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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think I should be able to park on the communal driveway?

62 replies

RagamuffinAndFidget · 29/10/2013 16:03

Sorry for yet another parking post but I'm genuinely struggling to work out who's BU here! And sorry if it gets a bit long and boring..

I live in a block of six Housing Association flats (we moved in mid-2010). We have a communal driveway with space for eight cars which is partly in front of the flats and partly down the side (four spaces at the front and four at the side). I haven't had a car until very recently as I only passed my test at the beginning of this month, so I obviously haven't used the communal driveway until now. I have, however, paid the £2 a week paving/driveway maintenance charge that makes up part of our weekly rent. Until I got a car there were only eight cars in the block (the other three two-bed flats have two cars each, and the two one-bed flats have one each, if it makes any difference) but now there are nine, so we're short by one space.

The way the parking has worked up until now is:
Flat 1 used one front space and one side space.
Flat 3 used two front spaces.
Flat 4 used one front space and one side space.
Flat 5 used one side space.
Flat 6 used one side space.

When I bought my car I was chatting to some of the neighbours and one of them actually told me that they would 'kick off' if they came home to find I'd parked in their space. Another said I should just park on the road because everyone had 'their' space and I shouldn't mess with things. I kind of feel like I should be able to park on the communal driveway because there are enough spaces for every flat to have one car, with two left over, and I've paid for the HA to completely ignore maintain the driveway, even when I wasn't blimmin' parking on it! So for the last few weeks I've been playing Car Tetris, just parking where there's been a space and hoping no one comes to my door looking for a fight about it.. and now one of the neighbours has been getting quite aggressive about it, saying that I've got no right to just get a car after three years (even though they've only lived here eighteen months, if that's relevant) and start using everyone else's spaces. Are they right? AIBU to think that I should be allowed to use the driveway? I can see why it's irritating when they've all parked easily for however long, but I've got a right to have a car and park it too haven't I?

OP posts:

Fleta · 29/10/2013 16:26

If the HA cannot enforce it I would query why they're enforcing payment of the maintenance charge for the spaces from people who don't use them

HaroldLloyd · 29/10/2013 16:26

Park outside your window if its free.

Honestly they are being really rude!

8 flats 8 spaces one each.

Just looking on eBay for a suitable traffic warden outfit and an officious looking note pad

Original poster

RagamuffinAndFidget · 29/10/2013 16:27

caruthers I think you've hit the nail on the head - there IS something about parking spaces that turns people into total loons.. I don't get it though. Perhaps I haven't been driving long enough, is it something that develops over time..?

OP posts:

Mouthfulofquiz · 29/10/2013 16:27

YANBU for sure. They all sound like a bunch of twats! I wish I was there to bloody tell them to piss off on your behalf!
You pay for it, you use it.

HaroldLloyd · 29/10/2013 16:29

Lets start a MN parking enforcement division.

poorbuthappy · 29/10/2013 16:31

I would be billing the neighbours for the past 3 years worth of parking maintenance charges and tell them if they want you to park on the road they have to keep paying extra to use your space.

lagoonhaze · 29/10/2013 16:31

That's what I thought Fleta.

Do your HA have a residents association? This is the sort of issue I think some work could be done on.

JeanPaget · 29/10/2013 16:34

How on earth can the person with two cars be justifying their behaviour to themselves? Twats.

Original poster

RagamuffinAndFidget · 29/10/2013 16:34

I think we're supposed to have one lagoon but we've never received any information about it or been invited to be a part of it.. I think I do need to speak to them and see if there's anything that can be done.

OP posts:

liquidstate · 29/10/2013 16:39

I have one of those large fluorescent jackets and am often mistaken for a traffic warden, can I come and help???

Floralnomad · 29/10/2013 16:46

The fact is that if you moved and a new family moved in they would expect ,quite rightly , to have access to the parking spaces . Your neighbours are just trying it on , personally I'd get the HA to send the letter if anyone else says anything .

Desiren · 29/10/2013 16:48

I work for a HA and if one of my tenants came to me with this issue a letter will immediately go out advising parking is on a first come basis and reminding them that aggressive behaviour would not be tolerated.

Mim78 · 29/10/2013 16:54

Anyone who has two cars and it telling you that you can't have one space is being unreasonable. Your neighbours are completely in the wrong. If anyone "kicks off" I agree you should call the police. Also, do right to the HA and get them to put it in writing that no one has their own space.

