Neighbours using our drive as their path

[Peedoff24]

We live in adjoining terraces, both with driveways. All other houses in our terrace have walls or hedges between them. We don’t but there is a decorative border type thing to delineate them. So it’s very obvious when you step off their property into ours.

They fit 2 cars onto their driveway but this is only possible because we don’t have a wall. They need to open their car door across our drive to be able to get in and out. This I don’t mind.

However, because it’s a squeeze to get between their cars they and their visitors, deliveries etc use our drive as a pathway to get to their front door. It’s got to the point that people literally step out of their door, step over the decorative stone thingy and then walk across our drive to the street.

We have a ring doorbell so get alerted every time somebody does this. It’s now got to the point that our drive is used as their pathway even when they only have one car parked and therefore plenty of space on their drive.

These are neighbours that don’t acknowledge my presence if we see each other since I complained when they had builders dumping rubbish on part of our garden.

WIBU and petty to go and buy some trellis and put it up to stop them from doing this? It would also mean they’d have to rethink their parking!

Fence, but as others have said it will need to be solid- I'd imagine a trellis will just get knocked down. It will however probably cause conflict, so I'd be 100% sure you're happy for that as long as you both live there.

Then fuck them. Build the fence.

Where are they walking to? I can't picture why they're needing to go that way after parking up.

😂

Good diagram. A prickly hedge should do the trick.

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest. Why make someone's life harder for no real reason? You might need a favour or their good will one day.

Absolutely get a fence if you don't want people using your driveway but expect they will start parking on the road.

To/from the street so that they don’t have to squeeze past their cars. A few weeks ago they had guests who all trundled up our drive with wheeled suitcases.

I’d love to put a fence up for ours but the space is so tight that it would prevent him parking on his drive so it’s only an option if we want to completely fall out with them.

If you don't want a fence- which might look more obvious, then I'd get planters. Either static ones, or ones with wheels that can be locked in place. Extra points for growing cactus, so no one tries jumping over them or just flowers. Its a physical barrier and a deterrant.

Interestingly there is a hedge on your neighbour's other side. I think you need to do similar

I'd be at B and Q this weekend looking at options - fence, trellis, large planters - and something would be installed by Monday.
I just wouldn't put up with that any more.
Even if you were able to speak to them to tell them to stop I think they would do it anyway. They do it because you haven't objected and because they can. So stop them being able to do it and that will be the end of the problem.
Just make sure whatever you put up is on the boundary of your property and not over it and also not above any height restrictions. You said the gravel and stones are across the boundary so you need to work out exactly where the boundary is.

If you think they are struggling to park properly, and if they did there would be no issue, then I would ask the DVLA about their eyesight.

As well as the fence.

So they don’t even speak to you, take the piss, clearly walk all over your garden as do their guests (so they’ve told them to do this) and there are people on here telling YOU to be concerned about neighbourly relations. Build the fence. They are CFs

That wouldn't be a problem for me. It's not as if they're parking their vehicles on your driveway or driving across it, it's only foot traffic.

But I can understand why you're irritated by your neighbours' behaviour, having already fallen out with them over another issue. Perhaps if they'd been more friendly at that time, you wouldn't now be feeling such animosity towards them? They will reap what they sowed, by the look of things, as I expect you will go ahead and fence off the driveway.

Can you park your car (maybe on an angle?) so that it blocks their route to their front door? Angle it so the boot is almost touching the wall so they can't squeeze past

I’ve forgotten how it works with fences, do you have to get permission/agreement with neighbour to put them up? Isn’t there something about who owns the left side and the right side? Excuse my confusion, I may well be making this up.

Wall!!!

You can build a fence or a wall on your own land where the boundary starts but not on the actual boundary line without talking to the neighbour.

You have to see you’re being unreasonable if you think your neighbours doing a perfectly normal thing on land that they own would “damage neighbourly relations”.

So they had wheely suitcases near your cars so they didn’t risk their cars getting scratched? Fuck them. Fence now!

Oh god, get a big fence now!! And plan to build a wall at some point. Get a brickie to quote

@behindthemall

We don't do anything intentionally to cause problems for our neighbours. Them building a wall would intentionally cause problems for us

Of course you can do what you want on your own land, but it doesn't mean you should. I think most people are a bit more self aware.

I'm guessing the OP knows it will cause problems with neighbours, which is why they have posted...

I wouldn't just put a fence up without warning, it's bound to piss them off, I would knock on the door and give them the same sort of choice you would give a toddler...

We are putting a fence up soon, just wondering if you had strong feelings about these two options we were considering.....

Make them think they have some control.

They already hate her because they OP rightfully didn't like their builders being criticised for treating the OP's property as part of their dumping site.

And if you would treat your neighbours poorly because they didn't want people on their property on a regular basis and took reasonable steps to prevent it (and the accompany liability as well), then you would be the problem neighbour.