Neighbour passing through my driveway to get on and off theirs

[parkingcars]

I bought my house October last year and had the driveway fixed a couple of months later. Recently, I’ve seen that my next door neighbours, who are not attached, pass through (couple of times a day) the upper half of my drive to access theirs. They run side by side with a fence (in red) on the boundary line, but it’s not a shared drive. Additionally, their garage was built up to the boundary line.

I only have the 1 car, but they have 2 - a van parked on the road and a car on the drive. They are unable to drive immediately on and off since the van slightly overhangs their drive. They’re unable to drive the van forward to create extra space because their neighbour parks his car close to it to avoid blocking his own drive, which has another car parked on it (also a 2 vehicle household)

I understand it’s not my neighbours fault / intention to cause any issues, however it is frustrating that they are using my drive, which will lead to faster wear and tear without any contribution to maintenance costs. Ultimately, I think it’s up to them and their neighbour to find a resolution instead of using my drive.

My drive extends along the full length of my house, and I typically park towards the end. However, I’ve considered parking at the top of my drive to prevent this issue from happening. My concern is that they might bump my car while moving in and out.

AIBU? Am I being petty? Diagram attached…

close the gate?

@TheGrimSmile they aren’t just walking on it.

We had a similar problem. We have parking spaces not driveways but neighbour had 2 cars. They would park one on their driveway and the other longways in front but with a gap for the driveway car to get out if they drove over our parking space. Without driving over our space they would have had to move the longways vehicle.

We let it slide for months until my partner parked where the longways car usually parked (on a bricked area NOT owned by neighbours) as we needed the extra space. The neighbours kicked off that we had used 'their' space so we decided not to just play nice anymore and installed a metal bollard as previously posted on this thread. They wanted to keep an unofficial space free so why couldn't we keep our legally owned space free?

This stopped them being able to use our drive and they had to start swapping vehicles over whenever they wanted to go out. Strangely they actually called police saying we were blocking their access which was a complete waste of police resources.

People like to talk about good neighbourly relations but often the type of people who do these things are quick to take but not give back. I guarantee if the op had a visitor in a van parked at the end of their driveway and therefore stopped the neighbours van being able to be parked they would be straight round to complain about how they always park there etc etc.

Can a friend lend you a car to park at the top of your driveway so you block the bottom.
A retraining period for your cf neighbours who will have to relocate their van.

When I purchased my house, there was no wall separating my driveway from my neighbours . They just about had space for two small cars because they would overhung onto my driveway. We had plants there which they just drove over or stepped on when getting out of their car. They also had adult children who would visit and park on our driveway or block our dropped curb. It started to irritate me more and more as they casually started taking more of the piss. To address this, I had my driveway rebricked and had a nice wall built between our properties. While my neighbours weren’t happy about it, there was nothing they could do since the wall was on my property.

@Mayyouleave No it’s not. It’s just design software. I recognize the dotted grid background because I use it. Not everything you don’t know or understand is AI.

Love to hear about CFs getting their comeuppance, @Lauren1983

It does sound like if they parked the van on the drive and the car in the street, the issue would be resolved.
But who wants a van parked outside?

They could turn their front garden to drive and extend their dropped curb the full width to get both their vehicles on.

Havent rtft so apologies if this has been asked already, as it seems a bit obvious, but why don’t you extend the fence to the end of your drive?

I wondered if it was a 1930s semi detached.. many of them are designed with this shared middle driveway which originally enables access to the gardens. Many have now got garages at the back but the actual driveway is shared as they are very very narrow. Is the drive actually wide enough for two cars to be parked side by side?

They are taking the piss and letting it carry on is not going to improve 'neighbourly relations' because you're going to get more and more annoyed.

Speak to them about it

I would either extend the fence to the bottom of your driveway, or park at the very bottom … but I would definitely get a cheap cctv set up first. Video doorbells don’t always pick up every movement, and stop recording after x seconds so if neighbour sits in their car for a minute or so the doorbell won’t pick anything up when they drive away.

Those saying it wouldn’t bother them have clearly not had anything like this happen to them day in day out. In the early days you let it slide, after that it’s fucking annoying 😡

Could you start keeping your bin there, or would that impede your own access?

YANBU. My garden & neighbours is open plan and a few years ago I dug up the grass on mine and put down slate chipping to make a bigger drive, they too had a van/car blocking the end of their drive and a car in the drive. When they couldn’t be arsed (daily) to move the one at the bottom they would just drive over my garden to get in & out. It’s bloody annoying.

im planning on some planters this year to create a boundary line.

It’s a driveway. It’s meant to be driven on. This whole situation is beyond ridiculous and petty.
If it’s losing you sleep OP then why not be an adult and have a polite conversation? Passively aggressively blocking them is honestly pathetic.
What’s next? Stealing garden gnomes! Most of us live cheek by jowl in this country. Be thankful that’s the biggest issue you have with your neighbours.
and may I never live next door to most people in this thread!

Yes, it’s meant for OP to drive on, not her cheeky fucker neighbours.

And where has anyone suggested blocking them in?!

You’d be singing a different tune if it was your driveway. Some people are fast and loose with generosity when it’s other people’s property being used. Glad I don’t live next door to you.

Unless my neighbours were horrible I really wouldn’t care! How does it actually affect you? Wear and tear is a bit dramatic!

Annoying as it is, if you block their access by parking at the bottom of your drive, won’t they just park their van elsewhere? Probably in front of your house as the closest space. I would find an ugly van parked outside my windows, blocking my view of the road when driving off the drive, and taking up the most convenient parking space for visitors, even more annoying than the wear and tear on my drive.

You are being petty. Unless they are littering, making noise which is disturbing you, and being disrespectful to you - then let it go. If you create drama you create bad neighbours.

It would have been nice if they had asked but if they are otherwise good neighbours I'd let it go. They aren't blocking you in, any damage to the driveway would be minimal but if it is having an impact it has been really poorly done. It such a minor thing I don't think it's worth the potential fall out - which could make life much more unpleasant.

Think they mean that drives should be able to be driven on with out falling apart and op considered parking further down to block them using the drive not blocking them in.

I’d park on the bit they’re driving across. If neighbours knock the door I explain i don’t want them using my drive. Neighbour could make their drive wider and using plastic grids and grass seed it won’t impact on drainage and appearance.

Have you not read (most of) the threads on Mumsnet?

For all those ultra zen posters thinking OP is beyond petty for objecting to the continued access of her driveway, do you not realise that in some cases, if this continues for a long time and the OP doesn't object, an easement/right of way can arise? Leading potentially to some issues on subsequent sale by OP (given that a right of way over her driveway could be said to have arisen). 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️