Lawn and order: Businessman who let his neighbour mow his grass is ordered to GIVE HIM his garden after Austrian judge rules it made him the legal owner

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A businessman who let his neighbour mow his grass has been ordered to give him his garden - after an Austrian judge ruled it made him the legal owner. 

The 48-year-old had recently purchased the house in Sallingberg in Lower Austria, west of the capital Vienna, and was initially grateful for the neighbour's help in cutting the lawn last summer.

But when he put a fence up around the garden, it sparked a rift between the pair - and now a court has ruled that cutting the grass over the years gave the neighbour the right to own the land.

A businessman who let his neighbour mow his grass has been ordered to give him his garden - after an Austrian judge ruled it made him the legal owner (file picture)

The homeowner said: 'I was busy with the move and was grateful each time he offered to cut the lawn when he was doing it on his own land, I even gave him a bottle of Sekt (sparkling wine) each time and didn't think much more of it. 

'But then when I decided to put up a fence around my garden, he sued me.

'I didn't even think anything like that was possible, at the time he had even asked if he could mow my patch of grass as well and I was always pleased [for him to do so].'

The 48-year-old had recently purchased the house in Sallingberg (pictured) in Lower Austria, west of the capital Vienna, and was initially grateful for the neighbour's help in cutting the lawn last summer

To the astonishment of the businessman, named only as Matthaus L because of local privacy laws, the court has agreed that the man was entitled to the lawn, and demanded that the fence should be moved.

The neighbour argued that he had not only mowed the lawn last summer, but had mowed the lawn for decades. 

The judge agreed that this gave him the right to the land.