WINNIPEG — The City of Winnipeg saw the number of complaints against property owners for having unkempt grass and weeds grow by 20 per cent last year.
In 2016 the city received 3,673 complaints compared to just 3,043 in 2015.
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“We want our neighbourhood to look nice and so part of that is everyone needs to take their responsibility to do what they’re supposed to do with their yards,” said Megan Moran, who filed a complaint against her neighbour a few weeks ago.
The grass on the lawn of the house next to Moran is three feet long in some spots and doesn’t appear to have been cut yet this year.
“We don’t want to be bad neighbours and don’t want to do it for them either. It just kind of gets ridiculous, I know it’s a lot to cut but someone’s got to do it,” said Moran.
When a complaint gets filed, a bylaw officer is sent out to investigate the property.
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Grass must be kept to six inches or less or a warning is issued.
The property is then re-inspected and if the grass isn’t cut to six inches or less the city cuts the grass and the property owner is sent the bill.
Fines are only issued to repeat offenders when city mowers have to keep coming back to the same house.
So far this year there have only been 115 complaints about overgrown grass and weeds.