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Is there any way to check if a house has right of access onto a road? New house keeps putting 'poilite' notice on any cars that park on the street near their door and we are all getting fed up!

115 replies

Sheepareawesome · 06/10/2020 18:21

It's kind of a parking one, although I am one of the parkers in this scenario!

Our village has very limited on-road parking. Our street has parking on one side only as it's not wide enough for both. Recently, as in about a year or 2 ago, a new house was built on the end of the road in an area where there was previously public amenities with no vehicle access from the street and a low wall the whole length of the side on the road. As in, there was parking along the whole side of the plot on the street along the wall.

The new house was built with a side entrance from the pavement, a front gate with parking inside the plot which has dropped kerb access, and has a front door which opens directly onto a small area running alongside the house beside the street with a low wall. The builders have put in an opening in this wall by the door, so you can walk straight in the door off the street however there is no pavement and it is historically a part of the street that is allocated to parking.

Since the house was occupied, every time someone parks there, in front of the front door but - importantly - NOT blocking their access to the door, or their side entrance, or their gate wide enough to drive their car it, the owners have been leaving a note on the cars. Every. flipping. time. It is titled 'polite note' and says please don't block the door.

The rest of us in the street think they are ridiculous, since a) the car doesn't block access to their door as you can't park too close to the wall anyway, otherwise the doors wouldn't open b) the road is designated as parking so - gasp - cars park there and c) they have 2 other accesses anyway.

They have become a bit of a joke tbh and today I lost the plot when I found another note on my car - some of the neighbours were opposite shaking their heads saying what are the homeowners playing at there is plenty of room etc etc. I had parked quite a way back, maybe with the nose only over a few inches of the gap in the all and in no way blocking any access - they could fit an elephant through the gap! I ripped up the note and threw it at their front door (not my finest moment I admit) but I am so fed up after more than a year of them thinking they have the right to stop cars parking on the street. I know the builder who did the house by reputation and I very much doubt they bothered to get the proper permission to grant pedestrian access from the side of the road and there is no kerb, dropped kerb etc that we are blocking. Surely you can't just decide to knock a hole in a wall alongside a road and then claim no parking?!

Does anyone know if there is any way of checking this? There are no 'proper' signs to say not to park there, and even when cars do they are not blocking the access anyway which is the weird bit?! Would it be in the planning on the local council? Or would it be the highways agency?

If they are in the right, then I will of course refrain from parking there although that would be a major pain in the arse.

And no I have no diagram although I might try and work something up after dinner if you're nice to me GrinWink.

OP posts:
BentBastard · 07/10/2020 12:03

I'm with you OP.

Based on info available on this thread the gap is not a legal access point so legally you're fine to park there.

Morally, will it's inconvenient to them. It's also inconvenient to you to have to park several streets away. Not sure why their inconvenience trumps theirs?

Presumable you don't deliberately park there when other convenient spots are available (although I bet you're tempted now!)

Don't park several streets away just so they can use one of their three access points that shouldn't even be there and isn't necessary to get in and out anyway.

growinggreyer · 07/10/2020 12:07

Rip the note up again and shove it through their letterbox and definitely get onto the council. My blood is boiling just thinking about it!

Zaphodsotherhead · 07/10/2020 12:11

And even if it is a legitimate access way then it can only be for access on foot from the pavement (?) area. If you were walking then you can still access the gap. OPs car isn't blocking the full width of the gapway (I wish they'd put a gate on simply to enable me to type 'gateway' and not have to contend with auto correct and the 'gapway' matter).

And if they needed access for a wheelchair or other wheeled contrivance, then they'd go up the dropped kerb access. I think they are just being all Lord of the Manor about it because they think they can.

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Dreading2020sSeasonFinale · 07/10/2020 13:20

What it boils down to is that you cannot simply open up a gap in a wall, fence or hedge etc from your property that leads directly to a public road and stop people from legally parking in front of what is now a gap.

Their access is through their driveway or the proper opening to their footpath/garden/walled in area to the right of the diagram.

Veterinari · 07/10/2020 13:33

I think you need to make them aware of their planning breach and absence of access rights via that gap ASAP @Sheepareawesome

eurochick · 07/10/2020 13:35

Put a copy of the approved plans through their door with a big arrow to the wall and a note to say this is not a legal access point. If you keep leaving notes on cars we will be forced to report this".

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/10/2020 13:39

I thought it was odd they were still writing Polite on the top of their notes - guess it was to stop people being so pissed off they actually checked!

I think a lot of people traditionally put 'polite notice' in the hope that you'll think it says 'police' and be scared off. Less likely to work with a handwritten note, but maybe there's still something psychological that jars? It also has the added effect of assuming that the author is int he right and thus putting the blame on you, suggesting that you are being impolite/unreasonable/uncouth if you ignore it.

BUT, I can't remotely understand why this is an issue for you in the first place, OP; as the excellent scale diagram clearly shows that your own car is so tiny - much smaller than the others and, indeed, only twice the size of a riped-up note - surely it would be much simpler to just pick it up and pop it in your handbag once you arrive back home?

They are being ridiculous - you don't get to arbitrarily put a door in the side of your house and then demand that nobody park anywhere within 25 feet of it.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/10/2020 13:42

riped-up note

Stupid keyboard. Ripped up.

