AIBU to let my daughter’s boyfriend use marked visitor parking regularly?

[NBParking]

NC’d as outing.

Recently moved onto a new build estate, up the road from us is three terraced houses with five parking spots in front of them. Each of the three houses have one and two are very clearly marked as visitor spots.

My DDs boyfriend visits us regularly, can vary from one night a week to 2/3 nights depending on both their shift patterns. She has been parking in one of the visitor spots.

The first of the three residents moved in last week. Yesterday one of the site managers knocked on the door and asked DD to move the car as the houses are now lived in and the resident had complained (some people / contractors park on the still empty houses). DD explained that it was visitor parking and that is was our visitor parked there. Site manager said he would need to go away and look at the plans (thought he would have done this before coming over tbf).

So AIBU to tell him to continue to park there? Legally he can, rules are visitors up to 48 hours at a time (I’ve checked the convents we signed). I would HATE someone effectively parked on my drive, outside my window etc but I would never have bought that house. Resident must have seen and signed the same plans as us?

If the resident comes over to speak to us, how would you respond?

Site plan attached.

But they move in with one or two then the kids grow up and suddenly it's 3 or 4 then they get boyfriends/girlfriends and there are cars everywhere. My mum moved onto a new build estate 25 years ago for the first 10-15 years it was OK for parking now it's a nightmare because the families that had young children now have young adults.

When I visit now I park at a relatives house a 15 minute walk away because Mum is the only single car house left in the street, she often has to ask neighbours to get their visitors to move because they are blocking her drive.

Looking at the plan I can see parking is going to be contentious so I would not buy there.

Its not at all obvious and its entirely a matter of what is in the deeds and related covenants. Unless you have reviewed the deeds and covenants you have no idea about the designation of those spaces.

What is clear from this thread is that policies differ widely across different estates/planning areas (which reinforces “go back to the deeds”).

Exactly this.

Its a problem even if you live near a new build estate as pre-existing local roads, built under more sensible planning regimes, end up clogged by the overflow.

I don’t know why you’re getting jumped on here.

Common sense would say “visitor parking” spots are for all visitors, not a select few (unless stated). If someone bought a property with only one parking spot knowing they had 2 cars, that’s their problem. They can’t claim it.

However, I don’t think the boyfriend is a true visitor, it’s his second home. For that reason, I think it is inconsiderate to use one of the limited visitor parking spaces as much as he does and I can see it could be annoying to other residents if their visitors can’t use the parking spots because he’s frequently using them. I think 2 nights a week is ok, but any more is pushing.

If a neighbour knocks on and queries it I would just show them the plans and explain you’ve spoken to the site manager and you’re awaiting his response.

@NBParking This is a difficult one. Which no of house is your one?

The issue seems to be people making assumptions based on the layout. People on here have seen your actual deeds highlighting that you can use those spaces and they’re still saying “it’s obvious those spaces are for those residents of the terrace to use”.

The people complaining have seen their own deeds highlighting those spaces - they haven’t seen yours. So they probably assume they are for the terraces and don’t understand that they are for others too. If they approach, I would show them the deeds and say you’re sorry they weren’t aware but you’re using the spaces exactly in line with the rules.

Its not at all obvious and its entirely a matter of what is in the deeds and related covenants. Unless you have reviewed the deeds and covenants you have no idea about the designation of those spaces
It is absolutely the most logic thinking. If somehow the covenants have opted for an unlogic design, then OP should have checked first before assuming an implausible plan over a realistic one.

You know that your pre-edited post can be viewed right 😂

YANBU and I’m not sure why you’re getting the pile on here.

Your legal documents show you bought a house with a drive and access to visitor space with restrictions (the 48 hour rules) which meet your needs. The estate managers can’t now unilaterally change that, nor can the residents buying those houses.

It’s very clear that those spaces are for any visitors to the estate, because they are specifically mentioned in your legal documents. If they are weren’t for you to use then they wouldn’t be mentioned and they’d be mentioned for those terrace houses only.

