Probably depends where you are. My super small rural town doesn’t really care. Had the police officer/vol. fire fighter tell us that if we are burning brush out of season and there’s a complaint, they’ll come and tell us to put it out; if they have to come back and put it out themselves, then you’re in trouble. But no one complains out here so *shrug *

Some of this depends on where you live and how you feel is important to look with the neighbors (not that wanting or not wanting to impress the neighbors is good or bad).

When I bought my first house, it was really important for me to feel like our yard “fit in” so we raked up all our leaves and made it look as picturesque as possible in our budget.

When we moved out into the country, I realized that I wanted a more natural, less manicured yard. I mow pretty infrequently, especially with the recent droughts. I never rake except for a fun leaf pile. I only snowblow the minimum to clear my driveway and path to the propane tank.

TLDR: snow removal for safety, leaves if you want to