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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbour using my drop kerb!

919 replies

mykerb · 12/03/2024 20:54

A new family have moved in next door - not attached we are a row of two semi's each and so on..
I have a driveway and a dropped kerb. So it goes my drive, pavement and then the dropped kerb.

My next door neighbours have a make shift drive (from previous tenants) but NO dropped kerb, it doesn't help that their neighbours have 4 cars and two permanently parked outside their garden so the new neighbours have nowhere to park except down the road because of it but again not my problem!

They have started driving over my drop kerb to park in the make shift drive, I have started parking on my dropped kerb to make a point of it and I did block them in, to which the woman politely asked if I could move my car so she could reverse out, I told her I don't appreciate her using the kerb to park in, to which she replied that she is going to be getting the curb outside hers dropped but it will take a while due to getting planning permission etc and it's hard to walk down the road with 3 kids and a newborn so it's just been more convenient, but she won't do it again if it bothers me.

Tbh she hasn't had a chance to park there again as I have started parking in front of my drive, on my dropped kerb but my sister has said I'm being petty for no reason and making her life harder and it's not a big deal! And it's really irked me because now I don't know if I'm being unreasonable or not!

OP posts:
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11
theilltemperedclavecinist · 14/03/2024 12:03

I think it's pretty clear that the council won't play a rôle in this drama, given their lack of enforcement against old neighbour for the last thirty years

DagenhamDanny · 14/03/2024 12:36

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 11:48

The OP has no say in it but the council does. One dropped kerb gives access to one property. If the neighbours have applied for their own, then fair enough, they use it while they are waiting. If they’re using it as a cheap way of avoiding paying, then the OP is within her rights to report them to the council.

Show quote history

The OP has stated that the neighbour has applied for her own dropped kerb.

DagenhamDanny · 14/03/2024 12:38

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 11:50

I didn’t at any point say that the OP owned the dropped kerb. But anyone with half a brain knows the law. One dropped kerb to provide access to the property directly in front of it. Not one dropped kerb paid for by one resident, so that every tom dick and harry in the road can jump on board.

Show quote history

The neighbours driveway is literally next to the OP's. The neighbour isn't using it to then drive down the pavement to a house 5 doors away. Good grief, this is like pulling teeth.

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 12:46

DagenhamDanny · 14/03/2024 12:38

The neighbours driveway is literally next to the OP's. The neighbour isn't using it to then drive down the pavement to a house 5 doors away. Good grief, this is like pulling teeth.

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Perfectly capable of understanding that thank you. I was speaking generally, not literally - it was an example. My house is right next to my neighbours’ but if she used my dropped kerb to access her own driveway, she’d have to drive a fair way down the pavement along the whole frontage of the building.

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 12:51

DagenhamDanny · 14/03/2024 12:36

The OP has stated that the neighbour has applied for her own dropped kerb.

Show quote history

Yep. Saw that in the original post. And as several other posters have pointed out OP only has their word for that. Interesting to note though, that OP didn’t seem to mind the previous neighbour using it.

TiahL · 14/03/2024 13:05

mykerb · 12/03/2024 21:03

Not really, it just irks me how they use my kerb to angle themselves into their "driveway"

Show quote history

I’m so petty that I just created an account to comment on this thread because I’m mind blown at your pettiness. You keep calling it ‘your curb’. It’s not yours, it doesn’t belong to you. Yes you paid to have it dropped but it still belongs to the council. She is causing you absolutely no trouble and is just waiting on hers being done. You are being extremely petty, I’m glad I don’t live near you.
In fact, it is you that is breaking the Highway Code laws by parking on a dropped curb!

Dartwarbler · 14/03/2024 13:10

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 11:45

Except that the issue was not the neighbour parking on the dropped kerb, it was driving onto it and then across the pavement to access her own makeshift driveway which does not have a dropped kerb. This is illegal from the point of view of having to drive across the pavement. OP has paid for the facility to access her own drive, and everyone on this thread knows full well that it’s only there to give access to the property directly in front of it. If everyone did this there would be cars driving all over the pavement, it’s ridiculous. I copied and pasted from YouGov on the law surrounding this upthread. It’s perfectly clear.

