'My neighbour threatened to call the police because I was mowing the lawn at 8:30pm'

16 May 2023, 11:42

By Alice Dear

The resident was left asking whether they were in the wrong for mowing the lawn on a Sunday evening.

We all know neighbour can be nightmares, with arguments about bins, grass and noise rife across the country.

However, one resident was left shocked when they received an extremely angry response from their neighbour for mowing their lawn on a Sunday evening.

Sharing their story on Reddit, the unnamed person asked whether they were in the wrong after their neighbour threatened to call the police over the disturbance.

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They explained on the forum platform that they are usually busy because they are a carer for their father who is disabled.

This is why on one Sunday they found they jumped at the chance to mow the lawn and sort out some weeds which had got out of control.

They explained that they started mowing the lawn at 5pm, and didn't end up finishing until 8:30pm as it was a big job.

However, it was just before 8:00pm that the person was met with a screaming neighbour who requested they stop as it was a Sunday and "people want to sleep".

"I didn't really hear him as I had headphones on but my mum came and told me", the person wrote: "I googled it, even though I know, [and found that] nuisance laws kick in at 11pm, [I] told her that and continued."

The story goes on: "He kept shouting at me to stop, and I eventually told him about the law and it's my house and I'll stop at 8.30pm. Obviously the whole time he was threatening to call the cops and I think he did."

The person said that at 8:30pm they stopped their garden work, as promised, even though they were not finished.

They asked on the forum whether they were in the wrong or whether their neighbour was being the unreasonable one.

An edit was later added by the poster, which explained: "Everyone is commenting on how long I was mowing for. It wasn't continuous. I de-weeded for about half an hour. And had to change my dad once and give meds etc. After 8 I did about 10 mins of mowing."

While some people thought the neighbour was out of order for complaining and getting angry, others thought that the person should not have been mowing the lawn at that time on a Sunday.

One person commented on the post: "'m probably going to be downvoted for this, but just because it's legal somewhere doesn't put you in the clear. There's something called common courtesy. No one wants their weekend spoiled by some loud noise going on for 3.5hrs."

Another wrote: "Nothing too major but 3.5 hours of lawn care noises would p**s off any neighbourhood."

However, others were quick to reassure the person that they were not in the wrong, with one person commenting on the post: "It’s the weekend. I hear lawnmowers from morning until dark somewhere in my neighbourhood. That’s what people do on weekends. To say using your mower is 'offensive' on your own property at a reasonable time is absolutely ridiculous to the point of being offensive."

A second person wrote: "As long as you are within the local guidelines (and you are), you are fine. If your neighbor is that bothered, they should take it up with the town council."

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