Neighbours parking annoying each other and I just want to move house!!! WWYD?

[InWithTheITCrowd]

I'm sorry that this is a parking-related thread
Disclaimer: I know the road is a public highway, and no one has any right to part in front of their property, but things have always worked out nicely until now, and there is a lot of tolerance and "fair" parking! :)

I live on a small-ish street - half the houses have driveways and the other half park on-road. Me and my neighbour (semi-detached) have on-road parking, and we each have two cars. We can pretty much get our own two cars in front of our own house.
Most of the households do the same. Except visitors to houses, there is really no benefit to other people parking on the street (v residential, not close to town/amenities etc)
Across the road is a house with a drive and garage. They can easily fit 3 cars on the drive, plus they have a double-fronted house, so plenty of on-road parking. They are fairly new neighbours, and within a month of moving here, put a sign outside their property saying "please do not park in front of drive or house". Unnecessary really, as no one had or does, but their choice.

The owners have one car & so does their son's girlfriend (who stays over often)

For some reason, the girlfriend ALWAYS parks outside mine and my neighbours house (she usually arrives while my DH and my neighbour's DH are still at work) - but she parks over the line of both our properties, so neither my DH nor my neighbour's DH can fit the cars in.

My DH did ask in passing once why she parks there, and she replied that her bf's Dad "doesn't like vehicles in front of the house" weirdo and it makes her life easier!?

I basically just shrug and get on with it - there's usually somewhere to park, even if it is a bit of a ball-ache, but I don't want to make trouble where there is none.

My neighbour OTOH is getting increasingly more annoyed about the whole thing, and keeps trying to bolster me to go over with her and talk about it.
The guy across the road isn't especially friendly, and tbh I just can't be bothered. I've told my neighbour I don't want to get involved, but I can see a time coming where it's going to kick off, and I do think my neighbour (and me!) does have a point.
Is it worth saying something to the girlfriend? Saying something to the owner of the house? (before neighbour goes in guns blazing) trying harder to dissuade my neighbour (probably not possible) or just ignoring the whole thing, and then dealing with it if/when it happens?

Agh... it's not even a thing, is it? I don't care and i hate neighbourhood politics.
I don't even know why I'm getting worked up about it, other than the fact my neighbour lies in wait for me to chat to me about it nearly every sodding day!

gah!

I would get similar signs. It would be a nice first step. "Feck off you floozie this is private property" Or "At least marry him before you wreck the neighborhood"

me too I would park in front of his house. and stick his daft somewhere

daft sign somewhere that should be!

The obvious first step is to politely point out to the girlfriend that she needs to stop parking like a muppet over the line - pick a space and then at least either you or your neighbour can then park in front of your own house.

And then, yeah - if I couldn't park in front of my own house because my opposite neighbours had parked in front of my house, I'd park in front of theirs. I'd be terribly cheery and thick skinned about it all.

YANBU this would drive me potty. I do think you (or your neighbour) should ask her nicely to park in front of the house she is visiting not yours. It's just good manners. There is an understanding on most streets that you have first dibs on the space in front of your house. My neighbour and her two teenage kids had three cars, drive space for one, garage (crammed with junk), and no space on the road in front of their house. I asked them repeatedly over a few years not to park the kids car directly in front of our house but to park further down the street. They frequently forgot and sat in front of our house in their old bangers even dropping litter and cigarette buts which drove me mad. I understand the pain.

You could always park in front of their house and if they say anything, smile and say, "well, your son's girlfriend is parked right outside my house as you can see. If you'd prefer, we can swap places. Would you like to call her out and we'll switch round, it's really no bother to me at all."

I can't imagine he'd be able to have a problem with that without looking like a total twat.

If you have already mentioned this to the girlfriend, why doesn't one of you casually mention it to the bad neighbour. Remember, this has been bugging you for a while, but he has no idea (because he's an idiot), so be gentle. It sounds like you could do this in a more friendly way than the good neighbour. If bad neighbour is unhelpful, then start parking in front of his house, but most likely he'll be fine, even though he sounds like a jerk.

Why are you taking any notice of his sign? He has no right to stop you parking outside his house ffs. I would do as suggested everytime she parks outside yours I would park outside his. If he's stupid enough to pull you for it tell him to get the girlfriend to move her car otherwise tough. He can't demand the road outside his house not be parked on.

Having lived on a similar street in the past, you need to accept that some people have this really weird thing about parking. They are desperate for a driveway or garage. They spend thousands extra on a property with parking. And then move in and park on the road!! Must be some sort of weird insecure thing about needing to know they have private parking, but being very scared someone else might park on road in front of their house.

I am also in agreement about responding by parking in front of their house- I think this is the thing which will get the message across rather than talking. And it's non aggressive- I mean, you are quite within your rights. You might find you're not arriving home at the right time to bag a space in front of their house, so I would suggest being a bit cunning about it- wait until theres a space, and just move your car there - especially if you're not planning to go out so the car will be there for a whole weekend or at least quite a while. Get into the habit of doing this whenever you see a space there, even when the space in front of your house is free. You need to be quite obvious about it. They will either find it annoying(well, you know they will, as he's already told the sons gf he doesn't like cars in front of his house!) and hopefully the penny will drop. I totally understand not wanting to cause a major scene, but tbh this is a completely non aggressive way of dealing with it

when she parks in front of your house, park in front of his. he can do absolutely nothing about it as long as you are not parked over the driveway.