HaveToWearHeels · 29/10/2013 16:55

YANBU, shameful behavior to mention "kicking off". When I lived in HA house, there were 8 houses and 10 spaces. 8 numbered spaces and 2 marked with a V (for visitors). It turned out one house didn't have a car, so three spaces were used by any visitor or anyone who had 2 cars on a first come first served basis. Other cars found somewhere else to park. When I moved in, I was approached about parking, they sort of outlined what had worked previously and I went with it.

VoiceofRaisin · 29/10/2013 17:03

YADNBU btw don't get drawn into justifying yourself with things like DC and dogs - that simply invites discussion about irrelevancies. The only relevant point is that you have as much right to a parking space as every other resident. The residents have a choice: you and they could form a residents' association and decide you will have 1 space each and then ones round the side are 1come1serve, or that all the spaces are first come first serve. Perhaps suggest that and take a vote. If you then notify the HA of your residents association agreement then they might well mark the spaces appropriately.

There is no way that anyone can think they have the right to TWO spaces whilst you have the right to none. I feel for you though as people are weird about parking and it might take some nerve on your part not to be bullied out of your space.

VoiceofRaisin · 29/10/2013 17:06

A good tactic can be (IME) to ask anyone who mentions the parking to you to suggest what they think is a fair system. It will be difficult for them to say "2 spaces for me and none for you" with any credibility at all, and might make them reconsider without being arsey.

auntpetunia · 29/10/2013 17:20

Ask the HA to paint numbers on the spaces and write a letter to all residents of the flats informing them of the new regulations.

jasmine3663 · 29/10/2013 17:22

Voiceof Raisin - that is brilliant and so simple

BurlyShassey · 29/10/2013 17:42

bloody HAs re all the same. we lived in a HA place once. parking spaces were supposed to be 1 car, 1 space, per house. supposed to be (all in their spiel when everyone went to choose their house/flat) but everyone had afree for all, one family had 4 cars (don't get me started on that one), ifyou parked in 'their' space, they scratched/dogshitted your car, complained to HA and they made stupid excuses, we ended up movng out, as were disabled yet not severe enough for a blue badge or disabledspace, and couldn't park round the corner.

OP, Id contact not only your HA but take it further, thishappens a lot in many HA places, take it to local paper, maybe they'll be named and shamed enough to number a space to each persons house/flat.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 29/10/2013 17:45

See, this is how I know I am a petty and unpleasant person at heart, because their response would just fire me up to nick their space and go off on holiday for a month.

Shosha1 · 29/10/2013 17:49

We are in Forces Housing with the same scenario, most people have 2 cars, there is enough parking for two cars each for the houses opposite each other (T shaped road) and one short of 2 spaces on either end of the T, so basically 2 spaces short for the road, most people leave the space right in front of your house free and then its free for all for the other spaces.

Knobhead next door stuck his house number on the two spaces nearest his house, and banged on my door when I had the cheek to park in the one not in front of his house (are you still with me?)

He got told to piss off ( he has annoyed me since he moved in)

Would be quite as bad, BUT he has 3 bloody cars, a van he never uses and two cars!

Twat, the sooner he is posted the better

JustThisOnceOrTwiceOrThrice · 29/10/2013 17:50

They may just say though "two spaces for me and you park on the road cos we had our cars first". Thick people don't tend to care about credibility.

OhTheDrama · 29/10/2013 18:03

Ring the association and ask for the Housing Officer that covers your patch to call out. Believe me HA's hate neighbour disputes, keep ringing, writing and emailing until you get a Housing Officer out. I can't believe that your neighbour's think they can get away with this, you are paying for them to hog the spaces whilst yours is parked on the road, at greater risk of someone crashing into it! You couldn't make that up!

The usual etiquette surrounding spaces is one to each household and any left over are usually marked as visitor spaces. Your HA really should have allocated them in the first place, most do to avoid these types of disputes.

clam · 29/10/2013 18:12

So, similar scenario: all the office workers chip in for biscuits and there are enough for one each with 2 left over. What is the argument for one of the contributors to not be given a biscuit, despite having paid, yet others have 2 each?

OP, are you really in any doubt?

RedToothBrush · 29/10/2013 18:27

If you are a HA tenant you will probably find you are in a better position than if you were a private owner. I bet there will be a clause in your contract about antisocial behaviour. So if someone has suggested they will 'kick off' they are threatening and intimidating you, so effectively will be in breech of their contract - which actually makes in the HA problem to deal with and resolve the matter if you raise it with them. You have a right to do this.

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