Driveway fencing & Neighbour issue

[Mysticelf]

Hi all looking for advice please. 🙏

We live in a typical semi and the unattached side of the house has our driveway running from the front of the property all the way along the side of the house to the garage (which is effectively in the back garden).
The unattached neighbours then have their drive running along side it.

They are not shared drives and there is no divide between the drives except a very narrow grass verge. It seems that when the estate was built all the driveways were like this with no fence.

The drives are very narrow and our neighbour has a works van which when parked along side his house blocks his drive completely, however they tend to use their back door as their main entrance/exit to their property which means they constantly walk along our drive.

Our drive is also used by them to put the bins out, take their motorcycle out of his garage to get to the road. Working at the side of his van with the sliding door open. Their son to take his bike out... etc.
It gets very frustrating as it just seems to be taken for granted that they can use our drive.

We do not currently use the drive along the side of our house, so it’s wasted space for us, so we thought of fencing it in to the front of the house (where there would be gates). We could then have an enclosed space from the back garden which could be a play area or storage area.

We’ve mentioned doing this to the neighbour who was unhappy with the idea as it would change how he uses his own drive. ie he wouldn’t be able to park his van at the side of the house as there wouldn’t be enough room to get out of it. (It’s worth noting that we have long front gardens which the drive runs along in front of the house which you can park 2 vehicles on, so it would not mean him parking on the road).

What do we do?

We want to go ahead with putting a fence up, we’d thought we’d put it slightly on our side of the boundary. But we know the neighbour doesn’t was this specifically so he can have access to and use our property!

I really don’t want to get into a dispute, but I’m not sure what to do. 🤷‍♀️

This would annoy me too. We have typically narrow drives, just enough to get out of the car but need to move the car to put the bins out.

I would hate to have it open plan and in your shoes would definitely put a fence up

Yes I think the comment about bad design is correct and if we did put up a fence it would prevent next door from parking a van next to the house.

I’m not bothered about where they park, I’d be more than happy for them to park there, but I suppose the reality is, is that the drive isn’t actually wide enough to do it without using the other persons drive. So for them to have that access we can’t do anything with that space.

It’s not something we thought of when we bought the house. If we should ever move again (unlikely though!). I’d def buy something which already has a fixed barrier at all boundaries!

Thanks for your advice everyone 👍

The two areas between your houses are drives, not parking spaces. They can park their van anywhere else along their drive so they can get in and out of their vehicle. Reclaim your drive as part of your plot asap.

do it.
and plant pyracantha along it to stop them trying to climb

maybe if you need an excuse: tell them you are planning to get a dog/relative has a dog, so the garden needs to be secure to let it out.

Does your neighbour consider the land to be shared land? Do they think they have a right of way over it? Are you sure they don't? I think a diagram would help 😊👍

It’s your land, you paid for it, do what you want with it. They sure as hell don’t tiptoe around you, why do you do it for them?

If there are no restrictive covenants and the fence is on your land not on the boundary then go ahead. Make sure it’s strong and cemented into the ground.

I would tread very carefully as it is horrible to live with frosty relations with your NDN, and you say you have no plans to move anytime soon. What about having your bins in that area on a more regular basis?Because it would be worth trying a couple of things to break their unwanted habits before being more obviously assertive.