As you say, annoying for those in the terrace houses - but they chose to buy them!

This is the problem, isn’t it. If it’s not marked physically on the space as visitor how is anyone to know? As the plans you’re given and what the sales people have said when showing the houses could be at odds and not accurate. Others have given experiences of plans being wrong or different. I think the estate need to make it very clear (with signs stating visitors less than 48hrs) if that’s how it is to be. Needs to be very clear for the people living in those three houses especially!

But that's unreasonable behaviour in my opinion.

If your children want cars that there is no space for, they can't have them. What happened to family car sharing? Not everyone needs their own piece of metal squatting on the roadside for 22 hours a day.

I think those x 2 visitor parking spaces are for the 3 houses in front so I wouldn’t be using them at all. Boyfriend needs to park outside your house even if blocking you in.

I agree but in my experience people are selfish and living in a place with limited parking doesn't reduce the number of cars - it just causes chaos because people like the OP say 'why shouldn't he visit'.

I didn't consider, I was told it by the sales office and solicitors.

Then use those or at least vary the spots used. As a very very regular overnight stayer using the same visitor spot is bound to annoy people who's like to use it for visitors who typically don't actively reside at the property 50% if the time. This is a case of you can technically do this but in practice it makes you an arse. Don't be that neighbour.

I have to be honest I am in favour of covenants which prevent households having too many cars. I think they're normal in city flat blocks etc. but I would like to see them elsewhere.

Can you imagine the amount of public space we would get back if there were fewer cars parked up at the side of residential roads.

Agreed. I think we’re going to maybe give our 2 DC the smaller of our cars to share when they reach that age and my DH and I share the other until they move out. I supposed suggestions on that could be another thread 😁

I answered this earlier, very happy to use the other spots as well, but they are generally already full with what we think are residents. We don't know for sure and don't have any plans to challenge them. If they happen to be free he absolutely will use those.

We will also have more roadside parking by open space once the final section of the estate is complete, also happy to use this for one of the cars.

I would never, ever, ever, buy a house without at least two off-road parking spaces! I've done the parking wars, don't want to return at any price.

OP would "never" have bought one of the houses with the visitor spaces outside as presumably they had the funds to purchase one of the more expensive homes with a drive. Seems to me that OP demonstrates some sense of entitlement and a lack of awareness of community.

People saying OP sounds entitled are being ridiculous. She literally IS entitled to do as she’s doing.

It’s entirely clear from the plan that those terraced houses are smaller, and would have been cheaper, and were designed to only have one parking space. Poor planning means there’s a shortage of much-needed visitor spaces for the entire estate so they’ve come up with this as a solution.

A new resident buying a cheaper house and expecting to permanently claim a space intended for visitors of the wider estate would be the ones behaving in an entitled way.

I do think the boyfriend is almost verging on being a semi-permanent resident, but as things stand, you’re following the rules and are using the space as designed and as you’re entitled to. Carry on.

You are correct I wouldn't have bought one, because I wouldn't want strangers cars outside my window every day. I don't think that's entitlement, that is having a choice of what I can compromise on.

Why is is less awareness of community for the resident to park a second car there permanently then for our visitor to park there (2 out of 7 days)?

Sounds the OP is right and the space usage is well defined.

People are trying to claim space before their house as their, but it isn't.

To my eyes that estate doesn't even have enough 'casual visitor' parking before you start to tackle multi-car households. Where are delivery vans, trades working in a house, medical/care visitors, friends dropping in for a few hours parking? If the plan is to scale parking across the drive of the person you are visiting will make access to the drives opposite hard and passing traffic difficult especially when there are cars outside several houses.

Until the 60s my town had a railway station, now the nearest one is over 10 miles away and there isn't a regular bus service to it. People won't magically stop having cars when there isn't a reasonable alternative. City flats yes but rural market towns no.