Parking in front of your own house..... What's the deal with this????

[crazygoat]

Hello! We have just moved into a new house and there is no allocated parking. On our first day a neighbour popped into say hello an mentioned that each house likes to park in front of their own house, then quickly apologised for parking in front of ours! I did ask if it was allocated and she said no but it's what we like.

Fast forward a few days and we had got back from doing the weekly shop and the only place to park was in front of a neighbours house, seeing as we had to unload the car with shopping, toddler, buggy and everything else that a small human needs we parked in that space as it was free. We then didn't use the car for about 4 days but didn't think there would be a problem leaving it there as there were always other spaces free within about 15 steps of everyone's front door, anyway my partner has to use the car and in less than a minute after he has gone both my neighbours move their cars, one from in front of my house to in front of his and the other out if the space in front of the other neighbours house to in front of his. So all in all both cars have been moved about 5 meters!! I then heard then say to each other 'so glad we have got our spots back, think we should get some cones'

Why do people do this?? Me and my partner will park in the closest spot to our front door, whether that be in front of it or 30 meters down the road. we really don't care!!!! If there is a spot opposite my neighbours house I'm not going to park in another spot just to keep if free for them!!

AIBU??? If you are one of these people that likes to always park in front of your house can you please let me know why?? I can understand if you have a disability, you are entitled to have a space close to your house, I can even see that it would be nice if you have a car full of kids you want to keep safe but that doesn't entitle you to the space.

I wish my life was so simple that I could spend my days looking out my window to see if my parking space is free!!!!

My DF is like this, he came to visit me and said someone else was parked outside my house I wasn't sure what he meant by it so looked a bit he then informed indignantly that it was a van and it was blocking my view, I said my view of what? The house across the road? He didn't know what to say after that

It's crazy! I have a drive and I never park in front of my house. So long as no one obstructs my drive, I don't care if other people park there.

As for cones... I believe this actually could be an offence as they would be obstructing the highway.

As a teenager the family lived near a huge business Park. They had a car park but people still parked in our street. Seemed to be the same car outside our house every time. My sf used to get pissed off if he couldn't park in our street. One day he decided to put DOG SHIT under the car handle and across the windscreen! ! Car didn't park there again! Absolutely nuts! Glad I don't drive 😨

I'm in a town centre terrace, and as someone who has had a car parked directly outside my house, unmoving, for EIGHT BLOODY MONTHS I would like to say that this "everyone outside their own house" sounds like paradise! I currently have to park all over the place, sometimes several streets away, and always move my car as close as possible when a space opens up, because I know how frustrating it is to have random people taking all the spaces near your home.
My ex lives on another terraced street, where the other residents routinely leave a gap of about 8 feet more that necessary between them and the next car. Never quite enough to park in, but wastes a huge amount of space on a busy street. Again, he frequently has to park streets away.
Yeah, they're being a bit precious about it, but it beats the alternatives.

We looked at a house once. We were told by the estate agent no one parks on the road. I said we'd need to as we have two cars and was told one would HAVE to go in the garage. Needless to say we didn't buy.

I have a neighbour who tells people who park outside his house to move as he has 2 cars and only space for one on the driveway. His DS has just passed his driving test so they are probably getting another car - I can't wait to see where they are going to park that - as outside someone else's house is the only option!

Parking wars annoys the fuck out of me. Round here we have our own space round the back (IN our yards so no confusion) and a road out the front where people tend to park outside their houses but nothing is allocated. We have one car between us so this is rarely an issue...but few years back FIL went on holiday and asked if he could park outside our house for part of the week so we could keep an eye on his car and so DHs brother could pick it up later on in the week (he had no space at his and lives just round the corner from us so it was just for ease all round really)

Neighbor (they have 4 cars in the household..) went fucking mental. It was actually hilarious how OTT she went that we had a car outside of ours in what she now saw as 'her' space as we had never used it before, preferring to use the back. I tried talking to her but she was in full on rant mode and getting purpler by the second so i settled for laughing in her face and closing the door mid rant.

My ex got into a sort of physical fight over this. Neighbour always parked in front of our house. He wanted to park there, but got home later than him. It is territorial. And middle-aged weirdness.

We all have drives where we live but the extra cars belonging to residents do park in the same spot each day. However, no one has taken ownership and nothing is mention should someone else park in the spot. I remember waiting in my car once and an elderly lady came out and rudely told me to move because her son liked to park there! I told her that when she starting paying my car tax then she could have a say where I parked my car!

I think you sound a bit unpleasant TBH. You knew what the status quo was and you ignored it when (given that you noticed everyone moving their cars around) you could easily have kept an eye out for the spot outside your own home becoming free.

Oh and I REALLY hate people who take up two spaces when they park. Selfish bastards.

It's just a common curtesy to not leave your car outside someones house if you help it- especially for long periods. Someone parked a huge transit outside ours for 6 weeks- nob head!

If I can park outside my house, I do, but if not I park as near as poss.....and everyone on the street does this. Sometimes you have to walk a bit, sometimes not....it's all fine as it's public highway and so all residents and indeed non-residents are free to park where they like.

There are actually 2 spaces outside our house. Once, a few years ago, my neighbour on one side bought a car for her 16 year old son for when he was 17,mwhich was their households 3rd car. They parked it outside our house, rather than on their drive. At the same time our neighbour on the other side had a 3rd car which they we waiting to sell and never drove. They too parked outside our house. So for probably 10 weeks there were 2 unmoving cars outside our house and I was never able to park outside to unload shopping etc. With it being a public road I never expected to be able to always park there, but to not be able to ever park there due to unmoving cars seemed unreasonable, especially as both neighbours had driveways for 2 cars and we don't have a driveway.

