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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Are WE the CFs here or neighbours??

553 replies

TigersRoll · 16/04/2019 16:56

3 houses share our driveway (including ours). So you get the 1st house and then ours next to each other and then at the end you get the 3rd house. 3rd house is a big house and has a double driveway (prob enough room for 3 cars anyway). 1st and 2nd house have a tiny section of driveway each, ours been the smallest, barely big enough for one car.

Anyway, DH likes to faff with his car, our driveway is too small to do anything on so during the day when everyone is at work he pulls it into the shared bit. Occasionally he parks his work van on the shared bit but basically, if anything is on the shared bit, 3rd house can’t get to their driveway which is why DH does it when everyone is at work.

This worked well for ages, occasionally woman next door would come home early but would park at the top on the street and walk down. One time all of a sudden she came home at 11am (!) came storming down the driveway carrying a number of bags (she’s a nurse) and muttered something about so much for buying a house with a driveway”. DH was confused as she’s never mentioned it before but he moved his car straight away anyway.
A week or so later we had workmen at the house and they parked on the shared drive. She came home from worked, marched up to the workmen and told them they had to move. This meant packing up tools, ladders and various other stuff before reversing out of the drive just so she could park next to her house. As soon as she was in they moved everything back, low and behold they came out almost immediately and said they had to move as she was going out. They did, she went out and reappeared 15 minutes later again telling the workmen they had to move everything!!! Surely if she knew she was going back out she could have just parked at top of drive where there is tons of room??

Anyway she appears to be making a point of doing this now everytime DH has something on the shared driveway but has never actually spoken to him about it!

Last night we got an angry knock on the door. Her husband was stood there and he looked at our car and said “can you move it” in a really snappy tone. It’s a big car (Land Rover) and as our driveway is so small the arse of it sometimes sticks out into the shared bit. Unfortunately neighbour also has a Land Rover making getting past a bit of a squeeze. DH looked at the car and the space (as it was on our driveway) and the bloke snapped “I’m not scratching my car again trying to get past. Move it”. DH then had to move the car so it was practically touching our garage door. This bloke has always been very pleasant before so it seems so out of character!

AIBU to think his wife has started some kind of vendetta against us and roped him into it or is it our fault??

OP posts:
Cherrysoup · 16/04/2019 19:06

Do you need a Landy? A smaller car would help enormously but your DH needs to park the work van elsewhere and fiddle with it elsewhere or just not bring it home. No way should the neighbour have to practically ask permission to get in and out of their driveway. That is ridiculous.

TheInvestigator · 16/04/2019 19:07

@TigersRoll

What's your husband's plan if they have a fire in the middle of the night and the engine can't get past his van to save them and you're all asleep. Or they call an ambulance. Or one of them takes ill and they need to drive to the hospital and his van in on the shared drive where it absolutely should not be. What's his suggestion... that they should bang on your doors and windows until you wake up? Wasting valuable minutes?

Why won't he park his van on the street like you park your car on the street? Nothing should be on the shared drive.

You had workmen round and told them it was totally fine to block the shared access... and you actually talk as if you're angry she came back and made them move repeatedly... of course she did! She's sick of your entitled asshat behaviour.

Nothing should be parked on the shared access. Ever. And if he wants to tinker on his car then it needs to be on your drive. If it doesn't fit then he can't do it.

TokyoSushi · 16/04/2019 19:07

I don't think you need me to tell you YABVU but just adding it anyway!

PCohle · 16/04/2019 19:09

This must be a reverse. Which is annoying.

Fruitbatdancer · 16/04/2019 19:09

Yabu.
Buy a house with a bigger drive. If I was your neighbour I’d be raging.

AfterSchoolWorry · 16/04/2019 19:14

I think the husband has misunderstood shared access and shared parking.

That's the best case scenario.

Worst case is he's a tool.

inkydinky · 16/04/2019 19:15

Oh i was so hoping that you were my neighbour, I have the exact same scenario (I am the house at the end, who paid extra for the biggest drive) and my neighbours have been vicious after I very politely asked them to stop blocking me in and out (finally, after a very stressful 6 bloody months!!). It baffles me that they feel so entitled and somehow I'm the CF neighbour Confused

Claw01 · 16/04/2019 19:16

YABU, just in case it was in any doubt Grin

My next door neighbour, has a drive, but doesn’t drive or own a car. One day, my son parked and was over hanging her drive. She knocked, my son moved his car, even though she didnt need to put a car on. I apologised and it didn’t happen again.

