Lawn maintenance, state by state
Looking after a lawn runs into five sets of rules: when a mower may be heard, who may spray weeds for pay, what changes on a fire-danger day, where the clippings may go, and what you are owed when you pay for the work. This guide lays them side by side, state by state.
A guide to lawn rules in plain words, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page. Where those sources hold no rule for a state, the guide says “not covered here” instead of guessing.
The five guides
Each guide takes one question and answers it state by state, with each rule written as the state or territory that made it.
- Mowing noise hours by state
The hours New South Wales and Tasmania set for lawn mowers, and how Victoria, the ACT, South Australia and Western Australia handle a mower heard next door.
- Who may spray your lawn
The licences and authorisations for commercial weed spraying, and the exceptions three states make for garden maintenance.
- Mowing on fire-danger days
What Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia say about mowers and other machines when the fire danger is high.
- Lawn clippings and green waste
When garden waste left out counts as dumping, and the rules for burning it.
- Consumer rights for lawn services
The consumer guarantees that come with a paid service, and the cooling-off rules when a mowing round is sold at the door.
What this guide holds for each state
Read across a stripe to see which rules this guide holds for your state or territory. Each link goes straight to that state’s part of the guide.
| State | Mowing hours | Spraying | Fire-danger days | Green waste | Consumer rights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Covered for NSW | Covered for NSW | Not covered here | Covered for NSW | National rules for NSW |
| VIC | Covered for VIC | Covered for VIC | Covered for VIC | Covered for VIC | National rules for VIC |
| QLD | Not covered here | Covered for QLD | Not covered here | Covered for QLD | National rules for QLD |
| WA | Covered for WA | Not covered here | Covered for WA | Not covered here | National rules for WA |
| SA | Covered for SA | Not covered here | Covered for SA | Covered for SA | National rules for SA |
| TAS | Covered for TAS | Covered for TAS | Not covered here | Covered for TAS | National rules for TAS |
| ACT | Covered for ACT | Covered for ACT | Not covered here | Not covered here | National rules for ACT |
| NT | Not covered here | Covered for NT | Not covered here | Covered for NT | National rules for NT |
Who deals with a noisy mower
The official pages name different people to deal with a mower heard next door. Here is each one, in its own terms.
| State | Who deals with it, as the official page puts it |
|---|---|
| NSW | NSW Police or local council officers can issue a warning to someone running noisy equipment during restricted times; grass-cutting machines are on the list. |
| VIC | EPA Victoria says it does not investigate reports of residential noise: that is the local council’s role. |
| QLD | Not covered here. |
| WA | Local governments use the state’s noise regulations to deal with domestic noise. |
| SA | Councils manage neighbourhood nuisance, and noise from power tools including lawn mowers is one of the examples EPA South Australia gives; complaints go to the council. |
| TAS | In general, local government and Tasmania Police put the noise regulations into effect. |
| ACT | The Environment Protection Authority administers the territory’s noise law. |
| NT | Not covered here. |
The hours themselves, where a state sets them, are in the guide to mowing noise hours.
One rule that holds in every state
The consumer guarantees in the Australian Consumer Law are national. In the ACCC’s words, “Businesses must meet a set of basic rights when they sell products or services.” One of them is that “Service providers must carry out all services using an acceptable level of care and skill.”
Those rights, called consumer guarantees, come automatically and “can’t be taken away by anything a business says or does.” The consumer rights guide sets out what they mean for a lawn service, and what changes when a mowing round is sold at your door.
When the rules change with the season
Two of the five questions turn on the time of year. In South Australia the Fire Danger Season generally runs from November through to April, with daily restrictions to prevent bushfires starting. In New South Wales, the Bush Fire Danger Period set by law is 1 October to 31 March, though it may vary with local conditions. In Victoria, CFA declares Fire Danger Periods by municipality.
Those periods change what the rules say about mowing dry grass in Victoria and burning clippings in South Australia. Mowing on fire-danger days and the green waste guide take each state in turn.