My first thought was to park in front of theirs when's she's in front of yours also. Or everyone in the street could put a sign up?

Thanks everyone - I know I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but you know when something just chips away at you for ages...?
Good idea about parking in front of theirs. It's usually my DH tbh, as I'm normally in when the girlfriend comes over. DH just parks a bit further down the road. We both automatically park on "our" side, because we've got a toddler, and prefer not to cross the road. I realise that's a daft thing to say, but I think it's just automatic. However, it would make a point to the across-the-road-neighbour, wouldn't it?
Maybe I should just suggest that my next door neighbour does it?

I have been laughing at this thread - you've nearly all suggested parking in front of his house as the obvious option, and yet neither my neighbour nor myself have even considered it! Talk about not seeing the wood for the trees...
thanks!

HowlingBitch :)

as long as you don't park over an actual drive you can park infront of it house surely, as long as it isn't all drop down pavements. this would make my blood boil too as anal as it all is. i think i would go over there with your neighbour to confront, if anything just to try and bring my blood pressure down a bit. i have similar in our street, small victorian houses where sadly more than 1/2 the street have put in drives. i think the houses are too small to have drives put in and alot have cars which are far too big to fit in the drive, some stick out so much if you were either blind or with a pram/in wheelchair you would be forced to walk v close to the road. some people are just plain self absorbed/selfish - one bloke couple of doors away to me rarely parks in or over his own drive and instead parks infront of my next door neighs forcing her to park elsewhere (she has a young baby). he got his karma twice recently tho' - a few months ago i saw early one morning as i went to work he got clamped by the council (probably to do with road tax or unpaid parking tkts) and then a week ago i saw his car being taken by what looked like debt collectors (he lives in one of the nicer bigger houses in the street). we don'#t have a drive, i don't want to look out onto a car plus i don't want to fork out about £1300 for the privilege. go one, go with your neighbour although not in a confrontational way. i had to do similar to give who moved in next door and it was fine. there is room for two cars only outside us (neither have driveways) but she would park RIGHT upto my car as my car is small so it would give the impression there was room for three which there ain't as if three park there i can't get out as my car doesn't have powered steering (old car) and is like a tank to try and get out if a car is right up to my arse). she was fine and all is rosey in the gdn now. how odd that he doesn't like his sons gf to park outside, what an arsehole

Ah PaisleyII beat me to it. I'm in a not in a particularly good mood today, so today I would deal with it like this..... When gf parks and scurries off, I would get my neighbour and move our two cars to sandwich her in. When she comes to your door, (depending on her innitial reaction), I'd advise her this is likely to happen everytime she parks outside your house rather than the one she's visiting and if she takes that risk, then unfortunately you can't guarantee you'll always be in to move your car. Very very childish I know, but actually I'm feeling a bit better just to know I could have as much control over her as she's showing over you. If it was sunny tomorrow and I was feeling much happier, I'd probably try a much more diplomatic route first.

The bfs father is just being a bully to all.

Ask the g/f to move to the other side, as she is making it inconvenient for you all, you don't want to escalate things by parking in front of their house, so that is the fairest arrangement.

On one hand you're saying that you don't care, on the other you're actually pondering about speaking to the neighbour/his visitor about a car parking space. Good grief, why on earth would you waste your time and energy on something this petty? And now you're being geed up by other posters to play tit for tat games and park outside the neighbours house. Isn't that an example of MN's much-spoken of passive-aggressiveness? And for goodness sake, does it really matter who parks where? Oh yeah, and remember, it's all very well for others to encourage an infantile parking war but they don't have to live with the likely fall-out.

Let your next door neighbour and those across the road get on with their childish battle over who parks where on the public highway. Then, when the shit hits the fan and someone starts ranting in the street - and someone will if they're such dickheads over a minor matter - you won't need to be posting the question "AIBU to be upset because a neighbour is shouting and swearing at me in the street in front of my toddler".

I agree with the others, put a polite sign up and/or park outside their house when your front is blocked.
My neighbour once had five cars and a caravan. They would often plop the caravan in our (private) space and park the cars outside others houses, it almost came to fisticuffs with the women of the street screeching at each other about everything from the kids behaviour to cheating husbands . I just listened from my window, not very classy but great fun.

My neighbour regularly parks in front of mine so I park in the nearest space which is quite often in front of his. AFAIC it is a public highway and as long as I am not blocking someone's drive or a dropped kerb there shouldn't be a problem. I really hate it when people effectively take up the space of 2 cars with inconsiderate parking. I can handle a parking area being genuinely full but wasted space is a pain.

I agree with the "parking in front of the house with the sign" plan. You'll have to come back and tell us all about the huge row (or not) when it happens (or doesn't).

The gf is I'm guessing quite a new driver? New drivers often park across two spaces so they know they can get out again.

We lived next door to a college at our old house and most students would park like this. People who lived there hardly ever did as they knew how selfish it was. You could always give her a bit of practice by parking cars really close either side (but it's more sensible to park over his side).

I'm feeling a bit sorry for the girlfriend actually - she's a bit stuck in the middle, trying to appease her boyfriend's looney father.

I agree with everyone else - park in front of their house when she's in front of yours. But dont escalate things by parking there any other time or doing anything else provocative. Keep the moral high ground.