Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

It’s a parking related one…

101 replies

Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 06:48

AIBU to leave a camper van parked outside a neighbours house for months?

We’ve got the opportunity to buy a large transit-sized camper van very cheaply from a relative. We’d love to have one for holidays and camping trips and it would be helping out our relative who is a bit overwhelmed about selling it.

However we live in London on a terraced street that only has off street parking for one vehicle (ie our car). There is unrestricted parking on the road, but it’s always hard to find a spot - for our neighbours who don’t have off street parking, spaces are heavily contested.

Obviously there’s no law against us taking up a space with a camper van that will be parked in the same place 99% of the time. But also it feels a unneighbourly to park a whacking great van outside someone’s house and leave it there.

But we’d love the van and have nowhere else to park it.

YABU - it’s unneighbourly, don’t do it
YANBU - it’s unrestricted parking, buy the van and leave it there

OP posts:
Original poster
Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 10:13

limitedperiodonly · 29/04/2023 10:01

If you are so concerned about being a good neighbour, why don't you park your presumably small car on the road and put the large van on your drive? Then the only person who will be inconvenienced by lack of light or a view of an unlovely vehicle (I've just seen the picture) will be you.

When the street space outside your house becomes available, nip out and move your camper van into it and put your car in your driveway. Then you'll get more light in your front window and still none of your neighbours will be irritated or even notice.

That's if you are more interested in being a good neighbour than leaving the camper van, which you know is an eyesore, outside someone else's house for months.

I live in a similar street to you except the houses are closer to the road and we don't have off-street parking. We don't have a car (don't need one) but the road is fully parked up.

I'm occasionally mildly irritated when someone parks a high-sided vehicle outside, which could be a van or could be a BMW X5-type thing, outside because it blocks the light. I don't care that the BMW is more expensive and smarter than a van - they still block the light to my front room. But there's nothing I can do about it because people are entitled to park their vehicles if they are taxed and insured and they have a permit.

The irritation doesn't last because my neighbours move their cars. It never registers with me which type of vehicle it is unless it is a great big one like yours that blocks the light. But as I said, people move them and don't leave them in one place as you plan to.

Why do you need to park right outside your house anyway? That's assuming you have no mobility problems, of course. We used to have a car and sometimes had to park it down the road or in the adjoining streets because parking is tight here. That's just the way things go.

If someone is going to steal your car, chances are you won't be in when they do it so it makes no odds where it is from the point of view of theft.

I don’t need to park right outside our house - when I say “neighbours” I’m thinking of the entire street.

But as I’ve said I could park it at the end of the road where it’s not in direct eyeshot of any of the neighbours. That didn’t really occur to me at first, and that feels at lot less unneighbourly than it sitting outside anyone’s house.

OP posts:
limitedperiodonly · 29/04/2023 10:20

@Trysbutfails when I say "neighbours" I don't mean the people directly to the left and the right of my house. I mean people in my street, people who live round the corner, people who live in the street directly perpendicular to my house that I can see if someone hasn't parked a whacking great campervan in front of my house and left it there for weeks...

It's great that you're not going to do that. Your neighbours will thank you.

Runningslow · 29/04/2023 10:30

If it’s swb are you sure it wouldn’t fit on your drive?

thinkfast · 29/04/2023 10:35

I'd be wary of it getting stolen if it's parked on a London street OP. My friend's was. They are very popular targets.

louderthan · 29/04/2023 10:42

Parking is at such a premium in my street that any big vehicles that are left for any length of time are likely to get reported as being abandoned.

GeorgeGerald · 29/04/2023 10:43

Glad you've found a solution that doesn't visually or practically affect the neighbours negatively.

I agree - taking up a parking space directly outside someone else's house when parking is a problem isn't great.

We used to have a camper van (Fiat Ducato transit van conversion) but even though it would fit on our drive we kept it elsewhere if were weren't going to be using it for a week+. Same with other neighbours who own camper vans and caravans - they pay for storage when they're not in use. I just think it is one of the costs of owning something like this if you don't live on a property with a decent amount of land to store it without it affecting the neighbours in any way.

Original poster
Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 10:44

How much does storage cost, for those in the know?

OP posts:
Mummyoflittledragon · 29/04/2023 10:48

Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 08:20

I don’t see why random car owners get priority? As I’ve said the on street parking is used a lot by people who don’t live on the street. There’s plenty of paid parking locally but people will take a place on our street if they can because it’s free.

Show quote history

I was talking about the other residents in the road, which is why I cited the width of your houses.

kitsuneghost · 29/04/2023 11:16

YABU. I hate work vans for this reason. Man along from us has is own business he has a van and a colleague has a van.

