Shared driveway and parking issues

[Sarah7890]

Me and my husband live in a detached house which is one of three on a shared drive way. Our house is the middle house and we have lived here for over a year and have never had any issues until recently. The first house at the beginning of the shared driveway belongs to an older couple who only have one car and they park on their driveway and when they have visitors they park on the part of the shared driveway (where you can park) close to the house so cars can get past and there are no issues with them.

The problem with our new build estate is that the houses are built with one garage per house with only a single driveway and an unnecessary amount of grass so it leaves houses with more than two cars stuck. We decided to extend our driveway and sacrifice some of our grass to easily get our two cars onto the driveway because when we moved in we soon realised that no matter how close I parked to my husband’s car, on the side of the shared driveway that you can park on, I was making it difficult for him to get off and difficult for my first set of neighbours to get on as they too need the swing to get onto the driveway. On the deeds which I will attach, the yellow part of the shared driveway always has to be free for both ease of access and also for using the area past the drives as a turning point to get onto the drive, which again I must add it is so important to get the swing otherwise you can’t get on your drive as the shared drive is quite narrow.

Four months ago a couple moved next door to us at the end of the driveway which was the last house to be completed on our phase. They are really nice people but they come across like they just don’t think about situations rather than being unreasonable that is why I would rather have advice before I approach them about this. Since their house is at the end they get the usual one car driveway and garage but they also get an end part of land which is for them to use as a turning point to swing onto their driveway.

Most of the week it is only the two of them so she parks her car on the drive and he parks his work van in the area which is at the end of the shared driveway, which is fine and we have no issues with that at all. My issues come when on some evenings and pretty much every weekend they have visitors and there are always at least one or two cars extra. I think that they think because they are at the end they are not effecting us but they park the cars over the clear boundary line which is a 6-foot fence in the middle of the grass between our houses. When they park over the boundary they are very close to our drive which prevents the swing. Again, if they parked on the area which is closest to the houses it wouldn’t affect us as much but no matter if there is only one car visiting they will always choose to park in the shaded yellow part which takes away our access onto the drive.

They know that we paid to extend our drive and it certainly wasn’t cheap so I am sensitive in thinking they are taking that for granted. I am probably over reacting but they have a lot more land than us with having that area at the end and they haven’t had to extend and they are still encroaching into our side and making it hard for us. My husband keeps his car in the garage overnight so sometimes when they park that side of the drive is clear which is next to where they block so it seems like they presume they are not blocking as my car is on the other side but it gets hard for him to get his car out of the garage and off with the cars parked over the boundary.

When they first moved in they blocked the whole shared driveway with 6 lorries which seemed a bit excessive but we understood they were moving so were blocked in for most of the weekend for two weeks and did not said anything. A month ago her mum came to visit and instead of pulling up blocked half of our driveway and was not at all into their boundary even though there is a 6-foot fence clearly stating a divide. My husband went around to say we had to use my car as we couldn’t get his car out. I felt they had taken it too far because we went out and did not say anything and came back and she was still parked there over an hour later. She moved the car and apologised and there were no issues. Then two weeks ago the woman next door drove over our grass instead of getting whoever was visiting to move from behind her. That really rattled me as there were clear tyre marks in our grass. Then yesterday there were two cars blocking again.

I know something needs to be said and I don’t want to make things awkward but the times my husband has gone over it has not made a difference. Any help would be much appreciated :) Thank you.

[Pixiedust1973]

Can't see anything attached hun. Does sound like a pain in the arse tbh. I guess this is always a risk with communal facilities.

You have made me think here. We have been looking to purchase a house on a shared driveway, where we would be the second but last house.

The vendors lied to us about the house having 2 extra parking spaces allocated as well as the driveway for one car & garage.

We were not pleased about being lied to because we have 2 cars & 2 teenagers who may be driving in future. A situation arising as you describe, should our neighbours prove to be selfish idiots would leave us with severe problems.

You've made me think about whether this is an ideal situation for us.

You sound like you're on a new build development. Do you have a site manager there who could possibly have a word? Please keep us posted as to how you get on?

[wowfudge]

You need to say some thing every single time. I'd be tempted to stand there waiting for them to move the car(s) which are over the boundary. I think you can say you saw her drive over your lawn and it has damaged the grass and that was your limit as however many times your husband has been round or you have had said something, they haven't changing their behaviour, and it's a pain in the backside when there is no need for it and a bit more thoughtfulness would be appreciated. Take a copy of the plan and point out the fence lines up with the area which needs to be kept clear, etc.