Neighbour using my drive, landlord won’t help. What can I do?

[9champions]

I’ve lived in my house for almost 4 years now, and I had a new drive put in last year, which cost a fair bit. Parking on my street isn’t great anyway, but I’ve recently noticed that my neighbour is using my drive to get to hers. I’m not sure if she’s always done this as I’ve only just noticed. Last week, I caught her in the act while I was outside sorting the bins, and I think she was surprised to see me. I talked to her on Sunday and politely asked if she could stop, but she said it’s difficult for her because her neighbours car sticks out into the space in front of her house, which makes her partners van hang over their drive, so she can’t get in and out without driving over mine.

They can’t park the van on the drive and the car on the street because there’s a fence between our driveways, and the van is too big to fit with the fence there. It’s their fence, on their boundary line btw. I suggested they take it down, but they’re tenants and don’t want to pay for it, which is understandable. Apparently, they asked the landlord a few months back if he would remove it, and he said he was fine with it being taken down, but he wouldn’t cover the cost.

I was thinking about putting up my own fence to stop them, but my drive is already pretty narrow, and then there's the cost involved. I know I could just pay to have theirs taken down, but should I really have to fork out money just to make them stop using my drive? I know it’s a hassle for them, but they should either talk to their neighbours to see if they can leave them more space on the road or have another chat with the landlord about the fence. They’re making this my problem, and I don’t think it’s fair for them to just assume they can use my drive forever. It’s not a shared drive btw. They’re just next to each other, similar to new build estates.

Am I being unreasonable / petty, or are they taking the piss? I’ve attached a diagram. The black squiggles are cars, and the red one is my neighbours car crossing over my drive to get to hers.

They're tenants.

So pleased that stuff like this genuinely didn’t bother me

Its HER OWN van blocking HER OWN drive??? Absolutely ridiculous and for them to speak to their other neighbour about overhanging car.

So pleased that I have empathy for people instead of smuggery.

Yet it bothered you enough to post about it here....the mind boggles. 🤦‍♂️

How is them driving over your drive any more damaging than you driving over it?

Huh?

It is mumsnet. A chat forum. Can you only comment if you are bothered by the same things as the op?

Empathy for someone whose neighbour drives a little bit on her drive?!

Some people seem confused. The OP is a homeowner and it’s her neighbour who rents and it’s the neighbours landlord that won’t do any thing about the fence. It’s the neighbours own partner that parks his van in a way that she has to use OPs drive to get to her own.
Basically it’s the neighbours who are making all their problems become the OPs problems when it’s nothing to do with her.
For all those who think this is nothing and it wouldn’t bother you, this isn’t the thread for you.
We had people standing in next doors garden, take a step up into our garden and walk over it to the pavement, rather than walk an extra 3ft down the drive way of the garden they were in. It’s so entitled and cheeky ! My son and I were in the front garden at the time with all these work men just walking through my garden, when there was no need.

To all those who think the OP is wrong. The OP has paid a large sum of money to buy that land with access (and a house). Then she's paid even more money to make it look nice and presentable and long lasting. Then a CF uses it without her permission or paying for use. Would any of you like it if your neighbours came and sat on your patio furniture every day? I mean your patio chair is cheaper than her drive plus you are lighter than a car so less wear and tear but same principle, or would you get pissed off too?

OP, get a couple of chains and loop them between the two fences. Far cheaper than a full fence and gets your point across.

Nailed it. And as I said at the start - this is precisely why the NDN is a cunt.

I'd put a fence, rope or whatever to stop them.

They could pay to remove a fence but instead want/expect to use the drive that Op has paid for.

Nope!

Wtf?

If you’re calling the neighbour a “cunt”, I can’t imagine what you must be like in RL when you seriously feel wronged.

They have a patio / garden with aspirations of being a drive

@9champions
Update us... did she move the bins 😂

If the NDN didnt act like one, I wouldnt need to refer to them that way.

🤷‍♂️

Yes, I think wasting your time and energy and precious life on petty disputes over other people crossing onto your land for less than a minute a day is demented. I think poisoning dogs for peeing on a wall because it belongs to you is demented. What about the foxes that poo and wee in my garden, should I shoot them, or lay traps?

I do understand OP, it's not a huge thing but it's the kind of thing that really starts to grate once you've noticed it, especially given they could do things to sort the situation out on their own end.

Ultimately they should be taking their fence down so they can use their drive properly, or the husband should be parking the van somewhere that it actually fits - I'd be wary though in case this ends up in the space outside your house and you're stuck looking at a van all the time.

In your shoes, I'd be looking at extending the fence to the end of your drive, or putting something like a tree in a large plant pot right on the corner of it so your neighbour can't continue to do this.

I don't think that's as bad as the poster who said they'd poison a dog who had a sniff on their property! Injuring / killing animals is a gateway crime to worse, so that PP was seriously concerning.

But don't you think that avoiding your neighbour getting a legal right of access across your land should be avoided?

The OP has already said she doesn't know how long it's been going on / how long they've lived there. It needs stopping before they gain rights across the land.

I think that legal right of access across half a foot of a driveway is a non-issue. It's not like we are talking acres of land here. It's a residential single driveway/parking spot. I used to have a garden that had right of access for the water company as there was a mains thing at the back - non-issue. It meant they could access my garden for repairs, once a year or less usually, by a side gate and always gave me advance notice.

I didn’t say I would poison dogs for urinating on my property, I said I would put nice sausage down, not poisoned sausage. Smart dog owners don’t like their dogs eating random bits of food that may be harmful to them. Making use of that fear to train lazy dog owners is not the same as actually poisoning a dog.

Oh, and the dog’s misdemeanour in the example given was urination, not a a little sniff, which would be bad enough. And when they start weeing in one spot, they keep coming back don’t they? No, not having that!

Foxes are wildlife. Other than entering buildings they can pretty much go where they like and do whatever falls within the remit of normal fox behaviour. It’s a very different situation with manufactured animals that are meant to be under human control.

Absolute bugger if you try to sell the house though

I can’t see it’s very likely that her neighbour is going to go down the legal right of access route over a foot of driveway. And if they have been using the land for years they could do this anyway. When I sold my house it wasn’t an issue for the several buyers who bid on the property that there was a right of access in place. Again, it wouldn’t bother me if a house I bought had right of access for someone to put their tyres on my drive! But as I have said above, even though I think OP is being unhinged I also think neighbour should stop now they have been asked. Not worth a neighbour dispute (which IME is more of an issue in selling than right of access).