Who should be mowing that little strip of grass out of the front of adjoining properties? Well, that’s the question everyone’s asking after a photo of a half-mowed nature strip sparked a heated debate on social media.

A Sydney resident shared a photo of the nature strip in the Facebook group ‘Willoughby Living’ with the caption: “Seems these 2 neighbours in Sydney St Chatswood clearly don’t get on.”

The post sparked a flurry of comments and left social media users divided on lawn mowing etiquette. One commentator pointed out that it may just be the gardener doing his job, writing: “May not be the neighbour but simply the gardener doing the job for which they are paid.”

Another said their neighbour didn’t like them mowing their side, saying: “We used to have to do this as our old neighbour didn’t like us touching ‘his’ lawn, even though it was less than 30cms (and he didn’t mow it either). Wasn’t worth the grief we got after. So sometimes there’s a good explanation too.”

However, others thought it was simply “petty”, with one commentator writing: “Why wouldn’t the person who [mowed] just go to the end? Visually it would actually look better.” Meanwhile, another commentator agreed, saying: “Why wouldn’t you just edge the whole path?!”

Even 2GB radio host Ben Fordham weighed in on the issue, asking his listeners what they thought was the right thing to do.

“There’s a blow-up on a community Facebook page in Willoughby in regards to someone was doing their edges on the footpath outside their home but then they stopped when they reached the boundary line, even though there was just one more metre outside the next person’s property,” he told his listeners. “What’s the rule here?”

It comes after we previously asked readers from the Starts at 60 community for their thoughts on whether it’s okay to take cuttings from people’s yards without asking and got a mixed response.

Maureen Gee said she thought it was wrong, adding: “I have had complete plants stolen from my front garden and it made me feel sad, deflated, angry, mistrusting and disinterested in my own garden for some time.”

Denise Gail also had plants stolen and said: “I have an orange tree in my garden that was almost stripped of its fruit by greedy people who had to come in through a closed gate. I was not happy.”

Others, however, thought the fence barrier determined whether you could take a cutting without permission. Kaye Kennedy humorously said: “I may have a past guilty recollection of picking some flowers hanging over the fence!”