Inconsiderate parking by neighbours

[Mummaofgirlies]

Hello. We share a driveway with the neighbours where they need to drive past our house to get to their drive. They have three easy access spaces with the possibility for five cars to park there. Their friends frequently park in front of our windows while there is only one car in their driveway. I know it’s pity issue but it bothers me because when they have parties then we get two cars in front of our house and we can’t park there if we needed to. While again they could have fit in their space if they just moved their car and stuff closer to their garage. It’s even more annoying because when once a delivery van parked closer to their house in the evening and they took a while to find the parcel the neighbour came out telling them off in an irritated voice that it’s a private drive. We have invested a lot of money to the house so we don’t want to move, but I wonder what will happen when their kids start driving. They are not the sort of people that you can ask not to do something. Any ideas what we can do in the future? I thought maybe we can park our car in our front garden, allowing access but putting someone off from parking there. But the main point is that we paid for private drive as we didn’t want to have cars in front of the front door and our windows. The spaces in front of our house is ours and they are fully aware of it. May I add our front garden is half a car width so it does seem that the friends car is in our doorstep. If we parked in our front garden then part of the car would be on the driveway, still allowing space for vans to get past.

So you are both end of the road second to last and they are the last house?

your door doesn open directly onto shared driveway how big is the path / grass? What land is yours and what's shared?

What can you do???
Actually Talk to them about the friend??? Privacy film for your windows ?
Planters with plants?
Park outside your own door?

Separately you are giving this way too much headspace. You can get in and out freely its a bit of a nonevent

Do you own the space where the green car is parked or is that shared? If it's shared then their friend can park there. It's not stopping you get in or out of your drive. How often is a car parked there and how much time
do you spend staring out of your window at it?

Do, they arent blocking you, or parking anywhere that you ever would or could? They are blocking themselves in and disrupting your view?
For the sake of peace and decent neighbors l I'd roll over on this one. Sorry.

Assume the red dotted lines show your land? We looked at a house with similar layout and it was clear there had been neighbour disputes over parking as there were markers on the tarmac. I would start with a conversation to the neighbours. Say that you would appreciate if they could ask their visitors to please park in their parking area instead of on the access road as the land belongs to you.

Privacy window is an idea. That land where they are parking is ours and they are fully aware. In the summer it will make it harder to upkeep our garden , including watering. Currently it’s once a week so that is not so much an issue yet. My worry is about their kids getting cars and parking there daily so I wanted to plan the garden design ready for that. Once a different friend completely blocked our path and we still use a pram for the kids. The garden is only half car space so if we plant something taller there then it might feel like too much, but it might be the only solution. It’s also not nice coming in and out with a car parked there. We’re house proud and have spent a lot of money on having the front looking nice.

Can you put up a sign on that area - reserved for no 2 or whatever?

Think you need to speak to your neighbours and remind them that they have access over that part but are not to use it for parking.

If it gets to the point where their DC start using it, it would be easier if you gave previously discussed it.

If it's on your deeds that the space is yours and they only have right of access, not right to park, then you have to challenge what they are doing. There's no point in paying for a drive specifically because you want privacy and then allowing some cheeky fucker to effectively take it from you.

It’s really not their fault or problem that your windows overlook their parking spaces. They’re going nothing wrong/

get your friends to park on the red "our driveway" area instead of pulling into your driveway which will make it really hard for them and their friends to get out and then say "yes its annoying when people park all over the place when there's a perfectly good drive to pull into isnt it?, i dont know why my friends keep doing this!"

Have you read the OPs posts at all?? 🤯

I don’t understand the set up at all. They have a right of way to use your land but they park on it? Or you share all the land and you just don’t like where they choose to park?

Looking at your diagram, surely they get blocked in every time you park?

So their friends are parking on your land? I would speak to them or the neighbours every time to say they shouldn’t be parking there. Leave a note on their windshield if needs be.

They might also just be thick. My neighbour likes to park with his nose over the turning circle - nice man but hasn't given much thought as to why turning circles exist and believes his drive runs in line with his garden.
Your neighbours might not have given any meaningful thought to where their own land begins and ends. If they have and just don't care, then more fool you for not tackling it head on.

I have neighbours in a not entirely dissimilar setup, and the thing that annoys me most of all is purely the lack of consideration. It is such an antisocial, selfish way of thinking and being in society. They consider nobody else but themselves, at any time, for any reason. It's hard to convey how irritating that attitude is.

They could choose area 1, which leaves everyone able come and go, but they (their visitors actually) choose area 2. There's no extra effort to use area 1, they are just not thinking about the fact it causes me hassle of having to go and knock on their door, wait for them to answer, tell their friend, wait for friend to trundle out and get in, start up and move - all the while looking like the bad guy for it. When I just want to drive my car off my own fucking driveway! Then as soon as I am gone, they whip straight back in and if I am only out for a quick thing, the same bloody palaver in reverse. Although now I just block them in and take my sweet time when they want to leave.

They also seem to have a car with about 11,472 doors which they must individually check every single time they come or go. Slam Slam Slam Bloody Slam, whether it is 3pm or 3am!

Can you put your wheelie bins or planters out the front on your land so it doesn't block access but prevents the friends parking?
If they dare to complain you can specifically say "It's my land. I can put what I want there.

How wide is the section of driveway outside of your house? If it's fairly wide, could you take up some of the driveway and turn it into a border, and almost create a chicane, or at least a section that is just wide enough to get a small delivery van through. That way you get a nice view outside of your window and then it is very clear to the neighbour and friends it's not suitable to park there.

Just did a quick addition to your drawing. Green is planting. The black is the pathway, so you might just have it going to the left towards your parking area, or have both so that delivery drivers can get to your front door

If you really don't feel like a word with tgem would alter their CF behaviour then I'd do what @longtompot suggests and extend your garden out on your land - give them enough room for a car to drive onto their driveway but no more.

That's a fab idea from @longtompot. You have to leave them enough room to access their drive but you don't have to leave them the whole of your property to drive through.

You could block it off tomorrow with big pots/garden furniture

This.

Or install collapsible posts so you still have the space to use for your own additional parking if needed. You only need to allow them enough space to drive across your driveway, they/their visitors aren’t entitled to park on your driveway at all.

@Mummaofgirlies owns the road beyond the dotted red lines. The neighbors only have access to reach their own driveway with NO parking in the road. OP would like to keep the area clear for her own use and not have the inconvenience of random people parked illegally in front of her house and on the road.

It is the neighbors' fault and problem, as the parking spaces the window overlooks don't belong to them. They know this but are taking advantage of her reluctance to say anything.