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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Using NDNs dropped curb

291 replies

Cleo2628 · 28/05/2018 22:38

Our NDN have a dropped curb but we do not. We’ve enquire but it will be near £1000 which we can’t afford. We moved here last June, and in some notes about the house the previous owner said that she used to neighbors dropped curb to get onto our drive, so we have done the same. Our neighbour had started doing very passive aggresics things eg. blocking my car in with his wheelie bin, parking very far back so we can barely get onto our drive, standing in his porch and watching us reverse off the drive etc. We don’t go onto his drive at all whilst using the dropped curb. I don’t want to annoy anyone but we just use the dropped curb, over the pavement and straight onto our drive. AIBU?

OP posts:
busybarbara · 29/05/2018 10:29

Just drive up and down your own curb. It's hardly a big deal for most cars to deal with a 5 inch kerb, just bumpy for the passengers.

Momo27 · 29/05/2018 10:33

I don’t think there’s any question the OP is in the wrong, since she’s admitted driving across the pavement. No ‘might be’ about it!

JacquesHammer · 29/05/2018 10:33

The dropped kerb does not belong to the NDN. That is clear

Not always. I own mine albeit unusual it isn't immediately the case.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 10:34

JacquesHammer

Okay, but if the dropped kerb is part of his property he hasn't said so. He is just claiming it is 'his' because he paid for it to be dropped, which, of course, does not confer ownership.

Hygge · 29/05/2018 10:39

@suzy2b - "How do you know NDN paid for dropped kerb you all seem to think he did but it could have been there when he bought the house."

If it was there when he bought the house he still paid for it.

He's bought a house with a dropped kerb and off road parking. That puts the vaule of the house up when it comes to buying and selling and he'll have paid for it.

That's why I'm asking the OP if she bought her house and if so, was it marketed as having off road parking?

Because if it was, it's been mis-sold, she might have paid too much, her mortgage lender won't be happy because they've lent money against a house that might not be worth the value they were led to believe, but she could in theory speak to the solicitor who handled her purchase and see if she can try to claw some of the money back.

And then she can pay to put in a dropped kerb.

When we bought our house there was a concern that our right of access to the back of the property might be taken away, and that's where our drive is. Because of this, the seller had to pay for an insurance policy which will cover us if the access is taken away. It will cover either the loss of value or the cost of putting a drive at the front.

It's worth looking into.

Either way, whether her neighbour paid directly to have the kerb dropped or he paid for it in the price of buying his house, it's his dropped kerb to access his drive only. It's not communal so that all the neighbours can use it to drive along the pavement.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 10:45

It's not communal so that all the neighbours can use it to drive along the pavement.

Yes, it is communal. It is a public pavement.

Hygge · 29/05/2018 10:50

"Yes, it is communal. It is a public pavement."

That they can all drive along?

user1499173618 · 29/05/2018 10:51

Yes, you are trespassing.

Momo27 · 29/05/2018 10:55

Pengggwyn I think we’ve all received loud and clear your point that the dropped kerb belongs to the council.

The relevant point here is that the OP is a knob for driving over the pavement. So is anyone else who uses the communal pavement for driving on. Smile

GladAllOver · 29/05/2018 10:58

Just drive up and down your own curb. It's hardly a big deal for most cars to deal with a 5 inch kerb, just bumpy for the passengers.
And illegal of course, if you are in the UK.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 11:26

Hygge

Them driving on the dropped kerb isn't the issue. Driving on the pavement is a separate issue. If he wants to complain about that, he can.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 11:26

Momo27

Well, when people stop making the opposing argument I will agree.

Lacucuracha · 29/05/2018 11:26

It's not communal as house owner can park on their dropped kerb but if OP ever blocked the house owner's car in by parking on the dropped kerb then there would police / council enforcement to remove her from it.

Hygge · 29/05/2018 11:34

@Pennggwn

Which is what I said. The dropped kerb is not there so the entire street can use it to drive along the pavement. It allows access directly to one driveway. Anybody else using the dropped kerb has to drive along the pavement or park on that one drive (that isn't theirs).

I realise you're breaking your neck here to tell people they are wrong but could you try to read the comments before you correct them?

I mean, you quoted me in full so you should know what I said.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 11:35

Hygge

The dropped kerb isn't there to allow access, no, but someone using it for access isn't the issue. He can't stop her doing that.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 11:36

Lacucuracha

But it is communal in the sense that he cannot stop her driving, walking, turning around on it. It's not his property.

JaneyEJones · 29/05/2018 11:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Momo27 · 29/05/2018 11:41

Pengggwn You seem convinced that the NDN has complained about the OP using the dropped kerb. I get the impression he hasn’t complained about anything- the OP hasn’t spoken to him, just to the council! He may well be parking his car at the back of his driveway because
A) the OP has in reality been swinging her car across the back corner of his driveway
B) as a council tax payer he’s pissed with people who drive on pavements, thus causing damage over time
And he’s probably staring out of his window because
C) he’s thinking ‘why the fuck did the crazy lady buy a house with on-street parking when she’s obsessed with parking in her own front garden?’

Hygge · 29/05/2018 11:41

@Pengggwn - but is it there to allow the whole street the abiity to drive along the pavement?

Because I said it wasn't and you said it was.

Me: "It's not communal so that all the neighbours can use it to drive along the pavement."

You: "Yes, it is communal. It is a public pavement."

No council would put in a dropped kerb so that everyone could use it to treat the pavement like a second road and drive along it. Which is what I said and you disagreed with.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 11:42

Momo27

He definitely isn't allowed to park sticking out of his drive. That isn't complicated. He shouldn't do that.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 11:43

Hygge

I didn't say it was there for that. But her driving on it isn't specifically disallowed, because it isn't his property. It is communal property.

Hygge · 29/05/2018 11:53

@Pengggwn then I have no idea why you bothered to quote me.

Me: It's not there for everybody to use as a way to drive along the pavement.

You: It is there for everybody to use.

Me: But not to drive along the pavement.

You (eventually): Well no.

Why pick out half a sentence and say it's wrong? That's a very long winded way for you to actually agree with the actual thing that I did say rather than the half thing you made up that I said.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 11:54

Hygge

Because you think he has the right to complain about her using it, and I don't.

Lacucuracha · 29/05/2018 11:55

It's the council's property but if not communal. If it was communal everyone would be allowed to park on it.

People often use my mum's drive to turn their car around in. Doesn't make the drive communal.

Just like a numbered disabled bay is council property but not communal.

missmouse101 · 29/05/2018 11:57

KERB. Not curb. Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh!