Neighbour damaged his car on my drive

[lghtnght]

I moved into my new house 3 months ago and after a few weeks, I noticed that the neighbours across the street were reversing onto my property when they left their house. The road is pretty narrow, so they can't really turn around without reversing onto my drive. Plus, another neighbour parks his car (in blue) on the pavement by their house, which makes it harder for them to pull forward and turn around.

It would be much easier if they just reversed onto their own drive and drove out from there. I don't know why they haven't done that yet. I didn't want to start any drama or fall out with them. I had never talked to them before today and wasn't sure how they'd react if I brought it up, so last weekend I decided to put some garden rocks in the corner instead. Just to clarify, they're on my drive, not on the pavement, in case anyone wonders. So, the neighbour knocked on my door earlier and said that his car got damaged because of the rocks. He insists that they were half on the pavement (not true) and half on my drive.

He asked why I didn't tell him I was putting them there so he could avoid driving over them. He said if there was a problem, I should have just talked to him. I told him it's my drive, on my property. Why would I need to inform him? His car wouldn't have been damaged if he wasn't using my drive… He got really aggressive with me, saying that the previous owners never had any issues and that he's going to call the police and a solicitor about the damage to his car. I haven’t heard anything since. I can't believe I'm even writing this. I’m not sure what to do now! I do feel a bit intimidated by him. Am I being unreasonable?

I think you’ve lost your sense of proportion. 🤣

I prob touch the end of a neighbours drive when I reverse out of ours, it is a cul de sac so not a lot of space really. I should reverse into ours really to park but embarrassingly it isn't in my skillset😚

😆😆😆

The sanctimonious posters on here have astonished me. I’m 100% team @lghtnght . I’ve lived a long time in this world and I’ve never had a neighbour expecting to use my drive in this way.

Your neighbour might not be bothered, but it's probably a good idea to check just in case. I think it's just common courtesy if you want to use someone else's property. It does annoy me, but everyone’s different. Hopefully your tyres won’t get slashed 🤞 😂

This is a weird thread. Pulling a couple of feet onto the end of someone’s driveway to turn around is common practice in Australia, no one would turn a hair. I’ve done it many times myself.

YANBU.
If he can’t see rocks on your drive then surely it would only be a matter of time before he hit something else on your drive- possibly your car! I wonder he would knocked on your and rant about it, or skulk off quietly hoping no-one saw him…

Did you get the idea of putting rocks on your drive from here? There seems to be a lot threads where people suggest do so! 😂

perhaps my neighbour should move to Australia 😂

christ how do you manage to get through daily life with such a lack of intelligence.

Nobody 'purposely put something there to damage his car' ffs.

OP put the rocks there with the reasonable (at least to anyone with half a braincell, sadly excluding you, her neighbour and half the posters on this thread) assumption that he would SEE the rocks and NOT USE her driveway to AVOID damaging his car.

The fact he didn't see a pile of great big rocks shows he was not looking while he was reversing. If he'd run over her cat or her toddler instead due to his carelessness would you still be bleating that they shouldn't have been on her own driveway, because it should be kept free at all times to save some lazy idiot the tiny inconvenience of reversing onto his own drive.

What an entitled effing tw@t your neighbour is OP. It's hilarious he is threatening to call police and get a solicitor for trespassing his car on your property and also potentially damaging your property.
It would be easier for me to drive across my neighbour's driveway to get to mine but I don't do it as it's not my property.

I would actually get metal gates installed and keep them closed, if they hit the gates I would be complaining to them about potential damage and threatening with legal action! I'm petty though 🤣.

Creating a scenario for a neighbour to likely damage their car isn't the way you want to start off trying to settle in to being part of the neighbourhood. Even if you do say it was an accident. Awful to be so petty and underhanded towards someone rather than just talking to them or leaving a note.

I really think it's MN that's out of step with this one, being filled with people who spend lots of time online rather than people happily busy in their relationships and community. I think almost everyone I know - friends, family, work etc would think you were a right dick for doing that. Technically you're right but sometimes it's more important to be nice and there were multiple other ways you could've dealt with it nicer.

You have little to be worried about OP if someone reversing onto your drive for a few seconds bothers you.

I wish I had your problems.

And yes, I have a drive. I couldn't care less who turns on it. It's an absolutely mental thing to be bothered by.

He has no recourse to you for the damage, and sounds like a tool himself. But you are well matched.

I bet his insurance claim will be like the funny one (genuine) that said "On my way home I mistakenly turned into a drive that wasn't mine and collided with a tree I haven't got"

I probably am a bit mental!

Professional victim.

Is this your first home.

Definitely not a victim 😂 it’s my 3rd.

Excellent diagram OP!!

The neighbour took your driveway for granite. Bold move from him - boulder consequences from you 🤣🤣

The rocks are big - he should have been looking where he was going (what if it was a child? A dog? - if he wasnt looking he could have injured/killed them)

No of course you arent obliged to notify your neighbours about changes to your own garden. If you plant a pink flower should you be obliged to notify all your neighbours in case they object to pink flowers? I wouldnt have spoken to him either. People arrogant enough to do that arent usually suitable for reasoning with.
He drove into your front garden. His problem. Not yours.
I would ignore him and see what his next move is.

Both unreasonable, by definition.

This is something two adults should have been able to reason out without escalation.
The legal threats won't go anywhere, but you are left with a feud.

I'd just reverse onto my drive rather than use a neighbour's to turn around, but I'm really good at manoeuvring as I drive big plant vehicles at work all day. We actually have to reverse park at work for safety reasons (much better to reverse into chain link fence than into a person etc).

But if I'd got accustomed to using a neighbour's drive and somebody new moved in I'd do the polite thing and just ask them if it was cool. Strictly speaking he hasn't got a leg to stand on but it's a bit shitty IMO leaving a trap for him which he's unlikely to see at that height on a dark winter's morning. I think it's a bit more antisocial than reversing a couple of feet onto a drive tbh. Let's be real, OP wasn't putting the rocks there to store them.

Always best to try and keep good relations with neighbours. I doubt he'll go out of his way to help if your house gets burgled while you're on holiday etc after this.

Who knew how many MNs are such shit drivers that they need to use their neighbour's drives to get off their own?
Although the seatbelts are probably restricting their movements in their dry robes and visibility is already shit in their Range Rover without sunglasses at 8 in the morning on the school run. And no matter what they may say on here, there's no way they're going to be OK with next door's Corsa driving over their block paving every day.
When you're telling posters that they need to be able to drive, take your own advice and learn how to reverse onto your own drive.
Ignore all these incompetent drivers OP, ignore your neighbour who's clearly a shit driver.
Put even bigger rocks out!

Actually not sure you're on ok ground, pardon the pun. You knew he did this and has done for a long time. You purposefully put something on yes on your land, but land you know he drives on (and have previously permitted as you haven't spoken to him), which you reasonably knew could damage his vehicle (you did it to stop the driving) and then it did damage it... you should have just spoken to him like an adult

He could just have spoken to her like an adult and asked for permission, which she would be wise not to give. He should learn reverse into his own driveway, like an adult.

Lots of barking responses on this thread blaming the OP. Weird.

I can imagine the police and solicitor will go well for him.

Him: "She put rocks on her drive which she knows I use and damaged my car!"

Them: "She put rocks on her drive..."

He hasn't got a leg to stand on. And since when did we have to inform our neighbours about changes we make on our own property, unless they are of the sort to require planning permission, etc?