Driveway annoyance

[Newjourney2894]

Hi all, just wanted some advice on whether I was being unreasonable or not about my new home which I have waited several months to move into! 😅

My DH and I have just bought a gorgeous semi detached on a lovely quiet street which has long drive way and 2 x grass patches between each houses. Our house was vacant for about a year until we moved in and as a favour to the previous owners next door would park on the drive now and again.

The previous owners cut one of the patches of grass away to widen the drive so you can fit 2 cars next to each other but still left 1 patch of grass between the attaching houses attached.

Now it is the house not attached that would occasionally park on the drive until we moved in that I have the slight issue with. They use the middle part of the drive which is the original part of the drive to reverse their cars off the drive so they don’t have to ask the other one to come out and move the car.

They’ve kept their patches of the grass intact which is up to them but that doesn’t mean they should keep using my drive to reverse out. AIBU to start parking one of my cars further back so they can’t get out or go and speak to them? Or let it go which is what DH thinks 😂

Start parking there and they'll take a hint. Then add a fence

I'd do this op!

I’ve been parking there but as soon as one of us nips out in the car which is at the back end of the drive they are back to doing it..

both cars were on the drive earlier and there they were stood on the drive.. it’s just seems like really entitled behaviour now.

wheeling the bins, stood chatting and driving their car over it. I mean we’ve only been just over 2 months 😩

The doorbell motion being set off.

The kids play area being used as a driveway

The dog being set off.

The wear and tear of the OPs property instead of neighbours planning to remove their grass and make their driveway wider.

Quite a number that have already been mentioned frequently.

I mean there is a big sign on the window which says that CCTV/motion detection is in place so I didn’t think I’d have too.
It's easy to be blind to signs like this. A smile and a quick mention of the ring camera could make all the difference without turning it into a fight.

I had a neighbour that would walk his cat across our drive, right in front of the window. He was early 70's whereas I was 27/28 at the time. It felt like a show of dominance.

He moved in after I had so it's not as though he'd always done it!

OP why don’t you just walk out there when they’re hanging out on your drive and ask them how you can help?

FFS. Just talk to them!

I'd park a car at the road end of Drive 1, facing the road (I always reverse into parking spaces!). If that didn't stop them I'd go for the boundary fence or hedging or boulder approach between their drive and yours. I am paranoid about neighbours & shared or adjacent boundaries. It's one of the first things I look for when buying a new home, where the neighbours are! With their rudeness in using your drive for their convenience, it could lead to damage to your drive that ends up costing you money. So grasp the nettle and do something now, ideal time as you're newly in to the home. Research fencing etc to find something you like, that adds to your exterior, that you'll be happy to look at and that will stop this entitled chap from using your drive.

What about your DC, OP?
This has safety implications for them surely? If they are of the age where they are playing on the drive, cycling up and down, then this presents a huge safety issue for them.

I have a similar set up in my little cul de sac and this afternoon, my neighbours DD's (approx 8 and 10) were lying on their tummies on their driveway. How can you be confident if your DC's safety on your own property if your neighbours are driving across it when it suits them?

This

you posted 3 weeks ago, and at that point it’d been going on for 2 months.

Unless you go and tell them to keep themselves and their cars off your drive, this limbo of parking top trumps, competitive bin moving, and performative conversations with your neighbour while you (for some unfathomable reason) feel unable to open your own curtains will persist.

But wringing your hands on here while people tell you the same things isn’t going to fix it.

All of that.
They aren’t mind readers.

“hey neighbour, just a quick ask, my security system goes bonkers with alerts when you drive over my drive or use it for bins etc, would you mind not doing it as it’s distracting when I’m working. Thanks”

Communication is really important. People aren’t mind readers and actions without words are often passive aggressive or misconstrued or sour relations. You have to be brave and have a polite and light and friendly conversation. If you don’t this can go on for years and cause resentment to grow and the relationship will become worse than it ever needed to be. You need to avoid this and the only way is to speak to them.

’Could we just have a quick word about our driveway? I realise you were using it when the house was unoccupied and that was really helpful to previous owner. Can we just ask that now we are here, you don’t park or drive on our driveway. Looking at the deeds, these aren’t shared driveways or for shared access, so we’d like to keep ours for us and our guests. We hope you understand that we’d just prefer to know it’s empty and no-one else is driving on it’

If they say that it just makes their access and use of 2 cars much easier, tell them that you appreciate that, but it’s not a shared driveway and everyone has to manage their cars within their own private space.