Oh fucking hell its a parking one..

[Emster58]

Tell me please what fresh hell is this?

Of course there is a backstory but it culminated with dh being threatened today

We live on a new housing estate, we share the entrance to our driveway with two other families....
We have owned the house for 8 years but it has been rented out while we've been abroad. We just recently moved back and discovered that no one now living here is aware that it is in fact a shared entrance but not a shared drive. The parking has been pretty bad and I've had to knock on my ndn1's about 5 times to be able to leave my property as she was parked on it. Interestingly enough this seems to piss my neighbor off
I had been getting some building work done, it took about 6 weeks. I informed my neighbors beforehand and wouldn't allow work after 6pm in order to not put the neighbors out to much.
A truck dented my neighbours (2) fence i got it fixed immediately and was mortified and apologetic.
A delivery truck was blocking the exit once by about 5 inches and my neighbor 1 went batshit at me in the street. It was the same neighbor who was consistently blocking me in and i was only ever nice & polite to her when she was on my property
My ndn2 stood out on the drive with her dh and dm and shouted over to my gardeners that i was a disgrace for having building materials on ndn1's drive.

Still with me?

When the work was finished i took round wine and a card to both neightbours (i also arranged to get their windows washed to clean any builders dust)and thanked them for their patience. In the card i attached a photo copy of the property boundaries for their information and so they would realise that they were in fact parking on my drive and that I wasn't storing property on ndn1's drive that it was in fact my
property.

So that's the back story ... now this is where it starts to get nasty.
Just to make things better we live opposite a school.
Sometimes a random blocks the drive entrance and uses it as a parking space. Last week i lost my rag and put a note on the windscreen with Pratt stick saying RUDE - this isn't a parking space. (Fucking bastarding mumsnet giving me these ideas)..anyway turns out it was ndn2's visitor...I didn't know ...it made no sense, why would he park blocking when the neighbor had 2 spaces on his drive???
Anyway the ndn 2 stopped speaking to us (which really is ok because they were never very nice to us anyway), but unfortunately they added in talking about us loudly so we overhear , stink eyeing us, ignoring us when we greet them....sort of a pack mentality when they have. Visitors...sort of low level intimidation but very unpleasant.
The council put in keep clear signs at our drive entrance yesterday - i requested them about 6 months ago. The ndn2 has gone apoplectic. Now they don't park on their drive at all, they are parking both cars at the entrance to make it difficult for us to leave.
They've now set up toys for their D.C. On the entrance so we would have to ask the D.C. To move them temporarily while we exit.which we did, politely of course...
This has resulted in non dh going mental 'squaring up" pointing in my dh's face calling him names, taunting him, telling him hit me hit me go on...my chest just kept very calm with his hands behind his back....ndn's poor poor ds was crying terribly it was awful begging him to "leave it dad please"....when people walked by the ndn doh cuddled his boy and said to my dh...look what you've done to my poor boy you're scaring him ....
I have no idea how to deal with this situation.

Any help please?

I spoke to a policeman once about what happens when there's 2 conflicting stories and no evidence as no formal investigation.

He said that they log everything and will log the original complaint as "threatened" "common assault" etc even though it's not proved in a court of law. He said that they look at most likely situation at times as well.

So on your case they will likely realise that you made the complaint so your version of events is more than likely to be true to what happened. They would consider that if your dh went for theirs - why was it you that reported it? Also they would have got the message when they let their guard down and said they'd park in the shared area as principle!

Sounds like you were right though about them assuming you'd got the keep clear done because of them. They sound like petulant children who've thrown their toys out of the pram!

Personally I would get a solicitor to draw a up a letter now stating the use of the shared drive area and also if you can include the date in which the keep clear was applied for.

*Roller
*
The area i turn on is partly owned by all three houses, we all have a strip of it iyswim. The reason we all have a strip is because we all have right of way to allow smooth access for everyone.
When i turn on to get in, i do go at the front of their house on their own privately owned land just the group owned.
Currently they and there visitors are enjoying the use of my private and our jointly owned access without issue. The only reason they have to prevent me is purely malicious and controlling.

This is still causing them some inconvenience. Hopefully they will get bored and stop.
If it carries on you could, in theory, park as they do? Especially if you warned nice neighbour first.

*do not

Pickle8f I park as they do, at the edge of my property boundary then none of there visitors etc could safely get in or out.
Quite frankly I'd be quite embarrassed to do that, it's really really petty.
I think they are aggrieved at what they see as our interference with how they were living before we returned and are trying to make life difficult for us as a result.

Dh thinks we should just sit on it for a while and see how it develops.
Maybe if would cause us no hassle long term if they park there and if they feel they have their win they will settle down.
If it does cause us issues then we will have to consider our options.

They are doing it for a rise. As you say, the best thing is to just ignore it and keep taking evidence down or filming any further incidents where possible.

Can you not drive directly onto your drive? Why do you need to reverse in?

When leaving, can you not reverse into your own turning square and then just drive out without going near their house?

I understand that in relation to the "shared" area each property owns a strip of it and the other 2 have formally granted rights of way over it. If you are going to have to eventually get solicitors involved do document every time your ROW is interfered with. You would be applying for an injunction to prevent them from interfering with your ROW so need to demonstrate the interference.
Of course, everyone including them will tell you to be mindful of the fact that this could put off a purchaser. But you can't just be held to ransom forever can you?
DH is right. Wait to see how it pans out. You could write to them yourselves, explaining things and apologising for the offence you have caused and asking if you could all draw a line and get on (or at least tolerate) each other as neighbours. I don't think that would be disclosable on a sale because it would be informal. But I think now is not the time, you need to let things settle down a bit.

