Parking thread- Sunday edition..

[BubbleFrog]

We have a house with a shared drive. We own one half and have right of way over the other half and our NDN's have the same. This leads to two very old garages which are used for storage. We were planning to turn our shed in to parking but are awaiting the funds to.

The parking on our street is extremely tight and only one side of the street can be parked on. Only 3 houses have driveways like ours so it really is at a premium.

NDN's have a total of 5 cars in their house and are causing a huge amount of friction on the street due to this. We have had various agreements with them regarding the use of the shared drive which they always break first leading to a sort of whoever gets there first can park there situation. The drive can take 3 cars, we only have one and they park two behind the gate as they don't use them during the week. They usually let us park in the front of the drive but more and more frequently they occupy all three spaces leaving us to park on the street. They are pleasant to us when we ask them to move or let us park in the drive but will take as much as they can until you ask them not to IYSWIM. I am so pissed off but DH does not want to cause ructions as we are due to move shortly.

Parking on the street continues to be a problem as even if they have all 3 cars parked in the drive they have to park two more as will often do things like park across two spaces when someone leaves in order to reserve a car for their sibling. This happened last night and one of our other neighbours who lives opposite came round to say that there was no parking on the street and our drive was free so she parked in it to unload her shopping (we are friendly with her) and one of the NDN's came out verbally abusing her.

She wants to know what she can do as this is causing problems for everyone and wants us to support her to make a complaint somewhere/anywhere?

I am unsure as we have an ok relationship with the NDN's even though i think their behaviour is out of line, but we need to work together with them every day. AIBU?

Also who would she even complain to? I dont think a council can restrict the number of cars a person has?

I would stay out of it tbh. Explain to the neighbour that as you are moving you don't want to get involved. If you are selling then a dispute with a neighbour could hamper the sale.

Five cars? Good gravy! First off, they had no reason to come out and start abusing your other neighbour who was parked on your shared drive with permission, when it was their twatty parking that meant she couldn't get near her house in the first place. They sound really selfish parking over two spaces like that. I have no practical advice though.

If your moving soon I'd grit your teeth re the shared drive.

Your neighbour can't really do anything re not being able to park in the street. That's the problem with not having off road parking. Your NDN is entitled to have as many cars as they want...saving spaces for siblings is fairly bratty behaviour but kind of understandable.

I suppose your neighbour who can't park could petition the council to make the road permit only? Although that might cause more problems than it solves.

The only reason they haven't started giving you static is because they know the ins and outs of what a shared drive with access means. Knowing this, they are being selfish twats constantly hogging it. It's going to be a difficult relationship to manage because even once you have converted the shed you will still find it difficult to access due to their behaviour.

Actually when it is a shared drive with a right of access over half of it then no one in reality has the right to park on it and will move when necessary/asked. Between you you have agreed that you and your ndn can park but unfortunately it does not mean you can (in legal terms) give permission to another person to block the access even temporarily.

Do not get involved with your other neighbour's complaint if your ndn are legally parking their cars on a public highway. It is too bad if they manage to get there first and other people have to park elsewhere on neighbouring streets. We used to live in a street like this and sometimes had to park on the parallel street instead.

If you are moving you certainly do not want to have to disclose on your Sellers Property Information Form that there is a dispute with neighbours.

Don't convert the shed/garage if you're moving! That's madness.

Not the point of the thread, I know!