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.

Why should anyone drive over anyone else’s property? Are you really saying you would be happy if your neighbour did this all the time? Edges are likely to get worn very quickly and damage caused
why should the Op be inconvenienced when there is an answer the neighbour just won’t pay for it?

I have no idea how long she’s done it for. I only noticed it a couple of weeks ago as I was standing by the window when she came home, and then I saw her again when I was down the side of the house sorting the bins out. The drive was wrecked before I had it repaired, so it wouldn’t have bothered me back then and I probably wouldn’t have noticed any damage either, but now that I've spent a lot of money on a new one, it does 🤷🏼‍♀️

She might not have parked on her drive whilst you were getting yours done in order to provide space for the drive to be done or because she was worried about damage done to her car whilst it was being done. I would have spoken to her politely to ask her reasoning on this at the time.

Instead you're now resentful and upset about someone cutting over your driveway for a few seconds every day in a sort of post-event frustration at how they were parking before.

BUT I agree if you don't want it happening, then block it. She should have a word with the van owner and/or get a dropped curb installed as a result.

I’m not sure where you got that idea. I've always been friendly towards them, said hi, and kept it polite, even when they were being awkward about parking last year. I was still polite when I asked if they could stop using my drive.

Of course it does: Wear and tear on their property. Also what happens if there is an accident on OP's property damaging their car, drive or house?

It isn't ok for them use your driveway to access their own. As others have said block it with concrete planters though tbh fencing isn't too costly and as you say it would prevent excess wear and tear to your new drive.

How long have you been neighbours for?

You’re in danger of giving them right of way across your property if they do it for long enough.

is the green line the fence that is there already? If so, I don't see how continuing it slightly further would make your drive narrower than it is already - if you're so against her driving on your drive then presumably you are never putting a wheel over into hers anyway, so it wouldn't negative impact you at all?

in any case it doesn't need to be a full size fence, just anything big enough to stop her driving over it - a few bricks/your bin/flower pots etc would all do the job if it annoys you that much although personally I can't see why it bothers you.

Exactly . Stop it now before they apply for permanent right of way.

But it isn't constant use. It might take about a week off the overall life of the drive.

Does NDN have a proper drive. If they’re using it to park a car they have to have a dropped kerb. Report it to the council. If they’re using landlord is renting the property as having a drive he will have to pay for a dropped kerb

Just curious, was there a chance that she was not parking on her driveway and using the public space instead because she couldn’t access her own driveway without driving over the corner of your driveway while it was being worked on?

Yes I agree that this is likely affecting my judgment. I don’t see why I should do them any favours really. The van driver is her partner by the way, he’s parking slightly over their drive as their neighbours car overhangs the space on the road. They already have a dropped curb.

Can you park your car over that bit of the driveway?

Neighbours shouldn't access their own property via someone else's. There are strict boundary rules to stop people taking the piss. There is not a chance I'd let folk wander or drive over our property. Once or twice yes if work was being done, not on a daily basis.
Some people on here are doormats!

It would take them what? A whole afternoon to take down the fence that stops them parking comfortably on their own land? But they can’t be arsed

The neighbour should pay to get a dropped kerb so that they can access there own property without encroaching on yours. My neighbours had a similar paved area and no dropped kerb. We refused access via the corner of our drive as we did not want to end up with legal issues such as unintentionally giving them vehicle access rights to our driveway or issues if one of us sold up and we then had less agreeable neighbours. I don't think damage even crossed my mind but the possibility of legal issues down the line made it a definite no no . Put up a fence or stones etc hopefully then they will sort out a dropped kerb like ours did and then everyone will be happy

Yes, they have dropped kerb.

There are two spaces on the street in front of their house. These aren't designated spaces, but their neighbour parks in one (right in front of their own house, but a bit over the line into my neighbours space), and my neighbour (van driver) parks in the other, slightly hanging over his driveway. This means his partner has to cut across the corner of my driveway to get in and out of their driveway. I hope that clears things up?

My ndn does this every day when he drops and collects his kid from school. Shared courtyard unfortunately (never again) but we have our own clearly marked out drives within the courtyard. He likes to park his car EXACTLY straight, which means he drives back and forth repeatedly until he's parked perfectly. This means he always drives right up to our living room window, and then back and forth, to and fro, perfecting it, which sets the dogs off, and is disconcerting as I WFH and there his face is, popping up every few seconds. For this act, he is driving over our private land.

But, worse is that he's now caused damage - he's managed to dislodge a ground tile on our private property with all his pissing about. It wasn't us, as the bit he keeps driving over isn't a parking space, it's just the area outside our door and living room window, and our car has never touched it once. And he's damaged it. So be careful. It looks unsightly.

I share a drive with my neighbour. We both live in semis, but not attached to each other iyswim. We each have a hedge marking the boundary of the house we are attached to, and a garden area in front of our house - mine is turfed with a tree and a pond, hers is slate chippings with spiky Cordeline-type plants poking out - and the expanse between us those gardens is shared block paving (motherfucker, PITA to weed). If you put a fence down the middle, it would be a drive's width for each house, that two cars could park on, three at a push.

However, there's no fence.

I drive on her half, she drives on mine. We do three point turns on our drives using each other's half. Her garden is smaller so she has more hardstanding and lets my guests park there at eg christmas. Being able to swing across mine makes her turning circle much easier. We enter the shared drive in the middle, two wheels of the car on our own halves, two on our neighbour's

I've never once thought about the wear on the blocks.

They have a dropped kerb. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

they need to speak to the neighbour so they can access their own drive like any normal person. Why would they rather bother you than them? I’d offer to go with them to ask neighbour to not block their access.

I agree with previous OPs, get a decent sized and heavy planter at the end of your drive. She's cheeky for doing it anyway, and given she hasn't responded to politely being asked to stop, then I don't see what choice you have.

People are so entitled.