New neighbours - shared drive shenannigans

[Nightpain]

We have new neighbours.

We have lived for 10 years at our property, with the departing neighbours having been there for 24 years. We have a shared driveway. We own the bit that has block paving, the tarmaced bit belongs to the other property.

For 10 years we have had no problems at all and a good relationship where we put each others bins out etc.

I came home last night to find the new neighbours have moved in. They have moved all the bins from where they have been for 10 years and put a caravan there. The drive is not visible from their house, however it is right in front of our kitchen. All we can see at the moment from our kitchen window is their caravan.

They have also squeezed 2 cars into the drive, meaning I can no longer park on the area that I own because their car is preventing me from manoeuvring onto my drive or turning round, I now have to reverse out.

They are insistent that it is their drive and they can do what they like on it, totally pissing all over the way we have lived for 10 years after living there for 1 day.

This is our deed. Our property is indicated in red, the brown hashed shaded area is the drive. Number 1 on the diagram is our garage, number 2 is their garage. The yellow area is the road.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

OP may well not have right of access over the whole brown shaded area, but just enough to access her garage. So as long as they are keeping the initial thin bit free and a car’s width up to the garage they may well be doing nothing wrong and can then park cars and caravans on the bit nearer their house.

Can you draw your own diagram, showing where bins/caravan/tarmac/paving etc are?

Is it definitely ‘shared’, if you each have clearly marked out sections?

I don’t understand the diagram from your deeds either. A hand drawn one might explain it better.
I think you’re probably being unreasonable I’m afraid. It’s their drive now and they can use as they see fit. If anything, approaching them to complain about how things have always been done makes you seem overbearing. Who cares where the bins used to go? You can no longer use their drive to turn in and that’s tough. They can probably park their caravan on their drive if they want.

I understand that the disruption to your set up is annoying but you’ve got no authority here.

Shared drives are a nightmare. We have to reverse round a corner and down a road to get out of ours. We share with multiple houses and one house park all the way down their side which makes it hard to get in and out. Our deeds say we only have access to the side nearest our house which is shared with another house so we can't park down it and can't complain because we don't have any access rights over the rest of it.

Where are they turning their vehicles op if they have blocked off the turning space with their caravan? Is reversing in an option instead? Could you widen your bit of the drive by taking a bit if your garden to make your own turning space?

Can you access your garage door/driveway by vehicle either going forwards or reverse? Are they parking on their own land?

If so then YABU, some people struggle to adjust to change, don't be that neighbour.

So on your diagram you have shown a block paved bit in front of your garage which is yours. Do they own the same sized space in front of their garage (where I presume the caravan is) and the rest of the driveway is a shared driveway?
A shared driveway and ‘access over the driveway’ are different things. If it is a shared driveway it means you both own it and so therefore should be able to use it equally (which doesn’t sound like they are..)
Access just means they have to ensure that you have access to your bit and then they can unfortunately do whatever they like otherwise.
I share a driveway and own the large part in front of our garage between my door and the front garden, which is mine. My neighbours are in the middle, between myself and our neighbour at the back and don’t own any driveway apart from their small part of garden to the side. Unfortunately they think it’s ok to park 3 massive cars on the driveway outside their house. I wouldn’t have an issue with this but when the previous owners converted the garage, the highways department asked they still parked a car next to the part of the driveway I own. They said because my garage is side on from the house that they weren’t supposed to park there as it prevented me from being able to effectively swing around into my garage.
Because I haven’t found it to be too much of an issue (except for the driveway looking like a car park) I’ve left it but recently they got really arsey at my dog barking once at 7.57am in the garden (she was stopped immediately) and now I would love to tell them they can’t park there. I won’t unless it really bothers because I’m not unreasonable but I do feel like inconveniencing them like they have with me because now I can’t let my dog even make a sound in the garden without feeling stressed.
Shared driveways are difficult, especially if the neighbours are hard work so perhaps try to have a chat about what works before it gets too frosty.

So you have to either reverse in and drive out of your space or drive in and reverse out? Like you have to do with most parking spaces? ie you can’t swing across the end of their space? Nothing at all you can do about that. I think you were just lucky the other neighbours didn’t have as many cars or a bigger one.

The caravan thing is really annoying but if it’s their drive they’re entitled to park it there.

I think this is one of those situations where you just have to suck it up.

