Answer First: In Toronto you can legally run a lawn mower or leaf blower weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on weekends and statutory holidays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Break those hours and the noise bylaw (Chapter 591) sets a $500 fine. Separately, you must cut your turfgrass once it grows past 20 centimetres, or the Turfgrass and Prohibited Plants bylaw (Chapter 489) allows a $500 ticket and City-billed cutting.
Two different Toronto bylaws govern your lawn, and homeowners mix them up constantly. One controls when you can make noise. The other controls how tall the grass can get. Neither one cares about your intentions, only about the clock and the ruler.
What time can you legally mow your lawn in Toronto?
Weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and weekends plus statutory holidays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A lawn mower, string trimmer, and leaf blower all count as power devices under Toronto's noise bylaw, Chapter 591, and the same hours apply to every one of them.
The rule is written as a prohibition, so it is easier to remember by what is banned. Power equipment is off-limits weekday evenings and overnight from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m., and on Saturdays, Sundays, and statutory holidays from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. (City of Toronto). The weekend start is one hour later than the weekday start, which is the detail people trip on when they fire up a mower at 8 a.m. on a Saturday.
Quotable: In Toronto, lawn mowers and leaf blowers may run weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends and statutory holidays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; using them outside those hours carries a $500 fine under noise bylaw Chapter 591.
What is the fine for mowing too early or too late?
A $500 set fine for a power-device noise violation. That is the standard penalty for running a mower, trimmer, or blower outside the permitted hours, and it is separate from the higher $900 fine that applies to construction noise.
Noise enforcement is complaint-driven and situational. An officer generally has to witness the violation, meaning the equipment is running during prohibited hours and is clearly audible at the property line, before a ticket is issued. That makes the fine easy to avoid: stay inside the hours above and you are compliant, no permit or paperwork required.
Does Toronto have a maximum grass height?
Yes. You must cut turfgrass once it grows past 20 centimetres, which is about 8 inches. This comes from Chapter 489, renamed the Turfgrass and Prohibited Plants bylaw when the update (By-law 662-2021) took effect on January 1, 2022. The old name, the Grass and Weeds bylaw, is still what most people call it.
Turfgrass — the ordinary lawn grasses (like Kentucky bluegrass and fescue) that make up a conventional lawn, as opposed to garden beds, groundcover, or naturalized native plantings, which the bylaw treats differently.
The 20-centimetre line is a hard number, not a judgment call about whether your lawn "looks bad." Once the grass clears that height, the property is offside and a neighbour's 311 call can start the process.
What happens if you do not cut long grass?
The City sends an advisory notice first, then can ticket you $500, then can cut the grass itself and add the bill to your property taxes. It is a staged process, not an instant fine, which gives most owners time to comply.
Here is the sequence the City follows on a private-property long-grass complaint (City of Toronto):
- Complaint and inspection. A resident calls 311; a bylaw officer inspects and measures against the 20-centimetre standard.
- Notice with a compliance date. If the lawn is offside, the City issues a notice giving you a deadline to cut it.
- Ticket. Miss the deadline and the City can issue a $500 set-fine ticket for the violation.
- City-performed work. The City can send a contractor to cut the grass and add the cost to your property tax bill, on top of the fine.
Quotable: Under Toronto's Chapter 489, turfgrass must be cut once it passes 20 centimetres; ignoring the notice can bring a $500 ticket plus City-performed cutting billed to your property taxes.
Can you leave your lawn natural or plant a meadow instead?
Not automatically anymore. The 2022 rewrite of Chapter 489 removed the natural-garden exemption that used to let owners register an unmowed, naturalized yard. That process no longer exists, so a deliberately tall lawn is judged against the same 20-centimetre turfgrass standard as any other.
This is the part that surprises homeowners going for a low-mow or pollinator yard. The bylaw distinguishes turfgrass from an intentional garden bed of plants, but simply letting an existing grass lawn grow out is not a garden in the bylaw's eyes. If you want a naturalized front yard, the safe route is a designed planting of non-turfgrass species, kept clear of prohibited weeds and tidy at sightlines, rather than an unmowed grass lawn.
From the data: Of the 249 lawn-care companies YardQuote tracks across the GTA, 220 carry three or more Google reviews, the average rating is 4.75, and 88% of rated companies sit at 4.5 stars or higher (YardQuote tracking, July 2026). A recurring cut from a well-reviewed crew is cheap insurance against ever crossing the 20-centimetre line.
How the two lawn bylaws compare
The noise rule and the grass-height rule are easy to keep straight once you see them side by side: one is about timing, the other about maintenance, and both carry a $500 fine.
| Rule | Bylaw | The limit | Set fine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mowing / power-equipment hours | Chapter 591 (Noise) | Weekdays 8 a.m.–7 p.m.; weekends/holidays 9 a.m.–7 p.m. | $500 |
| Long grass | Chapter 489 (Turfgrass and Prohibited Plants) | Cut once turfgrass passes 20 cm | $500 |
| Construction noise (for reference) | Chapter 591 (Noise) | Weekdays 7 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sat 9 a.m.–7 p.m.; none Sun/holidays | $900 |
If you hire out your lawn care, both rules become the contractor's problem to schedule around, but the tickets attach to the property, so they are still your risk. A crew that shows up at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday to beat the heat is putting your address on the line, not theirs. It is worth confirming your pro works inside the hours above.
You can see current maintenance pricing on the lawn care cost page or browse rated crews by neighbourhood, for example lawn care in Etobicoke or the full costs hub. If your questions are drifting from grass to trees, our guides to Toronto tree cutting fines and why landscaping quotes vary pick up where this one stops.
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