Graffiti

Graffiti being removed

The City of Hobart is committed to maintaining a safe, clean and attractive city.

We remove graffiti on infrastructure that we manage and own. This includes roads, footpaths, street furniture, sculptures, artworks, bridges and buildings.

We believe that cleaning up graffiti quickly is the most effective way to prevent further graffiti.

Priority is given to removing offensive or obscene graffiti, and aim to have this removed within 24 hours of it being reported. Other instances of graffiti are removed as soon as possible.

To report graffiti in Hobart, please contact us, or complete the online form:

Report graffiti

To report graffiti or vandalism of other public property, please contact:

Learn more about how we keep Hobart safe on the community safety page.

Graffiti on private property

Private property owners, occupiers and managers are responsible for removing graffiti on their property.

We will remove graffiti on private and public property:

  • up to 1 metre down a drive-way or lane-way where graffiti is present
  • if the graffiti was applied from public land such as a road reserve or from a public property boundary
  • is highly visible from an arterial road or the CBD.

We do not remove graffiti from sandstone or heritage listed buildings, or areas higher than 2.4 metres above ground level. A specialist should be engaged for such removal.

Prevention

You can reduce the likelihood of graffiti on your property by:

  • planting creepers and other foliage on trellis along a wall
  • painting walls in dark colours
  • keeping your property well maintained
  • making sure the site is well-lit at night.

An anti-graffiti coating on a wall may also make future removal easier by making it harder for paint to stick to a surface.

Removal

Graffiti should be removed as quickly as possible because:

  • there is less time for paint to bleed into the surface, improving removal
  • it reduces the exposure for the graffitist's work
  • it discourages others to apply graffiti to the site.

For painted and protected surfaces, such as wood, metal or concrete that have a topcoat:

  • use a commercial remover. For example, 'muck off' or a citrus oil based product
  • always test a small area to start with, gradually increase intensity.

For bare or raw surfaces, such as stone, concrete, brick and metal apply a commercial remover, wait five minutes then use a wire brush, rinsing with water to remove the graffiti residue.

For glass, plastics, and other synthetics:

  • most graffiti removers will work well on glass or otherwise a blade scraper may be effective.
  • do not use caustic cleaners for glass or aluminium. Greater care needs to be taken with plastics and other synthetics.

Painting over graffiti

Clean the surface well to remove as much of the graffiti as possible.

Aim for the closest colour match to the original paint or surface finish as possible.

Paint the entire area in a darker colour to the nearest architectural break to deter a recurrence of graffiti.

Always keep spare paint at hand so you can quickly remove new graffiti should it appear.

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