They have also squeezed 2 cars into the drive,

They had only moved in that day. Everything is always more chaotic on moving day.

People will cram their cars on to their drive though, rather than park them on the street. That's just normal.

I can't tell where their house is on the diagram.

Can you access your drive by reversing? Or are you completely blocked from accessing your space?
If they are preventing you accessing your drive at all, it needs sorting. If you can only access your drive by reversing, and everything they own is on their land, I'm afraid you are going to need to reverse.
Same with the bins. Were yours stored on their land?
I think you need to split what is convenient /customary with the previous owners and what is actually required. I'm not quite clear where the current situation is on that split.

Why can't you reverse onto your drive? Who owns the part in front and do you only have a right of way over it?

Can you draw everything on the plan? Their house, your house, their cars, your car, the caravan…?
I can’t work it out.

I always thought a picture of the deeds would be much better that a scribbled diagram but I’ve just changed my mind!

I can see the problem for you though and it doesn’t look like they’re doing anything wrong technically. What’s all the land between the driveways and their house?

This is what I’m picturing (see pic)
Blue = their cars/caravan
Red= your car

Do you have access to the drive or does it actually belong to them?

Sorry… picture here

As long as you have access to your garage and land, I don't think they're doing anything wrong. They've been there less than 24 hours. Don't ruin your relationship with them

OP please come back and clarify as many of us can't understand the diagram. I'm think you are showing a small area directly in front of your garage that is yours. The entire brownish striped area is theirs. You access your space by going over theirs. The bins used to sit on a piece of their land. They have moved them^ To another spot on their land. Is that correct? If so, I really don't think you have a leg to stand on and frankly sound entitled. They don't have to locate their bins and your bins^ on a specific place on their land. Are you seriously suggesting that they should have to put their bins where the last people did? Are you demanding they locate their sofa where the last people did also? You appear to have right of access but that doesn't mean you can demand that you can swing around onto their space Willy nilly. You still have access. You just don't like it this way. 'Liking' isn't really the point. If you can't reverse then you shouldn't be driving. Caravan situation depends on whether there are any rules in place about caravan parking. If not then again it's nothing to do with you. Do you expect to have control over the plants they grow or the colour of their vehicles too?

And indicate where the dropped kerb is?

I would never live somewhere with a driveway like that. Not a chance.

I can see it is annoying, it will take longer to reverse all the way round and it is always better to enter the road forwards too. Can you make a turning area in your front garden?
if they are not in when you get home, take the opportunity to turn in the wide area and reverse the last bit into your space maybe?

What do the deeds say about the hashed area. If it says both properties have a right to travel over the area but not park on it then you are both in the wrong by parking on it. If they own all the yellow bit and it just says they must allow you access to the red bit, then they appear to be doing this and you will need to either reverse in or out in future.

We have a shared drive and your picture makes sense.
You have to drive over a shared bit to reach your own garage. Unfortunately from the second picture, they are not obstructing your manoeuvre, not even with their parked cars. When you leave, you really should reverse in or reverse out, it's been a privilege to be able to turn around on their part of the drive, but you have no right to it. We have the same situation and always reverse down into our culture de sac, I never turn on next doors drive even though we have a great relationship with them, I wouldn't, it's their drive.
You could give them a few weeks to settle in and then politely broach it, as others have said, the extra cars could be people helping them move in.
I'm not sure there's anything you can do about the caravan, but again, maybe it goes into storage once they've settled. Or hopefully they're away a lot!

Agree with others - we need more detail to be able to interpret the diagram properly.

OP, can you mark on the diagram where they have parked their caravan and two cars? it’s hard to fully understand the impact on you without this information.

Also, at the start of the drive, and within your boundary line, is this a lawned garden or a hard standing area for visitors to park on? I would be interested to know if they’re expecting you to park there instead of in front of/in your garage. Do you use your garage for storing your car?

They haven’t pissed all over how you’ve lived, they’ve asserted their absolute right to use their property and land in a way that suits them. It’s a bit irritating, but that’s all it is, they’ve not done anything wrong

@ElsaPink "It’s not goodwill - OP has a right of way over the area shaded brown. I wouldn’t say that was at all badly drafted."

I couldn't see anything in her post which says she has a right of access across the parts of the drive mentioned where the neighbours have parked. If she did then neither party would ever be able to park anywhere on the driveway.

The OP needs to publish the provisions in the deeds which hopefully make it clear.