To think my neighbour isn't *entitled* to park outside my house?

[TempusEedjit]

Sorry this is long!

Some background - we've lived here for four years, the neighbours across the road who are in the house directly opposite ours have lived here for two years, they have four cars between them and no driveway of their own.

Our front drive has space for two cars but if both are parked there then one blocks the other in. This sometimes means that if DH gets home after me but knows I'm going out again later then he will park on the road directly outside our house so we don't have to mess around moving cars out of the way. Both of us will park on our drive though whenever possible, which is more often than not.

Anyway one morning I went to leave the house to find our neighbour's car parked across our drive. DH was parked on the road as he'd got home after me the night before but I was leaving before him that morning. DH knocked on neighbour's door to ask him to move, cue rant from neighbour saying it was our fault for being selfish by taking up a space on the road when we had a drive. DH explained about blocking in etc and there was plenty of space further up our road (maximum 50 feet away) but neighbour still thought we were being unreasonable.

Anyway over the last few months neighbour has taken to parking outside ours by default even when he has spaces outside his thereby leaving them free for his wife or son to park there later. If DH is literally gone for 15mins dropping his DC off at their mum's then neighbour will go out and move his car into that space whilst he's gone.

So we are having our front drive repaved, it's obvious access is needed for the workmen as there have been diggers and machinery outside for the past week. Workman told me yesterday that neighbour was very disgruntled at being asked to move his car and only did so when the workman warned him it might get damaged - despite this he was parked outside again this morning and upset at being asked to move again! (Our own cars were parked further up the road).

Anyway today a man from the council turned up saying there had been a complaint that the workmen had cracked the pavement slabs outside our house. Upon inspection it was obvious the cracks were old (they even had moss growing in them) so he just marked them for future reference and said he'd be back to check again next week.

I'm sure it must be the man across the road who's responsible as I can't think who else would report us as both of our neighbours either side are fine about the work as our front drive has been an eyesore since before we moved in.

Aibu to think that our neighbour is an entitled arse and if I want to park outside my own bloody house for whatever reason then I can? And would you say anything to them?

But why on earth should I be expected to pay extra... just so that cuntychops across the road doesn't have to walk a few extra yards on the few occasions (2-3 times a month max) when DH and I don't want to block each other in?

I'm not saying it's fair. But in the situation you're describing (i.e. he's an arse and what's more an arse with 4 cars) your choices are: widen your driveway, escalate things by parking outside his house (I dare ya! :o) OR accept that he's going to keep parking outside your house and you just have to suck it up.

The problem with these threads is that inevitably the other party is a fucking nutter. There's no reasoning with people like this. So, you either fight them, seethe with resentment or think 'Fuck it, life's too short, let's widen the driveway and never think of Mr Cuntychops again.' I would consider that money well spent rather than repaving an existing driveway for nothing more than cosmetic gain.

OP we have 3 cars and a driveway for only 2, we prefer to leave DD car on the road as its small and old, she doesn't use it everyday.
DH and I try to get our cars the correct way around for the morning so he doesn't have to faff around before work (I'm not even out of bed when he leaves). Our neighbors have not complained even on the rare occasions he does have to out my car outside their house.
Across the road now also have 3 cars (the joy of DC growing up) and they have to juggle their cars too, but we can all manage this. Yes I would be annoyed if after 3 years they suddenly decided to park their extra car outside my house, just as I would expect them to be annoyed if I did the same, but as decent human beings we don't do this. God knows what happens next year when our DC2 turn 17 and we potentially go up to 4 cars.

OP I would be annoyed in your position just because he is being petty.

If its a public road, you can park anywhere, and so can he. So its first come first served, and nothing more to be said.

YANBU, OP.

The three-generation clan across from me has room for at least four cars in their drive, plus a two-car garage. But because the drive is single lane and they would have to jockey cars around (some of them work overnight shifts, some days, the owners are elderly couple who go out shopping at all hours etc) they use the street. Their first choice is in front of my house, second choice in front of the neighbors on either side of them and last resort is in front of their own house.

Large pickup trucks that when parked at the kerb make it difficult for whoever lives in adjacent houses to back safely out of their drives. It's quite galling.

Last year one of the young men bought or borrowed a beat-up old limousine and left it parked in front of my house for three weeks.

The city picks up brush (trimmed shrub/tree limbs, woody yard waste etc.) from the kerb/gutter every third week from April to October and I have taken to gathering an armload and dropping it in the street in front of my house to thwart their parking, as well as spacing out my wheelie bins on trash night. Petty but satisfying.

I know its petty but if a neighbour did that to me then Id park in their space too. People get away with dickish behaviour because another (although not wrong, really) refuses to engage. I hate the thought of unsociable people getting their own way due to this attitude that seems so prevalent now that, if people mess with you, you have to let them or YOU are the one being unreasonable?! so yeah, whats fair for one is fair for the other isn't it...Id park there and any muttering shouting screaming from him would be totally ignored as I sail by giving no eye contact whatsoever. He doesn't own the road and has too much time on his hands to watch your comings and goings and aim to make your lives difficult, as pricks like him who can't just live peacefully tend to do. Unless you need him as a best friend, who cares. He certainly doesnt, and he's a bully

Meant to add, you widening your driveway hence having your own spaces and zero need to even cough in his direction anymore, will likely irritate him to death, because it puts a stop to his game. Its no fun for him if nobody engages. So if thats an option then do it.. its to be hoped he'll stay away from your side of the road if you do, rather than find something else to complain about if he's fixated or generally needs trouble/drama to give his life focus

they shouldnt be parking with two wheels on the pavement at all....inform the council.....you would be better having a dropped kerb the entire front of your house stopping anyparking there at all that will piss him off totally!