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Yep, don’t disagree with any of this and well aware.

probably how I worded it . . I was answering to others that seemed to think she was being petty in being pissed off with neighbours doing this.

she is in her rights to get neighbours to stop it. And I would in her situation. however she doesn’t own the dropped curb legally .

Brotherstogether3 · 14/03/2024 13:58

It must be great to have so little to worry in life that this is what bothers you

puzzledout · 14/03/2024 14:02

@Rosscameasdoody the neighbour has confirmed that planning permission had been granted and they are awaiting the list of approved contractors.

So, it would be possible for OP to search the planning applications, if she so wished, to satisfy her distrust.

Although if she's searching dropped curb it could prove difficult for her to find.

theilltemperedclavecinist · 14/03/2024 14:07

puzzledout · 14/03/2024 14:02

@Rosscameasdoody the neighbour has confirmed that planning permission had been granted and they are awaiting the list of approved contractors.

So, it would be possible for OP to search the planning applications, if she so wished, to satisfy her distrust.

Although if she's searching dropped curb it could prove difficult for her to find.

😄

I hope she checks whether the approved works include 'reinforcement' and comes back to tell us.

nanamoo · 14/03/2024 14:10

I can understand why OP is peeved about it, i would be too if someone was doing that without even asking if i minded 1st. Having a dropped kerb put in isn't cheap.

The quiet cul-de-sac i like on is a nightmare. Most of the bungalows have a drive and it's a pretty narrow street where 2 cars can't pass each other unless 1 drives on the pavement. The biggest problem is that the majority of people who have a drive and don't have a car, won't even let their visitors use it. So they park on the road but that then causes issues for the person who lives across from them because they then don't have the space to get in/off their drive. I've been dealing with it for the last 2yrs since the lady moved in across the road. Anytime i approach the her or her visitors to ask if they would mind being a bit more mindful on how they park so that they don't block me in/out, especially if they can see there is a car on the opposite drive. You just get met with verbal abuse from them. I've tried the nice route by asking politely but it's now getting to the point where i just want to tell them to shift their heaps of sh*t and not block my drive because the council ain't interested either. 😡

puzzledout · 14/03/2024 14:13

@theilltemperedclavecinist no mention of reinforcements on the ones I've viewed (my own!) Grin shrug

DagenhamDanny · 14/03/2024 14:15

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 12:46

Perfectly capable of understanding that thank you. I was speaking generally, not literally - it was an example. My house is right next to my neighbours’ but if she used my dropped kerb to access her own driveway, she’d have to drive a fair way down the pavement along the whole frontage of the building.

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Perfectly capable of understanding that thank you

You certainly don't seem to be. Even the example you give is a false equivalence because you've stated that you and your neighbour's driveways aren't adjacent to each other like the OP's is. 🤦🏻‍♂️

DagenhamDanny · 14/03/2024 14:17

nanamoo · 14/03/2024 14:10

I can understand why OP is peeved about it, i would be too if someone was doing that without even asking if i minded 1st. Having a dropped kerb put in isn't cheap.

The quiet cul-de-sac i like on is a nightmare. Most of the bungalows have a drive and it's a pretty narrow street where 2 cars can't pass each other unless 1 drives on the pavement. The biggest problem is that the majority of people who have a drive and don't have a car, won't even let their visitors use it. So they park on the road but that then causes issues for the person who lives across from them because they then don't have the space to get in/off their drive. I've been dealing with it for the last 2yrs since the lady moved in across the road. Anytime i approach the her or her visitors to ask if they would mind being a bit more mindful on how they park so that they don't block me in/out, especially if they can see there is a car on the opposite drive. You just get met with verbal abuse from them. I've tried the nice route by asking politely but it's now getting to the point where i just want to tell them to shift their heaps of sh*t and not block my drive because the council ain't interested either. 😡

Why would anyone need to ask you to use a dropped kerb?

Spectre8 · 14/03/2024 14:33

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 12:51

Yep. Saw that in the original post. And as several other posters have pointed out OP only has their word for that. Interesting to note though, that OP didn’t seem to mind the previous neighbour using it.

Show quote history

Thats because previous neighbour was driving over the kerb outside the driveway. Which is definitely not allowed. They weren't using the dropped kerb. She said that's why people never parked infront of his house

theilltemperedclavecinist · 14/03/2024 14:55

So, we are 100% agreed that new neighbour using dropped kerb is a technical breach of a rule which is unlikely to be enforced.

The only disagreement is between people who would overlook the rule temporarily as a kindness, and the rest.

OP clearly feels strongly about the rule, although she didn't mind when old neighbour was breaking it.

I think she missed a trick there. The bit of pavement old neighbour was driving over belongs to her to exactly the same extent as the dropped kerb next to her house. She should have taken every opportunity to park in front of his house, blocking him into, or out of, his drive. Because that's the kind of thing she likes to do, apparently.

Notchangingnameagain · 14/03/2024 15:06

@mykerb Has your sister seen this thread?

Lalalalala555 · 14/03/2024 15:16

Sounds like it's already solved? Neighbour said they wont use it after you said something?

If anyone, the house with 4 cars sounds like the issue.
Also. As a neighbour okay its annoying someone is using your territory, but also maybe its worth being kind? And making friends with your neighbour? Its nicer to live next door to someone you get on with?
If it were you finishing work late and having lots of kids, maybe youd appreciate a kind gesture?
Also you have an idea of how long dropped kirbs take because you had yours done?

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 15:16

theilltemperedclavecinist · 14/03/2024 14:55

So, we are 100% agreed that new neighbour using dropped kerb is a technical breach of a rule which is unlikely to be enforced.

The only disagreement is between people who would overlook the rule temporarily as a kindness, and the rest.

OP clearly feels strongly about the rule, although she didn't mind when old neighbour was breaking it.

I think she missed a trick there. The bit of pavement old neighbour was driving over belongs to her to exactly the same extent as the dropped kerb next to her house. She should have taken every opportunity to park in front of his house, blocking him into, or out of, his drive. Because that's the kind of thing she likes to do, apparently.

I misread too. Old neighbour wasn’t using the dropped kerb, he was driving up the kerb onto the pavement. Essentially people here think it’s fine for others to use a dropped kerb for which one resident has paid and which is intended to access one driveway (her own) directly in front of it. I think overlooking it temporarily as a kindness is the right thing to do, but if I were the OP, I wouldn’t have any problem reporting to the council if it became clear that they intend on using it as a permanent cheap solution.

BIossomtoes · 14/03/2024 15:28

if I were the OP, I wouldn’t have any problem reporting to the council if it became clear that they intend on using it as a permanent cheap solution.

What effect do you think that might have? Real world answers only, please.

DagenhamDanny · 14/03/2024 15:29

Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 15:16

I misread too. Old neighbour wasn’t using the dropped kerb, he was driving up the kerb onto the pavement. Essentially people here think it’s fine for others to use a dropped kerb for which one resident has paid and which is intended to access one driveway (her own) directly in front of it. I think overlooking it temporarily as a kindness is the right thing to do, but if I were the OP, I wouldn’t have any problem reporting to the council if it became clear that they intend on using it as a permanent cheap solution.

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How many more times? It IS perfectly fine for ANYONE to use a dropped kerb.

puzzledout · 14/03/2024 15:37

BIossomtoes · 14/03/2024 15:28

if I were the OP, I wouldn’t have any problem reporting to the council if it became clear that they intend on using it as a permanent cheap solution.

What effect do you think that might have? Real world answers only, please.

I expect absolutely nothing to ever come of it.

Scarletttulips · 14/03/2024 15:38

Years ago if you didn’t have a dropped kerb and had a car in the drive you could be fined.

Legally, in order to use an area as a driveway, you need to have a dropped kerb on the pathway outside your home. Otherwise, if any damage is caused to the pathway when driving over it you will be liable for fixing it.

Its illegal.

Scarletttulips · 14/03/2024 15:40

Here

Neighbour using my drop kerb!
Rosscameasdoody · 14/03/2024 15:42

Scarletttulips · 14/03/2024 15:38

Years ago if you didn’t have a dropped kerb and had a car in the drive you could be fined.

Legally, in order to use an area as a driveway, you need to have a dropped kerb on the pathway outside your home. Otherwise, if any damage is caused to the pathway when driving over it you will be liable for fixing it.

Its illegal.

Said over and over ad nauseam on the thread. For some reason not acceptable on MN. Even with uploaded evidence of the law around the issue. It’s bonkers.