Call the police. You have been too nice and they sound scummy.

I wouldn't accept their last little bastion of twattishness that they're clinging onto. If the terms of the leasehold (or whatever ) state that the shared parts should be kept clear for turning etc then I would speak to whoever is the authority over that and find out who I speak to and complain with photographs etc. To leave them an inch , these sort will take a mile again eventually so I would not accept (like the police officer apparently did but tbf I suppose it is a civil matter wrt the shared property) their statement (which will have been documented in the officer's notebook hopefully) that they are going to continue to break at least some of the rules.

You say that your turning area next to your house is too small to turn in - do you drive something particularly large/long, like a Range Rover or something? If so, it might be worth considering switching to something smaller. Obviously you shouldn't have to, but it might make your life considerably easier.

Why on earth should she have to downsize her car just because of idiot neighbours??!!

Land registry. Get clarification of shared access. Get your ducks in a row and if they keep up the behaviour then log it each time, report to the police if needs to and get a solicitor to issue a letter legally telling them what they are entitled to do and use

I bought a small car with a very tight turning circle to avoid a similar situation at my PILs.
Your own mental health is the most important thing here.

There is a middle line here. Don't roll over and accept it (or God forbid incur thousands of £££ selling up). But don't leap in feet first until you've given it a bit of time to settle down.
I suspect it won't settle down and you will end up having to assert your rights. But you will at least have given things a chance to resolve themselves.

Your home insurance will cover this sort of thing.

Sorry have read whole thread now. You need to document everything very carefully now. Lots of photos. Be very careful that you don't end up in an altercation as I suspect they will be straight in the phone to the police accusing you of threatening behaviour.

definitely get the deeds and get a solicitor to send them a letter outlining that its access not their own property

Could you extend your personal bit if drive nearer your house?
Maybe make the bottom left turning area bigger so that there's room to park a car on it ans also allow other car (which is parked nose in to your upper bit towards garage) to reverse into to exit?
We live in a similar set up (although thankfully with nice neighbours not arseholes) and the builder was a little mean with the amount of private drive and parking he made . I guess grass is cheaper than block paving.
Nearly all of us have extended our area to park on

Thanks for all your responses, its really helpful to have unbiased views on both my own and my ndn's behaviour.
I think its smart to let everything cool down and see what they do. TBH i would have just let them blow of steam with the twatty parking for a while before escalating, but the threats of violence and the intimidation with her vehicle i just won't accept.
I don't think they are nice people but i do believe on the whole they are law abiding as they are doing exactly what they feel they can without it being illegals as such.
I mean really.....who the fuck are these people who don't explore the deeds and boundaries properly before buying They don't know that they are not entitled to park where they are.

This weekend dh and i plan to go over our deeds thoroughly and look at everything and be 100% clear of all information. If it is as we believe then we may write to our neighbours.
I'm considering sending them the relevant information and letting them know that now we are aware that they are irritated by our reversing in the shared access that we will be happy not to do that in the future unless necessary to minimise discomfort to them., but that we expect that the shared access be kept clear for everyone's comfort and for when it is absolutely necessary top be used for turning.

However this will only be attempted if in fact they don't behave aggressively or do anything else within the next couple of weeks.

And we will let them know in the letter that we will in fact pursue legal action if we cant come to an amicable arrangement that acknowledges our rights and needs as well as their own.

I did consider extending but it would be really difficult, perhaps not possible and very expensive and dh thinks they will just feel emboldened and become even more aggressive with their vehicles.

Oh and...im not sure who it was who said about keeping it together.

We will be very careful, they have been extremely goady and aggressive towards us up to now and dh and i just do not engage. Hell would freeze over before i would get into a verbal or physical altercation in the street. I really don't take shit and i will stand up for myself until my last breath, but I'm old enough to know that you really have lost if that's the route you take.

Why on earth should she have to downsize her car just because of idiot neighbours??!!

My post said Obviously you shouldn't have to. But the fact is, if the op cannot turn her car in her own turning space because the vehicle is too large, then switching to a smaller car might avoid the whole issue of having to turn it in the shared area, and thus enable her to completely ignore her idiot neighbours' ridiculous behaviour.

I deliberately factored in size of turning space in my drive when choosing a car, as I can't be arsed with 93 point turns to get out. But it depends on priorities, doesn't it? The op may want/need a large vehicle more than she wants to be able to turn in her own turning space. Or the turning space may be so tiny that even a Smart Car may have problems - I don't know. It's just a suggestion.

Acacia

It's not really because my vehicle is to large, it's just a small tight space really, but i can do it.

It still leaves the problem of the fact that the shared access is blocked for us and what that may mean long term.

I was initially thinking that the ndn were at least law abiding but i now think the only reason they have not gone further is because they will restrict ndn1.

She's now put her bins out on the drive to cause further obstruction.

I am able to get in & out freely though so im not really sure what she's accomplishing with this new tactic

It's all getting a bit silly really isn't?

Very silly. She's just making some kind of imaginary point now. Ignore ignore ignore (whilst secretly taking photos to build up evidence in case you need it down the line)