Corner Block - Access rights

PrinceOfAles said :

Does your house have a porch? Get a rocking chair and a shotgun.

So many possibilities. Dog poo or cow poo. Dye bombs. Bags of wet flour mixture hidden just below the surface of the “path”. Trip wire causing camera to go off. Follow culprit home, and wreak equivalent havoc on THEIR lawn. Could end up being fun!

I think there is something like requiring 1.8m or so clearance from the road way if there isn’t a footpath – I presume there is no footpath if people are taking the short way around. In a previous life with a corner block I did similar to others and had a garden bed and retaining wall marking the edges along the road way to define my space from the road way with similar good effect.

In reality, without a complaint, I don’t believe the Gov are terribly active in enforcing the – have to seek permission to develop the verge requirement – only if you come to their attention for some reason.

EvanJames said :

I think that, even under the old NCDC rules, you can have a fence or wall, but it has to be quite low. But such a thing would establish your territory and I can’t see people stepping over it.

I think front yard fences can only be 60cm high solid and can have a further 30cm height that is see-through, but please check up on it.

My neighbors used to use my driveway as a shortcut to their front yard. Its a standard single frontage block so I went and complained. I was met by a punk kid at the door who could’nt give a rats arse so that was it for me.

I built a timber planter box out of treated pine sleepers across their ‘shortcut’, and put large rocks inside it at each corner. I also made sure that the big arsed bolts I used to hold the sleepers together had the heads well pronounced so they would cut up a car tyre if they skimmed it……sure enough, just a couple of days later I bagged a victim and he destroyed a tyre on it. I watched him changing it, it was piss funny.

I’ve had no trouble since. It helps if you are a big bloke that frightens small children though.

Does your house have a porch? Get a rocking chair and a shotgun.

I think that, even under the old NCDC rules, you can have a fence or wall, but it has to be quite low. But such a thing would establish your territory and I can’t see people stepping over it.

MightyJoe said :

Will try the string line.

Just remember that if they trip on your string line (and or on your property for that matter of fact) and have an accident then you as the owner of the property would be liable for his/her damages and you should check you have adequate insurance coverage.
You would need to be able to prove in court against any damages that you put measures in place that would have prevented any such occurance of personal injury to a third party person.

niftydog said :

Seed your lawn with the biggest, nastiest, sharpest caltrops you can find.

Now you have gone too far, that stuff is vicious! And, um, if anyone should feel the need for some, along the footpath at the lake end of Telopea Park is a very active colony of it.

Maybe take a page out of the nutters handbook and start flinging poo at them, I believe that this may be quite legal to do if you have a sign warning that it could happen if they tresspass onto private property.

Fling poo (sounds like a good name for a shitzu)

We have a corner block and it is completely planted out with a lix of native species – except for the formal concrete footpath on one frontage and a less formal gravel path (outside the property line) that we created on the other frontage. The species were chosen with an eye to height and proximity to the corner and therefore impact on sightlines for drivers. Problem solved.

I’m in a similar boat. I own a corner block. My solution is growing in the form of a photinia hedge. I have left a small gap for the power and water meter readers. Built a big garden bed also to stop the neighbour shortcutting

Will try the string line.

My place won’t suit shrubs etc as I’ve got enough as it is.

With the poop. Will start the collection and deposit on his lawn.

thatsnotme said :

You’re not allowed to whack up a front fence in Canberra

This sure used to be the case, but I’m not so sure now … seeing them cropping up all over the place. Since self-gummint, the demise of the NCDC and the rise of the developer, this seems to be one of the myriad standards to have slipped.

Would agree that gardens/fences/rocks are your best bet … people you’re dealing with clearly lack basic sense of respect or decency; even if they agree to your request, it won’t last long.

A string line about 1m high (like you’d use for a new lawn) should keep them out if they are just passing through. Keep it up for a couple of week and they should get the message.

Return the dog dung, if they are not home, kindly leave it for them in their mail box.

I suggest blockading parliament with trucks and forcing a change of government.

I agree that a garden is the way to go. You’re not allowed to whack up a front fence in Canberra, but nothing stopping you planting some hedging plants in some form of fence line arrangement. Personally, I’m not a fan of traditional box hedges, but if you plant some shrubby natives, things like grevillias, bottle brush, shrubby wattles, you can have a really nice front garden that not only stops people taking that shortcut, but also gives you some privacy, and attracts birds…all while needing little water.

And sarahsarah – your aunty may be bats**t crazy, and slightly passive aggressive…but that is seriously awesome! I imagine that after a week, the ‘little pile’ wasn’t actually so little either!

The joys of a corner block.

Seed your lawn with the biggest, nastiest, sharpest caltrops you can find.

Talk to your neighbours about how inconvenient it is having them park on your nature strip all the time. I know it’s awkward but as you own the house it may be worth just have a non-combative chat about it. We had neighbours who used to block us in with their cars this until we spoke to them about it. They were happy enough to change their habits when they realised how they were impacting upon us. Depends on your neighbours though!

As for the corner block, the only way you can really stop people walking over it is putting up a physical barrier. If you catch someone letting their dog poop on your lawn you could always try flinging the poop back at them with a shovel or collecting it and leaving it on their lawn if you know who it is. My (admittedly batsh*t crazy) Auntie had neighbours who let their horse sized Malamute (sp?) poop on her lawn. She collected the poop in a bucket for a week and then deposited it back on their doormat in a little pile with a polite little note explaining what it was. They kept their dog off her lawn after that. 😉

Best thing I can suggest is to arrange your garden so that they have to go around it – that’s certainly the approach most corner blocks around my area have taken. People will walk over a lawn, but they won’t (usually) traipse across a garden bed, pushing aside shrubs for the sake of cutting 5 meters off their walk.
As for parking, a few “decorative rocks” along the edge seems a popular solution, though I can’t vouch for its technical legality.

As for the nature strip i think that you may be out of luck as they belong to the guvmint.

Being winter i would say hose the f*#k out of them under the premise that you are watering your lawn. If they continue put up a fence and repeat option 1.