Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

AIBU or is it ok to park outside other people's houses?

12 replies

MrsH1992 · 05/10/2023 20:41

So I was visiting my partner who was on placement year from uni and lived in a student house on a very quiet suburban road in new market. Three students lived there so there were three cars plus a work truck as they all worked on a farm. They would park all four vehicles on the drive/ grass of the front yard of their house. When I visited there was no room so I would park outside on the road which had no restrictions and was quite wide. No other cars on the street parked on the road as I guess they had enough room on their driveways. I got a few notes left on my car on different occasions saying I wasn't allowed to park there which I ignored. One day when I was parking the next door neighbour came out and shouted at me and I quickly ran in the house. The next day when everybody was out he came round yelling and banging on the door. In the end I called 101 as he wouldn't leave and I was scared. I don't get why some people get so mad when other people legally park outside their houses?

OP posts:

wiseoldtree · 05/10/2023 20:43

Similar happened to me.

He ended up with a caution.

Public highway and you can park where you want!

crackofdoom · 05/10/2023 20:46

Because he's a deluded nutter. No yellow lines or other restrictions, you're free to park (considerately) anywhere.

PuttingDownRoots · 05/10/2023 20:49

It can be annoying when one house with multiple cars parks everywhere. But they are legally entitled to do so.

Blacknosugarplease · 05/10/2023 20:50

YANBU - People park in front of my house all the time, not bothered at all, it’s a public highway. I would only be annoyed if they parked over my driveway.

Twospaniels · 05/10/2023 20:51

Of course you can park in the road outside someone’s house - they don’t own the road!

Just check for restrictions about timings, or resident permits etc.

Eddyraisins · 05/10/2023 20:54

I think its bad form to park outside neighbours homes, albeit legal, but he had his own drive so sounds ludicrous in your position. Not like you were stopping him from parking near his home.

Mouldyfoodhelp · 05/10/2023 21:05

At my doctors there's a side street by the parking. I parked in there and there's a red sign on a lamp post saying "private road no parking" which I always had a strong suspicion wasn't official.

A bloke went mental at me continuously shouting. I phoned the council in front of him who confirmed it was a public road.

Hankunamatata · 05/10/2023 21:15

According to my parents, no. They are passive aggressive parkers though and just curtain twitch until the car moves from outside their house then dash put to park their car lol. They get very affronted if someone parks outside their house

Stepbystepfan · 05/10/2023 21:19

I had the same when I parked on a road outside someone’s house, again no parking restrictions. People park outside my house all of the time and I don’t care unless they are parked across my driveway which unfortunately happens on a daily basis. If they are unhappy with people parking outside their house then they should move to a quiet area.

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 05/10/2023 21:30

The only time I get annoyed at people parking on our road is if they do so inconsiderately. I would never become aggressive with them because there is no excuse for that.

We have a lay-by for parking but we have one car that always parks near it but not in it. It makes the road significantly narrower and harder to get off our driveway. I wouldn’t object to this if the lay-by was full but it never is when they park.

We also had a neighbour whose business was fixing cars. They would park one on their drive and then have one lined up for days, sometimes weeks, in our limited bays ready to fix. It was entirely selfish because they didn’t need to have cars waiting for that long. A few neighbours complained to the council and it’s stopped now.

Moomoomo · 05/10/2023 21:33

I used to live in a busy big city and it was definitely seen as a park where you can situation. Everyone understood that it was part of life that you sometimes didn't get a space close to your house.

Then we moved to the suburbs and people were very very protective over "their" parking spaces, even though you'd never end up far away from your house as the road was quiet. We just parked wherever really, I refused to get drawn into petty battles so would just ignore whatever tactics the neighbours pulled.

Rightsraptor · 05/10/2023 21:42

If it is a public road, you've every right to park there. But if it's a private road, you haven't. My daughter lives on a private road where each plot of land is traversed by the access road to the houses. People do park outside her house, probably thinking it's OK, but it's actually the same as parking on someone's drive/private land.

I seem to recall some belief from years ago that you had the right to park outside your house, which probably worked OK when hardly anyone had cars. But now... it just can't work.

OP: the student house sounds like it has loads of vehicles parked around it - are you sure the neighbours are not just generally pissed off about that?

Flip