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City of Wollongong
Resident Visitor Business

Council does not usually mow private land, or footpaths or road reserves next to private property. Residents are expected to look after these areas.

In some cases, we can investigate reports of overgrown land and / or take enforcement action to make sure properties are maintained to a reasonable standard that does not pose a health and safety risk to adjoining properties.

What is considered overgrown land?

Land is not automatically considered overgrown just because it’s untidy.

For Council to investigate a property as overgrown, these conditions must be met:

  1. The property must be in a residential zone (R1, R2, R3, R4, R5).
  2. More than 50% of the land must be overgrown to a height of at least 0.5 metres.
  3. The overgrown vegetation must be directly impacting you, and either:
    1. within 10 metres of your dwelling, or
    2. within 5 metres of your property boundary.
  4. Detailed information / evidence must be provided to show how the overgrown land impacts you, or that vermin is living in the vegetation.

Note that we will not respond to reports where:

  • The above conditions are not met – even if the land looks untidy or contains noxious weeds.
  • The vegetation is in a rural or industrial area.
  • The vegetation is close to a green corridor, environmentally sensitive land, bushland or an urban water course.
  • The overgrowth is native vegetation protected under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 or the Native Vegetation Act 2003.
  • The request relates to potential fire risk. These types of reports can be sent to NSW Rural Fire Service.

Reporting overgrown land

Before you report overgrown land to Council, please read the above information carefully.

We encourage you to try and solve the problem by talking to the owner or manager of the overgrown property first, if you can. They may not be aware their land is causing a problem and may be happy to fix the issue.

To report overgrown land, use the button below or call us on (02) 4227 7111.

Report overgrown land
Report overgrown land

What happens after I report overgrown land?

If the report meets the conditions above, we’ll investigate.

We may take action, including serving the property owner with a formal notice to manage and maintain the vegetation on their land under the Local Government Act.