I suggest an apology at the very least.

SnowyAlpsandPeaks · 16/04/2019 19:16

This HAS TO BE A REVERSE!!!!

No way in the world would anything think this is ok?? If it’s not a reverse- by God OP you and your dh are mega CFs! I’m sooo glad I don’t live near you.

Jimdandy · 16/04/2019 19:17

You are out of order they should be able to access their property any time they like.

For future reference for anyone looking a property to purchase (Comm Prop Solicitor here, who did a seat in litigation and res con) please avoid this situation/set up at all cost when buying a house!!!

Dippypippy1980 · 16/04/2019 19:17

You bought this house understanding the access - it didn’t suit your husband so he just blocks the acees for others.

Never move next door to me!!!! Your poor neighbours

Your deeds are probably very clear, but your husband sounds like a selfish twat

eurochick · 16/04/2019 19:17

It's fairly likely that the "shared driveway" is actually owned by house 3 and houses 1 and 2 just have a right to drive over it. Your deeds will tell you if this is right. In any event, I think we have established that your husband is being a cf!

KooMoo · 16/04/2019 19:19

From what you’ve written yabu .... sorry.

billysboy · 16/04/2019 19:22

sounds like your husband is a proper entitled tosser working on his landrover on the shared drive

Would drive me round the twist having someone constantly fucking about outside the house

what does he need the land rover for ?

billysboy · 16/04/2019 19:25

my apologies about the land rover , wrong person

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 16/04/2019 19:26

You have my sympathies OP.
It must be very hard being married to such a twat

billysboy · 16/04/2019 19:27

sorry , two landrovers

Ill get my coat !

BlueJava · 16/04/2019 19:29

You are CF and YABU. I try to get on with neighbours but that would piss me off.

whyohwhyowhydididoit · 16/04/2019 19:30

I’m afraid I think it’s you too. Your DH should not be tinkering in the shared drive but out on the street or in your own area. Equally apart from loading and unloading, tradesmen vans should not be on the shared area. They should unload anything heavy and then park on the public highway.

Sassenach85 · 16/04/2019 19:34

How can anyone think this is acceptable?? And why aren't you parking on drive and CF husband taking his two cars and his tinkering down the street?? Do people like this exist and still think they're not in the wrong?? Shock

purplecorkheart · 16/04/2019 19:40

You have shared access not a shared driveway. A share driveway implies that there are shared parking spaces that any of the owners can park in without affecting access to any of the houses. You do not have it.
You have shared access in that you all use the same piece of road to access your driveway. It is not your neighbours problems that you do not have a large driveway.

Your husband/your workers/you do not have right to block access to their driveway at any time day or night. Ambulance or Fire Service is the only exception.

Your husband sounds like a jerk and frankly I do not blame her for not wanting to engage with such an awful person.

Yabbers · 16/04/2019 19:41

They did, she went out and reappeared 15 minutes later again telling the workmen they had to move everything!!! Surely if she knew she was going back out she could have just parked at top of drive where there is tons of room??

This doesn’t read like someone who thinks their husband is an arse for what he is doing.

If he brings his work can home, he OCCASIONALLY parks it on the shared access bit
Why would he do that when he could park it on the road, where apparently there is plenty of room?

SachaStark · 16/04/2019 19:45

Your DH needs to get a smaller car. Clearly it’s too big for your driveway. Why do you need a bloody great Land Rover anyway? And why is he always “tinkering” with it? Pointless activity, what a waste of time.

And why aren’t you ever allowed to park on your own driveway? DH and I have a private driveway, then an allocated space in the communal car park. Whoever gets home from work first gets the driveway, which is fair enough. Why can’t you ever do that? What if you had heavy things to bring into the house some days, doesn’t DH care?

crispysausagerolls · 16/04/2019 19:45

Saracen

Exactly what I was thinking!! Why not just ask neighbour politely?!

S1naidSucks · 16/04/2019 19:46

But DH says it marks out our driveway boundary so it stays put!

Hypocritical wanker! Slabbering about it being his boundary and marking it like a fucking tomcat, while parking on the shared access. Tell him to grow the fuck up.

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