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!!!!

[GoLightlyHollie]

ok, I admit it, I like to park in front of my own house. If the space outside mine becomes free then I move my car, even if only 5 metres. I think the reason I do is so I can see it out my window. It's a reasonably high end car and I live in fear of it being stolen. It's quite ridiculous I know but I'd never ask a neighbour to move. But I would probably would be inwardly annoyed if someone parked outside mine for days without moving. Although that said, I've parked outside my neighbours house for the last 3 days and I know it'll annoy them.
(I need to get a life really)

[marmitesarnies]

My next door neighbour puts cones out every time she leaves the house to protect "her" space, plus puts notes on any car which is parked anywhere near the corner or not perfectly parked. I would never dream of moving the cones - I feel sorry for her - an older lady and overwhelmed by all the people and change.

[inabizzlefam]

It is all a bit ridiculous TBH.
On the other hand, my hoover won't stretch all the way down the street, even with extension cable when I want to clean the car, so it is nice to be able to park right outside the front door.
I have been trying to hoover my car out for weeks now!

[yogagirl22]

We were moving out of our terraced street due to awful parking police neighbours. If you went anywhere remotely near her house she would be out of there hurling obscene abuse.

One day after parking my old banger (one car family) near, think 2 metres near!! her husbands bike and she started on me in front of my DS.

I was having a bad day and told her to go k herself. My husband playing Kofi Anan started on me to let it go etc!!!

Cut a long story short, DH at work son at school and a trip to decathalon later I made outside her house 2 parking spaces with football pitch marking spray.

They was not terribly straight lines but I made sure within each 'space' I had personalised them 1st one said fugly bitch at no. 2nd one Total tool at no.*.

DH got home and said you never guess what someone has done outside that gobby couple's house?? Then the penny dropped it was me. Asked me to go and scrub it off said I would do no such thing.

It was hilarious an hour and a half later hearing her screeching and ranting. The neighbours loved me for it - being a coward I confessed the day we moved out :)

[mimarbia]

I live in a terrace and the only place to park is the back street which is a public road, a lot of families nowadays have more than one car so it is really annoying when you can't get anywhere near your own house, I like to park outside my house for various reasons, I have a one year old and sometimes he falls asleep in his car seat so I have to carry it into the house, I have groceries and said toddler to carry or sometimes I just like to be able to look out the window and check it's there. Personally I think that everyone should be allowed to park one car in front of their house, if they have more than one then you should expect to park it elsewhere. YANBU in your circumstance but every street is different.

[LarrytheCucumber]

DD has a neighbour like that. Everyone has parking for at least one car, but her next door neighbour calls the space in front of his house his 'drive'. She had friends round and one parked in front of next door (not blocking his actual drive) and his wife came round and asked if DD would make her friend move. Very odd.

[TweedleDumber]

My car is parked down the road and I want it back in front of my home

Not been able to move it tho due to being stuck inside for 3 days. DD is poorly

[ethelb]

It's an outside of London thing.

[WottyMcWottFace]

Sorry to hear you have dreaded parking issues with crazy neighbours! Our former absoluteybonkers next door neighbor had a drive big enough for four cars but still used to park in front of her house 'to save her space!!'

[LarrytheCucumber]

[Cromwell1536]

Crazy, I used to get this at a previous address. We had a big drive, off a main road. People would use it to turn off the main road if the traffic was heavy. People would park in there while delivering stuff to another address. And one time, my poor father was berated for reversing his car across the drive to turn and exit into the road, by a woman who was using the drive (MY drive) to attempt to turn. I tore a strip off her, I can tell you! I could have fitted electric gates I suppose, but I sold and moved instead. Who are these people who think it's OK to barge onto private property just because it's marginally more convenient for them?

[Helpisathand13]

Parking horror stories galore. I don't drive and I am disabled. I rely on taxis, friends and family who do drive. My house is at the turning circle of a cul de sac and I have a garage and can comfortably fit 2cars on my drive and if I block my drive, 2cars outside my house. It is a good job I don't drive because neighbours constantly park outside my house, block my drive, park immediately across from my drive so you cannot even get a car onto my drive. When I am dropped off or picked up I have to go into the turning circle or up the street as my lifts are unable to park ir even pull in next to my house or on my drive. People are selfish and inconsiderate.

[purplebunny2012]

I do like to park in the space outside my house, and I do get annoyed when it is taken, but there's nothing I can do, and I certainly can't put cones out!
All the houses have drives, so it is rare that my space is taken, which makes it more frustrating when someone's visitor parks there.

[LucyintheskywithRainbows]

I've got to put my hands up and say that it bothers me if I can't park outside of my house. I am disabled but even if I wasn't I think it would still bother me. We live in a large cul-de-sac with lots of parking and lots of houses with attached drives. Each house has a garage but not all attached. There is absolutely no reason why anyone would need to park outside of a house they weren't visiting/occupying and thankfully we all stick to the same "rule". I can't explain why, unfortunately, but it just really bugs me. Thankfully it's only happened once (the car was parked there for 3 days tho!)

[fluffiny31]

My old neighbour had a massive go at my late partner years ago for parking outside their house as it was 'their space' well actually it was a main road. They soon came grovelling when he died in a horrific crash about a week later apologising for having a go. Its petty. And they soon realised it and never moaned at anyone again.

[sandbagsatdawn]

I was once signalling to park in a space in a very busy area when someone came down the road quite fast. I thought he wanted to get through, and I would be blocking the road while I parked. So I moved to (I thought) let him get past. He then zoomed into the space I had been signalling to park in. When I pulled up alongside and pointed out I was about to park there, he said, "Yeah well, that's my house." I was speechless and only afterwards thought of all the replies I should have said along the lines of "Yes but you don't own the road."

[LucyBabs]

Surely if you have a dropped kerb outside your house then it's your space..No?

[TeaQueen75]

I live on a street with similar parking 'rules' as OP. It's a small street with 12 houses and space for 11 cars. We have two cars and so are already hated! I park outside my neighbours house which is rented out each year to students and they very rarely have a car. They are very narrow terraced houses, less than a cars length wide so technically it is also outside my house, My new neighbours mum apparently complained and said they were buying a car for their daughter soon so I would have to move mine. I fully understand that if she gets a car there won't be enough spaces on the street for everyone, and that no one owns the road and no one has an allocated space. That being said, we are the only residents on the street with a child and if I see that spot become free I always move the car to 'my spot'. I don't think I am entitled and I would never put cones out or ask anyone to move. Its just luck on the day when you get home. I also don't park in my neighbours 'spots' if I can help it. Most of the cars on the street are visitors or people watching the rugby at the grounds near our house. So I don't thing YABU. It's dog eat dog out there. Park where is available. That's it!

[Collaborate]

There are just 3 rules that anyone needs to be aware of:

1. Park as close to your property as you can/want, without blocking someone's driveway. It doesn't matter whose house you park in front of.
   

2.Accept that rule applies to everyone.

1. Don't ever curtain twitch and move your car a few feet closer unless you want to look like a complete tool. Or doormat if you've been told by a neighbour to do that.

[citychick]

fluff
its an outside London thing
it's not !
our home is in greater london.
most people on our road, including us love to park outside our house. just to keep an eye on it. we pay for street parking but that could be anywhere within a designated area. so it's quite common to park where you can and then move it closer to your house when a place becomes available.

we also have a builder's cafe on the street corner so we all compete with builders van , skip lorries and even the odd hearse!
we have friends in central london and they are al just as territorial!

a neighbour of ours used to put down bollards outside his house. its all a bit ridiculous and so much time is spent competing for a prime parking space.
street parking and 2 car households don't help either.
uanbu at all op

[thefairyfellersmasterstroke]

Reading threads like these I am always grateful that I share off-road parking with five other houses and the designated spaces are on the title deeds!

Had a bemusing experience once though when trying to park for a job interview. No parking in their street so I went around a corner or two and found a residential street with no restrictions and one space, so I took it. As I got out the car a woman came out of the house I'd parked in front of and told me I couldn't park there. I glanced around for a sign I may have missed then said I hadn't seen any yellow lines or anything. She said there were no restrictions but it was outside her house. I said if there were no restrictions that was OK and I was only going to be an hour or so. She walked down her empty driveway to tell me she'd phone the police if I didn't move my car. I said I hadn't parked illegally and she then said she needed it for an ambulance. I asked her if one was on its way, and I kind of thought that explained her coming out the second I'd parked, only she hadn't called for one. She said her elderly mother lived with her and she could be taken ill at any moment, and the space had to be kept free for the ambulance should she need one. She was still shouting about the police and me having no respect for the elderly as I walked down the street. Mad!

[Galdos]

We have Resident's Parking. For some reason, our 75m patch of road is its own parking zone, so if we park anywhere else we get ticketed. There's enough room for everyone (usually outside their own house) but if there are more than a couple of visitors' (or workmen's) vehicles it can mean parking round the corner and risking a ticket. This happens very very rarely, but I have had an £80 fine because of the shortage of space.

This odd factor probably explains why everyone in my stretch usually parks outside their own house, and everyone respects that. Otherwise I agree it is bonkers.

[Doingmybestmum]

When there is no space put a note in the window? "If a space comes free in front of our house do please feel free to let us know" and park where you like?

[embo1]

It irritates me when someone parks on the road outside my house! We live on a curve in the road, right opposite a T junction, very close to a large primary school. I have difficulty pulling out of our sloped drive at the best of times. I'd never ask them to move on though.

[Seb2015]

The street that my son lives in is a nightmare to park. Once, when my daughter visited him she parked across the road. She was there a couple of hours. Later on, hours after she had left, the neighbour whose house she had parked in front of banged on my son's door and actually gripped him and threatened him if he ever let anyone park there again. Unfortunately the world is full of territorial crazies.