We live in a semidetached converted barn, and the layout of our neighbour’s house and our house is a bit unusual. There is a pub garden behind our houses, so we only have doors, windows, gardens and driveways on one side.
We are down the end of a narrow private road and there isn’t any space to park on the road. We have a driveway that can fit 3 cars, and we have to allow access across our drive for our neighbours to get to their drive, see diagram. We own the land directly in front of our house, including the access area. Our neighbour has room for at least two cars on their drive, but it is a bit tricky to get onto and reverse out of.
Because it’s a bit awkward getting onto their drive, their son, and all other visitors, park on the access area, which is right in front of our garden. Now this is the part where I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable or not, but it really annoys me when people park there because I feel that my personal space is being invaded. Particularly on nice sunny days when I want to relax in our garden, however it feels exactly the same way as when someone else is standing too close to you.
We often ask our neighbour’s son to move his car onto his mum’s drive, which he does without complaining, but our neighbour always makes a big deal of it, like we are being unreasonable not wanting them to park on our drive. And he still always parks there unless we ask him to move.
So, AIBU for not being neighbourly, or is it reasonable to not want other people parking on your land? Also, if we own the land, but have to allow access, are they perfectly in their rights to park there and I should just put up with it?