Would this bother anyone or am I just being petty? Neighbours walking past

[thebakera]

I recently moved into a house which is a modern new build with 2 allocated parking spaces outside my living room and front door.
So it isn't a driveway as such but 2 parking bays designated for this property.

A few of the neighbours use it as a short cut to go from A to B and they literally are walking right by my living room window multiple times a day.

At times they will even have conversations.

The kids do it as well and it is really annoying me.

I want to kindly ask them to stop as I feel it's invading my privacy but feel petty doing so.

Would this annoy anyone else?

What about a privacy film on your windows? Or shutter blinds?

No she isn’t! She has answered this already! Her DH is out at work whilst the neighbours are doing this so only her car is there which isn’t enough to stop them doing it as there’s two spaces! Try reading OP’s posts in future

OP has said that the trellis planters might not leave sufficient room for 2 dars. However you only have to block passage at one point. not at both sides of the parking bay. If some houses have already installed some kind of a system then it can be against the rules. Or the rules arent being enforced. Planters may be the answer. OP can then (if challeneged) simply say they are a decorative feature because the front of her house looks a little bare.

One car is enough to interrupt the flow of movement away from their window.

I thought that too. If one car is parked right up close not leaving enough room to pass, does that not mean they're going to have to go round it? It may or may not be enough to make people prefer walking by the road instead but it surely moves them away from the window.

That said, I don't think it's particularly surprising that people prefer not to walk on the road. You also need a good privacy option such as blinds OP.

It should only take 1 planter, hard up against the house at 1 end, to stop this.
As you can park the nose of your car quite tight (just overlapping) this and still get use of your car doors. So the car most often there forms the rest of the fence.

Although they may then start cutting in diagonally accross your second parking space.

You may have to see if one side is more effective than the other.. maybe treat it like that famous tv wildlife show where the squirrels had to do more and more outrageous acrobatics to get to the nuts.

E.g. " Come and have a look at this Michael,. Mrs Smith from number 8 is having another go at the rope bridge. Ooooo shes fluffed it ! She's going to have to start again at the teeter totter.".

Cheaper ( but less fun) would be a proximity alarm on the wall near/ under your window.
You would need one with two remotes and wouldnt be able to leave it on all the time, but enough to quickly deter the 3 families cheeky enough to keep pushing through .

They are around a tenner on amazon.

Definitely try parking extremely close to the house so there's no gap. The car that's gets used least under the window so they have to go around.

As you need both spaces and planting isn’t an option, I’d prob try being a bit pass-agg and have a few phone calls on very boring topics walking up and down the parking bays when you’re neighbours are in.

Otherwise consider those privacy blinds/ more soundproofing, or can you rearrange your downstairs layout a bit so it’s less of a problem?

Yes, as multiple people have suggested now just park your car an inch away from your house so they can’t walk in front of it, they have to go behind. This works even if it’s just your car there.

Exactly. I don't know why the OP doesn't just do this.