Parking on my Drive

[Granitetopping]

I own a house with a drive which is a single track - just wide enough for one car. My next door neighbour doesn't have a drive but she does have a car. She regularly parks on my drive when there are no more spaces on the road. I have asked her many many times not to park on my property - which is clearly marked as a private drive.

She is a single parent with a young child and I sometimes feel that I am bullying her when I ask her to move her car. I get so fed up with contantly banging on her door. She always apologies and moves her car - but I would like to formally warn her not to park again with a strongly worded letter from my solicitor because the thought of driving home each night and wondering if she is parked there again is slowly driving me mad.

AIBU to threaten her with a letter- or should I be more charitable?

[Fakebook]

I find it hard to believe someone would keep parking on your drive. How many exact times has she done this? Is there a fence or wall between your gardens? Very odd.

[valiumredhead]

Why do you find it hard to believe fake? Some people are just don't care and ignore what you have asked them. Some people are utter gits!

[ophelia275]

WTF? Why are you feeling guilty about this. What an absolute cheek to park on your private property, especially when you have asked her not to. I think she is the one taking the piss and being a selfish cow. If she wants a drive she should pay for a home that has one, not use yours!

[MummytoMog]

We have parking in front of our house and a shared drive in between us and our neighbours which leads to the garages belonging to the two houses. Very short, just the length of the houses, and we don?t use our garage for parking, so don?t use it at all. Our neighbour often but not always parks in front of his garage, so we are very careful not to block him in. His family visit a lot, and use it to park on. We always ask our visitors to park up on the road (parking is free). The other day my sister was home in the middle of the day, so left her car there for half an hour while she got ready to go out. Neighbour was not parked in front of his garage so she was not blocking him in. By the time she came out, next door?s family had arrived and blocked her in. She would happily have moved the car if they?d asked (although I think she has as much, if not more, right to park there given she actually lives with us and they were just visiting), but it was just incredibly rude to block her in. There's no reason for them not to park on the road except laziness, they're all perfectly able bodied. We are now planning our extension to the side of our house. I was being ever so careful not to build up to the property line so that he could still get his car in. Not being so careful now. Good luck getting past our giant extension pal.

[BreconBeBuggered]

I don't find it hard to believe at all. It used to happen to us regularly - the driveway was clearly part of our property, but people from across the street would use it regularly to park up and play loud music off the road. Right outside our window. They clearly thought we were being uptight to complain as we didn't have a car, but our visitors normally did, and we didn't actually want regular teenage boyracer gatherings right outside our door.

We put a chain up in the end, which made it clear where the boundary was (at the edge of the pavement, astonishingly) but I know they still parked there when we were away.

[whois]

I can't believe some people think its ok?? Crazy. If a neighbour was sunbathing in your back garden when you got home from work you'd be livid, this is exactly the same.

OP, don't do a solicitor letter.

I second the suggestion for asking why she parks on your drive, and then get a retractable bollard installed.

[Fakebook]

I must live in a cucoon then. I've never experienced continual piss takers, but then I'm quite an abrupt person and voice my opinions clearly when I'm unhappy about something. OP, maybe you should learn to talk more assertively accompanied by a death stare? To show you really mean it?

[valiumredhead]

fake we had someone parking on the corner of of close for months to avoid paying car park fees at the station, so a commuter.

Actually parked ON the corner diagonally - so blocking the view of the main road when we were leaving our close.

I left a note.

Twice.

Then rang the police

[Jins]

I do find this overwhelming need to establish territory quite unfathomable

It's not an overwhelming need to establish territory. Territory is very clearly established in the deeds to the property.

This is an overwhelming need to protect ownership and prevent anyone claiming acquired rights of access in the future.

[jumpingjackhash]

Another vote for asking her why she keeps parking on your drive - but I'd do this when she comes to ask you to move your car (which you've parked directly behind, blocking her in).

Cheeky cow.

[PootlePosyPerkin]

Have you tried a couple of traffic cones across the drive?

She is being cheeky to the extreme - I would be going down the chain & padlock route if it were me, although would she then park across the bottom of the drive itself do you think?

[PootlePosyPerkin]

As an addition to the blocking her in idea, could you do it in an evening or at a weekend and then make it "impossible" for you to move the car as you've "just had a bottle of wine, sorry" (whether you actually have or not) .

[ThedementedPenguin]

Op come back and update us when you decide what to do.

Personally I would go talk to her and then calmly say if she continues you will have to employ a towing company or talk to solicitor. I think it's a disgrace that you should have to put up a chain or a gate to stop this person from parking on your drive, but if there's no other way it will prob be the easiest and cheapest way

[OwlLady]

my neighbour and his many visitors park on my drive as well and it drives me mad especially as he has a HUGE drive himself
wtf is wrong with people?

[LessMissAbs]

I would just block her in and go away for a few hours/days - whatever it takes. Its remarkably effective. Leave your contact details in a note on her windscreen, to seem fair, but when she phones, explain you have just gone to bed/are out at the shops and won't be able to move your car til morning.

My guess is that you are trying to avoid confrontation with your neighbour, but that she is one of life's pisstakers, who will try to get something for nothing if she can get away with it. You need to stand up to her and give her a sharp rebuke of some kind.

[LessMissAbs]

Forgot to add, the fact that she is able to move her car when you ask her suggests it is not exactly an impossible feat to park near where she lives on the street...

[atthewelles]

Block her in. When she asks you to move to let her out say 'I'm a bit busy at the moment. I'll be out in ten minutes '- then wander out fifteen minutes later. Do this a few times and she might find it more convenient to just park down the road somewhere.

[Porkster]

How rude your neighbour is OP!

My neighbours have one of those locking post things (because they have a very flash car, not because I park on their drive), that would be an effective solution.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Trouble with chains and posts is they're an inconvenience for the OP to have to deal with too. Would be so much better to find a way to dissuade the woman from trespassing at all.

[Pendipidy]

how many times has she done it? what are you going to do?!

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

I am very territorial. Especially as it costs us a lot of money each month for the privilige of living here. We're on a new estate and have a shared drive. No problem. Except the new owner of the house at the bottom decided he was allowed to park anywhere on the drive, including our private parking bays. Despite the fact that he had his own parking bays. That were always empty. He even argued with the deed maps. In the end, we asked our solicitor to have a little chat. He now parks in his allocated bays, and I don't have to cement gnomes in to our bays just to make a point

[NamingOfParts]

Dont come to an arrangement about sharing the drive as this could set precedents about access and risk problems when trying to sell.

Also, dont create a disagreement about this by blocking her in etc. Again this risks problems when coming to sell.

Physical barriers to prevent her parking on your drive are the way forward.

[scarletforya]

Is there any chance the neighbour has misunderstood and thinks it's a communal driveway?

[LessMissAbs]

Blocking someone in doesn't have to cause a disagreement. The OP would be doing entirely accidentally, more than once if necessary, and be terribly apologetic for any inconvenience caused.

At the moment, she does have an ongoing dispute that is going to be worse to declare if she sells the property if it remains unresolved. By taking effective action to resolve it, she is likely to minimise the issue ie nip it in the bud.

People shouldn't live in fear of annoying their neighbours just because they may have to declare it when they move house - an undeclared festering dispute such as this is far more likely to provide grounds for a claim by any future third party innocent purchaser than a minor past dispute successfully resolved.

If getting a chain, I'd be personally tempted to send the invoice for the cost to the neighbour, but then I'm awkward that way...