There's a few irrelevant points in the OP - first of all, the cracked paving thing doesn't matter - if there's moss, it clearly isn't recent damage. Ignore.

Secondly he can park wherever he likes on a public highway as long as he isn't blocking you in.

If he is actually blocking your access, for getting out rather than in, then you can call the police and have him towed.

If he is not actually blocking your driveway itself then I would determinedly ignore his stupid childish shenanigans and just get on with it, till he gets bored and fucks off. He can't hurt you.

MrsJorah But I do accept him parking outside our house! The issue is that he doesn't want us parking outside and the fact that because he views it as his right to be there he got arsey with being asked to move for a temporary, valid reason.

I am not going to knock down the whole of my front wall so we have no boundary between us and the pavement just because of him. It would look awful and out of keeping with the rest of the road. Plus I don't think it's fair to permanently remove a parking space from outside our house which would impact on everyone just because of one neighbour being awkward.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your views. As explained we can't park outside his without escalating the situation as well as inconveniencing ourselves plus I am shit at parallel parking so I will leave it for now. If however he says anything more to us or bothers the council again I will probably go over and have a word.

Bloody neighbours - why do we have to have them!

But why on earth should I be expected to pay extra to get my drive widened/apply and pay for a dropped kerb/have the cosmetics of my property looking the way I don't want it

Don't be so selfish Tempus, it would make a great thread if you did.

He sounds like a knob and you are not being unreasonable OP. However, you have to deal with him and he IS being unreasonable. I would continue to park wherever most suits you on any given day and I'd ignore him. Let him waste as much of the council's time as they are willing to give him - you can't get in trouble for something that hasn't happened.

Rise above it. It's all in his petty little head.

honeydragon

Now I understand why we had to do those English comprehension exercises at primary school. They were clearly wasted on many. The number of people running out to tell the OP everything they've learnt on previous parking threads is ridiculous. The OP is clearly not unaware of the law, she just doesn't want to be harassed on the few occasions she parks outside her own house.

Owning four cars when you have no drive is ridiculous, especially if you have to harass your neighbours in order to park them.

Last neighbour who told me I couldn't park somewhere got my car parked outside of his house for a month.

Was the last straw in him thinking he could bully me. Twat.

In all fairness if he was legally parked you had no right to ask him to move and any damage to his car would have had to be covered by the builders.

We live in a quiet terraced street. There are lots of students in HMOs in the street (we have one let next door but one) I have watched that lot park (well abandon) all five of their cars across five houses fronts- including mine. We haven been able to park even ten houses close since Christmas - my husband had to change the brake pads on the car whilst it was parked at the bottom of the street. He was not amused.

We knocked on the door and the only one left in the house wasn't the owner of any of the cars - they had all gone home for the weekend - on the fucking train!!!

Basically OP, if I've got this right - your NDN has got so used to you not needing to use the space outside your house, he now views it as 'his' so is annoyed that you are on occasion parking in 'his' space when you occasionally park on the road that he thinks it's ok for him to act a dick and block in the other car to prove a point about you using 'his space'.

Therefore, you are going to have to 'train' him out of viewing the space outside your house as 'his'. The easiest way to do this is that every time it's empty, even if you could happily park on the drive (as you won't be blocking in the other who has to leave early), don't and park on the road instead.

Do this every time you find the space outside your house free, even if you could use your drive.

If he questions it, don't get into explainations about blocking in the other etc, just smile and say "it's taxed and MOTed, I'm entitled to park it on the road, and outside my own house is the easiest space, but don't worry, I don't really mind if someone else is parked there, it's no bother to walk down the street if you get there first."

I would also park in front of his house if it's free and he's parked in front of yours...

Eventually, he'll be trained out of believing the space outside your house will always be available, sometimes it will be, but after say, 6 months, he won't expect it - you're doing everyone a favour.

(you could buy a 3rd car and watch him explode).

BYthe way he can block a dropped kerb as long as your car isn't on it..

No he can't , it is an offence.

Highway code 243- DO NOT BLOCK THE ENTRANCE TO APROPERTY.

OP, look it up, show him thw highway code, report him to traffic enforcement, AND the police for anti social behaviour.

He is breaking the law.

In the cottage we lived some years ago, we actually owned the strip of land outside our house where neighbours parked. We rented the house first, then bought and our solicitor made us aware of it.

The worst neighbours had two large cars and a big driveway with off road parking for about five cars, but it was easier to park in front of our house to get out quickly in the morning. I remember one really rainy night my poor DH came home and couldn't park anywhere near with bags of shopping because they had taken up all the parking places. My solicitor said he would write to them telling them to get off but quite frankly it would only make matters worse.

It happened to me shortly afterwards and I decided to park my car right across the back of their two cars. I didn't hear them hammering on my front door the next morning.

I see his point. It is annoying if someone has a drive and still takes up space on the street, and equally annoying when you're told to move out of a parking space for workmen.

All seems a bit petty, your neighbour needs a sense of perspective. Where I am (victorian terraces, no driveways, big football ground up the road), there are people driving round for up to an hour to try and find a space within walking distance of their house if they happen to get home from work during a football match. We'd be elated to find a spot as close as 50 yards up the toad.

Have they paid their road tax? Then they can park where they like...sorry!

obvs so long as not blocking anyone in

We have a neighbour like this he is a right t*at and known as mr angry on our road by all the neighbours.
I feel sorry for him to be honest that he is so sad that he feels he has to do this , my parents baby sat not long ago and he parked his car across our drive so no one could get out . I enjoy baiting him now it's sport lol