grass on the nature strip.
Yeah, that's unfortunate for you. :(
Developers always looking to cut corners…
you could still do it but just be prepared that they might tell you to remove it, but its not like they drive around trying to spot it and they would probably only become aware if a complaint is made.
Imagine if the postie or someone tripped/slipped on your turf, the council would direct all the lawyers straight to you.
Salim Mehajer had same problem. was forced to rip it up, just like his marriage license………..and self respect!