Got home to find someone in my parking space

[ReacherSaidNothing]

Popped out to the library earlier and came back to find a random car in my space. It's not a proper driveway but it's the end of the lane down the side of my house, my detached garage is next to the house at the end of the lane.

We have houses that back onto the lane (adjacent to our building) and I'm sure it's one of these houses that the owner of the car has gone into, their visitors have parked there a couple of times before.

I've just parked up their arse and gone into the house, waiting on the bell ringing. Was reluctant to do this as our neighbours have right of way over the lane for their pwn vehicles but it's a visitor to their house, so fuck it.

I can see that they shouldn’t be there so you’re probably best to put a sign saying do not park here. I would imagine they don’t really understand that it’s your space. I would let them off the first time but not a second time!

Just get a sign.
"private driveway"
"Access required at all times."

@ReacherSaidNothing maybe it's a carer or someone that has parked out of the way and doesn't necessarily know it's yours - as you say, it's not obvious

That's not how the world works 🤷‍♀️🙈 land is bought and worked on. farmers work very hard for it aswell as the rest of the owners. its paid for and therefore legally theirs to say who can access their land.

I had a farmer scream at me the other day in front of my child calling me calling me an ignorant idiot for parking on a gravelly/grassy patch of land about 3 fields from a farmhouse.

Because they owned it.
Or they needed it to turn their tractor.
Or they used it to store their farm equipment.
Or it’s a passing place.
Or it was a gate way.

You were being an idiot. You can’t just park wherever you fancy because in your mind you think you should be able to.

In front of a garage is pretty obvious.

The countryside is private property. That is a fact that is common knowledge. There is no need to put up "private property" signs therefore - and would you need one posted in every field?

When it comes to farmers, yes, what's theirs is theirs. Not yours to park on or walk through to get somewhere else, any more than your living room is open to the public.

I think it was a genuine mistake
they parked in front of a derelict garage and the land isn’t obviously private land

Although I couldn't understand your diagram, I do understand the law on right of access and it means basically you can pass or your visitors or employees can pass over that piece of land that you don't own. It doesn't mean anyone other than you can loiter or park there, however the way should be kept clear for the neighbours access, so while you own the land, you may not have the right to park there.

So yes the visitors are ok to use that piece of land as access but not to stop on it.
Have you considered chatting to the new neighbours about what is common practice and how to prevent blocking others in.

So basically you both have half a drive but are allowed on each others solely to access/exit your parking spaces! Your space is in front of your drive.
as others have said I’d pop a sign up saying please do not block garage/this space is constantly in use!

It’s just rude of them to park in front of your garage on your land. There’s literally nothing else to it

Basically OP and her neighbour each own half the drive. Upthread somewhere OP said that because she parked behind the rogue car she was blocking in her neighbour, so clearly parking directly in front of the garage doesn’t cause a problem because it leaves her neighbour access for their own car.

It is her (freehold)land but there are what I think are called easements in which she has to allow access but it doesn't entitle anybody to park there or block the route .I have one of these which involves a lane which goes down the side of my property but I only need to allow access in foot

You need to put a sign up. Maybe people don’t realise it’s your space?

If the deeds show it is your land you own it. The Right of Way your neighbours have is to pass along or across it - not to park there.

Pathetic and petty.

Nope, the OP owns the WHOLE drive. However the neighbours have the right to use it for access reasons only. This isn't a case of shared ownership, or there being a theoretical line down the middle with the OP "owning" one half and the neighbours each owning the part of the half that is outside their own property.

The countryside should be shared (as long as you’re not impacting anyone else) there was no no parking sign, no private road sign, nothing. I know I’ve gone off topic but I’m so sick of this what’s mine is mine attitude (unless they’re rude and disrespectful of course then by all means exercise your rights). But I just think if people were a little kinder to each other the world would be a much better place

Firstly, how do you know you weren't impacting the farmer in any way - others up thread have given reasons why that area may have needed to be kept clear. And what's mine is mine? Too fecking right it is - they've paid for it, they maintain it, same as you pay for and maintain anything that you own. If there's a gravelly/grassy patch beside the road alongside a field, there's likely a very good reason why that hasn't been overgrown (like it's in constant use). If there was no solid growing hedge or hard walling there, it could easily be access to the field and no, they don't always have gates as such, just places where they can temporarily move the wire/fencing.

And if it was truly a public lake, there would be other forms of access that didn't mean parking on someone's private land. They may not have been convenient for a small child due to walking distance, but they would be there.

In my county there's a very beautiful stretch of river running through a private estate that has a public right of way along the bank. Despite signs saying "private land, keep to the path" you get hoards of people setting up for the day on either side of the clearly defined path including on the grazing land. Obviously the owners can't have animals grazing there during the summer months for the safety of both the animals and the public, but the clean up job every autumn to make it safe for the animals is immense - plastic, food wrappers, disposable barbecues, bit of metal, discarded blankets, broken glass....

Plus the river is not a public waterway, it is privately owned. You get dozens of people swimming in it on a hot day, and it isn't safe for that due to the rubbish that other people have dumped in it. Local kids jump off the bridge, and there's a couple of rusty bikes that have been dumped off that so not safe. Then when these members of the public get hurt, they try to sue the land owner!

Is this the kind of land where the original owner sold off plots and access over their land was permitted to get to their land although it's now your land you have to maintain access rights over to their bits. I would make it clear it's private paint up road to signagejust like coop locally makes it clear only customers can park or residents. Good luck

So obvious it's your land it's untrue @ReacherSaidNothing

I had a neighbour who's visitors kept parking on my driveway - it was a double width drive between our houses.

One day I came home and boxed him in. He came out all complaining. I told him I'd move once I sorted out what I needed to do in my house.

10mins later I left my house, jumped in my car and went off to do what I needed so he then left. He waited on the drive for me, lol. He never parked there again but others did. I eventually put a fence in. It made it hard for them to get in and out if their cars, but fuck them. I asked them to let their visitors know not to park on my drive but to no avail.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see your situ pan out!

I used to live in a house with a right of way over our land and it was an absolute nightmare tbh. Even though they were driving through our garden to get to their drive they, or visitors would park in front of my kitchen window on our land.
I am not sure there is a way to resolve this without it getting bitter. But maybe start with speaking to the houses at the end and explaining to them what right of way is and to ask their visitors not to park there. Then maybe put a sign by your garage asking people not to block it. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again!

Looks like they blocked your garage in.
shared access is always a pain!
not worry stressing over maybe put a sign up saying please keep clear of garage.

If its your property / space, its yours, full stop. Block them in (or charge £100 per space??) Or maybe just go (text) & let them know?? Do they know its your space?
Not really worth a 'kick off', unless they disagree or dispute it?? With kindness, good luck xx

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Does this space clearly state it is yours?
Does it come with your house?
If not, YABU