In the end, I knocked on both neighbours doors and pointed out that their unmoving cars had been there for 10 weeks. I stressed that I knew it was a public road, but asked if they would consider just moving their cars every few days, so they didn't PERMANANTLY take up the space, esp in light of the fact there were 2 of them. I was very polite and made a request not a demand. Both neighbours were a little bit shame-faced. They clearly knew we hadn't been able to park outside for weeks and had seen me struggle down the road with shopping etc. They did then move their cars. One put their non-moving car onto their driveway and parked a moving car in whatever space they could get on the road - this meant it moved regularly, so didn't cause an on going problem for anyone. The other one moved her non-moving car down the road and did seem to move it around about once a week until it eventually sold.

I did think their behaviour had been rather selfish - they wanted to be able to see their cars, which they could if parked outside my house. They wanted the convenience of having 2 drive spaces to rely on for their cars threat were driven on a regular basis. They didn't really care that parking unmoving cars prevented us ever being able to park outside. However, to their credit, when it was raised, they did both move them.

Re road parking, I think people have to accept that everyone has a right to park where they want and spaces outside houses don't belong to anyone. At the same time, a bit of respect for neighbours if good. This doesn't mean avoiding parking outside their houses or needing to go out to move the car to the front of your own house the minute that space becomes free.....but it also means not deliberately parking for lengthy periods outside one persons house.

We live in a culdesac and when we moved in we got told by the neighbours that they park there and that's that, over the years some have moved and new ones have moved in, during this time I passed my driving test and got our own car. Then the problems started, I got threatened by one neighbour for parking outside there's, then got nothing but hassle of the ones the other side that they need the parking spot outside because they have a baby!!!!!... ( I have 4 children 3 of which have special needs) so I started parking at the bottom, then after my husband got his bike they got really nasty, we have had everything from petty comments to threatening me and the kids, to assaulting my husband all over a parking space

Don't think you can get more reasonable than that ChocolateWombat

Neighbourhood parking wars is why we moved out of London.

Now we have a driveway big enough for 10 cars if we wanted!

My ex neighbours used to literally jump up and down if anyone else parked in front of their house.

It happened a lot. I wish I'd filmed him especially the day he did it with his briefcase in one hand and laptop bag in the other...it would have gone viral on You Tube.

It is an unfortunate situation but quite normal. Everyone like to park in front of their own house of course. I think obviously you should try and respect this as much as possible. But your neighbours sound really petty. What a waste of energy to more the their cars when they are already parked? Where I grew up this was the norm. People only tried to park in front of their own houses. But at the end day sometimes an additional car or two messes this up and where else you going to park.

At my mums house (terrace) as more house households became 2, 3 or 4+ car household the pressure became really bad on her street. Sometimes you could not get parked on the street and guarantied if you popped out in the car for 5 mins the space would be gone. It is an increasing problem. My mum was the first on her street to get a drooped curb and a driveway put in. She started a parking arms race. Now nearly every house has a drooped curb. Now there is no street parking and it has stuffed the parents picking up their kids at the school near by or 2 car + families.

It is the reason I have only ever chosen houses with their own driveways or secure yard. Because the car is something I use every day it has always been top of my consideration when picking.

So bizarre! what about standard terraces streets where plenty of houses will have two or more cars. Such strange behaviour! I would definitely not abide to it

I don't really care who's parked outside our house, although it's nice with a carload of shopping to be able to do this and the neighbours on our street tend to leave spaces for each other, if that makes sense.

What gets me though is that there's enough room for 2 cars to park outside ours and next door's, but every now and then someone parks badly enough to take out both the spaces. Grrr.

Presumably all these streets with parking rules between neighbours don't have anyone from outside wanting to park there. Both streets I lived in in London were full of random drivers coming and going, parking to nip to the shops, for the tube and one on occasion leaving their (very expensive) car there while they got the tube to Heathrow and went away for a fortnight. I know this because the driver left his keys in the door so I locked his car and kept them for him and left a note for him to collect them when he came back. I think if you get to the point where you obsess about it (which obviously some people do) then it drives you mad so probably better all round to buy a house with a drive. My favourite part of the OP's post is the bit about the neighbour being parked outside her house when going round to explain the 'rules'!

Our next door neighbour asked us to move our car when it was parked in front of our house. Apparently his daughter was having problems reversing into his driveway so we were to move our car as it didn't leave her enough room. He said we should park further down the street and round the corner! She only visits once a week!! My DH (who's a driving instructor) pointed out you could reverse a double decker bus in the space and we would continue to park there. He was not happy .
This went on for a while and then day DH was so fed up he told him our 3 kids were all saving up for their own cars. NDN nearly had a fit but it shut him up and he hasn't mentioned it since.

We have this problem in our road. One of my neighbours is obsessed about their car being in front of their house. One time after returning from holidays early because I had 3 vomiting children the only place to park was opposite in front of their house. I parked up decanted the children plus some of the 'icky duvets to shove in the washer and just as I closed the front door the neighbour came over and asked me to move the car. I asked her where she wanted me to move it to as there wasn't a space anywhere, she just told me that that H would want his space back when he got in!! This happened at about 3pm...H didn't get home until well after 10pm!! On another occasion the same neighbour told me that they deserved to park in front of their own house because "our car is worth more than your car". I was absolutely flabbergasted at their arrogance. Interestingly, the same neighbour has 3 children who drive but they never park outside their own house, always in front of other people houses with about 6 foot front and rear to prevent anyone else getting in and leave them there for days. On the whole it's all quite unpleasant!!!