South Fulton, GA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Section 3-6005 sets South Fulton's baseline lawn-maintenance rule: 'premises and exterior property' must stay free of grass, weeds or uncultivated vegetation over six inches, and that vegetation can't encroach on a neighbor's land. The duty extends past the property line: an owner of developed property must also mow the road right-of-way strip between the property line and the street curb to the same six-inch standard. The section carves out undeveloped property and any portion of a developed lot that's intentionally kept in its natural state, but that exemption isn't unlimited.

Along the right-of-way frontage, growth on a natural or undeveloped section still has to stay under ten inches for at least 20 feet in from the road. Where an undeveloped or natural section borders an already-developed neighboring property, the same under-ten-inch rule applies along the shared side and rear lines for 20 feet interior to the lot, specifically to keep weeds from spreading onto the maintained neighbor's yard. Stream buffers and zoning buffers are excused from even the ten-inch standard, though vegetation inside them still can't be allowed to encroach onto adjoining land.

The section doesn't set its own fine schedule; a citation for exceeding the height limit is enforced as a property-maintenance violation and, absent a specific penalty elsewhere in the chapter, falls under the citywide general penalty in § 1-1006, up to a $1,000 fine, 90 days in jail, or 90 days of community service or public-works labor, with each day the grass stays overgrown counted as a new offense.