CF? Would you park on the driveway of a house you were viewing to buy?

[movingonupps]

This happened to us today and DH & I can't quite workout if we were the CF or not lol.

Went to viewing, no where to park, 1 car already on 3 car drive.

We parked on drive and got out of car

Vendor opens door, asks why we have parked on drive.

Explained we had a viewing

Again she said why have you parked on drive, her son will be home shortly

I said if it's a problem, we will just leave; so we did!

Her EA was gobsmacked when I explained why we didn't do the viewing.

Who is BU?

I think you were a little cheeky tbh but she was very rude.
I wouldn't just pull up on someone's drive unless invited to do so.

She was BU.
In saying that, I viewed a house two weeks ago and found the vendor really hard work, dancing around my questions. Turned out her she'd split with her husband and was being forced to sell - could be similar circumstances.

@AlternativePerspective

How wrong would it be to ask for a link? 😀

Weird. I would have parked on the drive too. I parked on the drive of our existing house when we went to view it. The drive was totally empty anyway. If she said it’s a problem I would have offered to move the car and return on foot.

@KarmaStar

I think you were a little cheeky tbh but she was very rude. I wouldn't just pull up on someone's drive unless invited to do so.

Isn’t that the point of the viewing.

You are asking to look round and they had agreed for you to come round.

@Blinky21

I wouldn't park on the drive, I think that's pretty cheeky

Why?

Where are you meant to park if you are going to view a house with a driveway and no on street parking.

@Tweedledeeanddum I don’t think that’s the case.

I grew up very middle class and don’t know anyone who wouldn’t park on the drive of a house they are visiting.

Some of these responses are utterly batshit.

I'd be encouraging a potential purchaser to park on the drive as I wouldn't want to give them any reason to think it's difficult to find somewhere to park at the house!

Tbh i wouldnt have a problem with someone doing it to me if they were viewing my house however i wouldnt do it to someone else if i was viewing theres. People get very precious about parking and get quite territorial... there was always the risk the owner would not like this and ask you to move it.

I've never parked on the drive of anywhere I am going to view, but do think the same as this pp:
I'd be encouraging a potential purchaser to park on the drive as I wouldn't want to give them any reason to think it's difficult to find somewhere to park at the house!

All those saying you wouldn’t park on what could be your driveway.

How do you test that the driveway “works” for your car?

I have walked away from on paper a perfectly suitable house purchase because when driving on or off the drive if became obvious that vehicles longer than a small hatch back were going to struggle because of the initial incline of the drive.

Never get yourself into a chain with a tosspot. Lucky escape.

This thread has given me a complex about parking 🤣🤣it finishes me visiting anyone living in an estate

I wouldn't dream of parking on the drive of a house I was going to view. No way! It would just feel intrusive. And also, surely the drive is reserved for the occupants!

@LetHimHaveIt

I don't think it's outrageous behaviour on your part - but I wouldn't have done it. It does feel a bit 'familiar' somehow. You're not paying a social call. You're at the first stage of a business transaction. I

Odd distinction to make. If I visit another office for a meeting and they've got parking available, then unless it says that the parking is only for staff I would assume that I can use it.

@MaraScottie

I wouldn't dream of parking on the drive of a house I was going to view. No way! It would just feel intrusive. And also, surely the drive is reserved for the occupants!

More intrusive than nosing in their bedroom and bathroom? The house is reserved for occupants also. The point is that when they invite someone to view they are giving them a licence to come onto the property, including the driveway.

@MaraScottie

I wouldn't dream of parking on the drive of a house I was going to view. No way! It would just feel intrusive. And also, surely the drive is reserved for the occupants!

Presumably viewing the house is also “intrusive”? If someone wants you to pay several hundred thousand £s for something, the least they can do is let you park on the drive.

@PantsandBoots

Its not your house. Why would you park on the drive without asking?!

Because you've made an appointment to visit it in order to view it. And because the vendors would presumably like you to give them rather a lot of money to buy it.

This thread is mind-blowing. The driveway to a house is literally there for all vehicles visiting your house, especially if nowhere else to park nearby without blocking roads or pavements. We always clear the drive of our own cars for expected visitors (friends, family, tradespeople) who are likely to be staying for a few hours (easier for all of us), and would do so for prospective buyers, too, so they feel the parking is OK rather than an issue. The driveway is also used daily (less conveniently for them as we won't have cleared our cars away) for couriers, deliveries, supermarket vans, taxis, kids' mates' parents picking up and dropping off... I seriously cannot imagine ever being weird about it.

I'd only park on the drive if there's nowhere else (the same when I'm a visitor anywhere else). You wouldn't think a vendor wants the sraw attention to lack of parking..

I think the big divide here is that if you live in a street with plentiful on road parking, guests, tradesmen etc would usually park on the road, so that's the norm for those people.

If you live in a street without on street parking, they need to use your drive or you don't get visitors or tradesmen, so that's the norm for those people.

Wish we had tried parking on the drive of the house we purchased last year - would have realised the posts and gate were too narrow to fit through - despite there being plenty of room on the drive 🤦🤣

You were not at all unreasonable.

@MaraScottie

I wouldn't dream of parking on the drive of a house I was going to view. No way! It would just feel intrusive. And also, surely the drive is reserved for the occupants!

I'd rather you parked on my drive than looked in my kitchen cupboards and fitted wardrobes! But both are quite normal if you're selling a house.

@HelloTreacle9

This thread is mind-blowing. The driveway to a house is literally there for all vehicles visiting your house, especially if nowhere else to park nearby without blocking roads or pavements. We always clear the drive of our own cars for expected visitors (friends, family, tradespeople) who are likely to be staying for a few hours (easier for all of us), and would do so for prospective buyers, too, so they feel the parking is OK rather than an issue. The driveway is also used daily (less conveniently for them as we won't have cleared our cars away) for couriers, deliveries, supermarket vans, taxis, kids' mates' parents picking up and dropping off... I seriously cannot imagine ever being weird about it.

I agree @HelloTreacle9 .

What I also find mind-blowing is that posters with the opposite view are not just saying "oh, well I think you should ask before parking on someone's drive" they are outraged that a potential buyer would even consider parking on someone's drive as if they've committed some grave crime!

Normal people surely say: "Oh, we parked on the drive - are we OK there?" and get the normal reply "of course that's fine" (and if the son is due to be home, just tell the son to park on the road and move it when the viewing is over).

No. I wouldn’t park on anyones drive if I didn’t know them, and if i did, only if they’d said “if you can’t park on the road please feel free to park on the drive”

How fucking rude.