A 'riped up' note would be the exact opposite of a polite one and to be kept strictly out of the view of children!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/10/2020 13:46

Maybe they consider the side door the tradesmen's entrance and therefore the only acceptable access point for the stationery lorry to pull up for their weekly deliveries of the reams of A4 white paper and bulk-packs of red sharpies that they seem to get through at an astonishing rate.

TenShortStories · 07/10/2020 13:47

If it's an illegal gap then I'm totally with you OP. However, they may not know that, so it's possible they don't know they are being unreasonable.

Also, don't mention as your defence that there's nowhere else to park. That really is by the by and will make your argument sound silly. Focus on whether parking there is allowed or not, otherwise you risk sounding like the annoying parents who park over driveways to drop their kids at school, and then claim that they had no choice and it ways only 5 mins anyway!

grey12 · 07/10/2020 14:03

@RandomMess said the same thing I was going to say. Pushchairs and wheelchairs can be tricky to manoeuvre. I have a double pushchair Confused

You did say you could open the door of the car, is the sidewalk small enough to just about open a car door?! In that case, they might need the space in front of the door.

Clymene · 07/10/2020 14:09

I would politely (see what I did there) suggest that people with double pushchairs do not typically have the time or mental energy to nip out the door with a new handwritten note every time the nose of a car overhangs the gap in the wall.

Looking at the OP's diagram they can access the street via a gate or the side door onto the drive.

perfumeistooexpensive · 07/10/2020 14:16

I'd type a note and stick it through their door explaining that (a) it's a public highway and normal on road parking is permitted, and (b) it's a conservation area so no changes to the plans with regard to the gap in the wall are allowed. Unless they desist from putting their illegal demands on your car, you will report them to highways and the planning department.

CrotchetyQuaver · 07/10/2020 14:18

Oh dear, I knew I should have qualified my OCD comment Sad still, there are unreasonable and controlling people everywhere OP, don't let the new house people bully you all into not parking there with their petty little notes. I hope you ripped it a bit more and scrumpled it up before chucking it back over into their side.

CharityDingle · 07/10/2020 15:12

I would just report it, (the fact that the wall was not replaced in accordance with the permission) and let the appropriate authorities deal with it.
And I would keep parking there.

lljkk · 07/10/2020 15:22

I think I'd want to talk to them. Find out what is their issue with me parking there. They may literally be offended by any car in their view or they may have a specific reason OP can decide to accommodate.

I come from a culture where we do talk to people. Strangers even. My curiousity about their perspective would prevail.

steppemum · 07/10/2020 15:22

@Dreading2020sSeasonFinale

What it boils down to is that you cannot simply open up a gap in a wall, fence or hedge etc from your property that leads directly to a public road and stop people from legally parking in front of what is now a gap.

Their access is through their driveway or the proper opening to their footpath/garden/walled in area to the right of the diagram.

My point though is that they probably have no idea that this gap isn't legal. I doubt if the builders were in a hurry to tell them, and I doubt if anyone noticed a tiny gap on and deeds map when they bought it, and even if they did, what is there to tell them it shouldn't be there?
pinkbalconyrailing · 07/10/2020 15:33

are there multiple flats (hmo?) in the property?
maybe one party uses the front door, the other the side entrance?

Sheepareawesome · 07/10/2020 16:06

@pinkbalconyrailing

are there multiple flats (hmo?) in the property? maybe one party uses the front door, the other the side entrance?
No, it is one house.

I don't often park there, it is the other end of the street from our house. I have seen notes on other cars though. I have walked past a few times today and there are no cars there at the moment and the house looks all shut up.

I am fluctuating between knocking on the door and putting a PA letter through the door and running away. So far I have done nothing as I have a habit of going overboard and I have to walk past there every day and we are not moving house so I need to think it through a bit more.

I am leaning towards a letter, nicely pointing out that they don't appear to have a legal right to access and cars are parked legally so please don't keep putting notes out. And also mentioning the planning and not having a gap but not threatening them. Possibly.

OP posts:
BentBastard · 07/10/2020 16:21

I get people's points about wheelchairs and push chairs generally but given the house owners are popping notes on cars right left or centre I can't help but feel that the need for wheelie hair or push chair access in that gap would have been in the note if it was a factor, because it strengthens their case for reasonableness and is much more likely to provoke an accommodating response.

BentBastard · 07/10/2020 16:21

*wheelchair, not wheelie hair Confused

RandomMess · 07/10/2020 16:27

I agree if it were me that was having issues with a pushchair then my note would be asking if they would be able to park a bit further into the road/away from the wall as it was blocking access for wheeler chair/pushchair.

They just seem to be idiots that think they own the road though!!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/10/2020 16:37

They quite likely realise that they don't have a legal right to access and are phrasing it as 'polite notice' just trying their luck/tenacity and (persistently) asking for what they want rather than believe they are entitled to, thinking 'if you don't (repeatedly) ask, you don't get'.

Depending on the context, "Please do not" can equally mean either 'you are not supposed to be doing this' or 'we'd really like it if you didn't'.

DailyLotion · 07/10/2020 16:53

Has anything ever been usefully resolved by the passing of notes,polite or otherwise, between neighbours? You're going to have to talk to each other.

That said, I absolutely would report the fact that they haven't complied with planning/conservation requirements.

DailyLotion · 07/10/2020 16:57

...because a) people who think these kind of rules don't apply to them really annoy me. b) if they had, this wouldn't be an issue.

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