Sometimes colleague van parks in front of us for a week or so solid (guessing on holiday or something)
The are too big and take up too much residential parking.

Do storage companies have garages too? Is that an option?

Devoutspoken · 29/04/2023 11:19

Why not hire a campervan for holidays

EggInANest · 29/04/2023 11:32

This van has a wheel base no longer than many big cars.

The OP is not parking multiple vans on the street.

And has the ability to move the van often so not always outside the same house.

And in any case the road is not close to the front windows.

The road has 6 houses without off road parking, 20 on street spaces and is used by many cars and vans seeking free spaces

OP, your vehicle will be taxed and insured, and you have every right to park it on the road.

It’d the start of the spring / summer, you will be off in it as much as possible.

Those of us who live in cities and places like London are used to this kind of perfectly legal parking without the obsession with a space outside our house and passive aggressive competition with neighbours.

No one in my S London gritty area would key your van or slash your tyres. They would be more likely to keep an eye out, and chat to me about it when I was packing it up etc.

What the hell are people like?

BoattoBolivia · 29/04/2023 12:06

As far as storage is concerned, it depends on where you are storing it. We live on the Surrey/ London border with off raid parking for two small cars but no room for our motorhome. When we are packing for a trip,or have just got home, it lives on the road outside our house. The neighbours know it is temporary and are chilled with this but it is big and an eyesore and narrows the road.
Otherwise we pay £50 a month to a local stables to park it securely with their horse vans.
We rang round local stables and farms to find storage until we found one that suited us and them.
Campsites often offer storage but it may be more expensive.
You need to be creative. Look at local pubs, big driveways, industrial estates and talk to the owners.
The insurance company were not happy with long-term on road parking.
We love our van but storage is a very real issue and on the road long term is really not a solution.

Floofydawg · 29/04/2023 12:11

I would set fire to it if it was outside our house for months and it meant I couldn't park.

(Joking...)

fishonabicycle · 29/04/2023 12:13

Put the van on your driveway and take pot luck parking your other vehicle on the road.

Neededanewuserhandle · 29/04/2023 12:22

Floofydawg · 29/04/2023 12:11

I would set fire to it if it was outside our house for months and it meant I couldn't park.

(Joking...)

Odd sort of joking

TheRussiansAreComing · 29/04/2023 12:30

I think it would be ok to park where the fences are and your away from windows and frontages.
leaving it for days, weeks etc outside someone’s house is extremely selfish. As others have said, you should also consider storage. Loads of farms, camp sites etc tend to offer storage.

GoodChat · 29/04/2023 13:20

fishonabicycle · 29/04/2023 12:13

Put the van on your driveway and take pot luck parking your other vehicle on the road.

She's said (repeatedly) that it wouldn't fit on her drive.

Runningslow · 29/04/2023 14:47

a swb van isn’t longer than the average estate car. Maybe it can fit in her drive but too snuggly to be convenient or without blocking light.

LumpyandBumps · 29/04/2023 15:33

If your neighbours read the Daily Mirror they will have an idea of your plans so you might get to hear their opinions

Throwncrumbs · 29/04/2023 15:36

My sisters camper van got stolen when she parked it around the corner from her house. Good luck!

Original poster
Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 18:26

LumpyandBumps · 29/04/2023 15:33

If your neighbours read the Daily Mirror they will have an idea of your plans so you might get to hear their opinions

Haha I just found the article. Well that’s a lifetime ambition fulfilled, having my minor life dilemmas harvested for cheap tabloid content 😂

OP posts:
limitedperiodonly · 29/04/2023 18:57

Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 18:26

Haha I just found the article. Well that’s a lifetime ambition fulfilled, having my minor life dilemmas harvested for cheap tabloid content 😂

Show quote history

Your cheap tabloid content is another woman's free parking.

Whatabouteverything · 29/04/2023 19:03

Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 07:00

Thinking about it, there’s some spaces at the end of the street that aren’t in front of anyone’s house, just next to a high fence. That doesn’t feel as bad as leaving it in front of someone’s house.

Do that. Problem solved. Get a steering lock on it.

littleripper · 29/04/2023 20:09

My neighbour did this when DS was 6 month old. It blocked all the light out of the living room and made me genuinely depressed. I think it is an incredibly obnoxious thing to do.

Original poster
Trysbutfails · 29/04/2023 20:21

littleripper · 29/04/2023 20:09

My neighbour did this when DS was 6 month old. It blocked all the light out of the living room and made me genuinely depressed. I think it is an incredibly obnoxious thing to do.

That sounds rotten, I can understand that would be horrible to live with.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread