I bought my first house in November 2024. It’s a small bungalow in a lovely, quiet area, and for the most part, I’m very happy here. I met a few of the neighbours when I moved in and they were all lovely and very welcoming. The only downside is my neighbours parking. It’s the couple who live next door to me. We're not directly attached but our driveways run alongside each other.
They don’t like parking on their drive and instead both park on the road whilst the drive sits empty. She parks her car outside their house and he parks his transit van on the kerb outside mine. The only reason I can think of is because they can’t be bothered to move their vehicles when one of them needs to get off the drive (a nuisance I know, but every other neighbour manages it)
Unfortunately, I had noticed this during the conveyancing process but naively assumed that they were taking advantage of the space whilst the property was empty (had been empty for 2 years prior to me buying it) and that they would stop when I moved in. Well, how wrong was I?!
I also had to have my drive repaired after moving in and ended up parking down the road as he had taken the space outside my house and there were no other spaces available. I know, legally, they haven’t done anything wrong and are entitled to park there, but it was a struggle lugging furniture, shopping and heavy items down the street, whilst their drive was empty. They knew I had nowhere else to park at that time but continued parking there and watched me struggle.
Anyway, mine has now been repaired and I’m able to park on it again. He continues to park in the space outside mine, but doesn’t block access so no issues there. There isn’t much space between my house and the kerb and my property is also on a slant so his (large van) looks even bigger from the window. I’m coming to terms with the fact that this will probably be my view for the foreseeable future and it’s really getting me down. I’d understand if they had nowhere else to park, but that’s not the case here.
I appreciate people live with much worse and have to park miles away from their property, but we don’t live in London or a large city where this is expected. We live on a very quiet residential street where each person has their own driveway. Anyway, I’m trying to remain positive and think of all the things I love about living here but this is still winding me up on a daily basis. It’s all I can see when I look out of the window.
I know I can’t approach them about it, so will have to put up with it. If you are or have in the past experienced something similar, how did you make peace with it?