WWYD Neighbour’s Parents blocking street parking

[OneCyanHiker]

Street parking has become an issue because two houses recently became 3 car households. We only have one car and next door have 2.

Next door’s parents have started getting involved. We have some bad blood with them already because they were really inconsiderate during their renovation and we were expected to suck it up because their daughter wanted the house done quickly. They knocked on our door a couple of months ago to ask us tell us not to park on the road in front of her house. We ignored them. Twice since, her dad has stood in the road and told us we can’t park there because he’s saving the space. And this week they put cones out and her mum was watching from the front room. I tried moving them and she moved them back. Neighbour is not visibly disabled. We’ve seen her walking dogs and running.

The neighbour is OK when we’ve spoken to her. We’re not friends by any stretch. Only brief ‘how’s it going’s’. I think it’s pointless talking to her directly because she must know they’re doing it (how else would they know when to come to ‘reserve’ the space?).

Her parents have also knocked to ‘give us advice’ on tidying up our garden bushes (because it affects the light in her garden).

I think if they knock on the door again we should just close the door on them. DH can’t do it because he’s too polite.

Take the cones, put them in your car.

Or

Drive over the cones.

Or

Film them on your phone next time and just get them to confirm that they're creating a hazard because their daughter is a "princess".

I'd also be inclined to make life a bit uncomfortable for the daughter if the parents continue. Music a bit too loud, maybe hoover your walls, drill holes first thing in the morning etc etc. nothing illegal just... Annoying.

I had something similar, neighbour used to regularly block my drive and it was a nightmare for deliveries etc. I put a note on her windscreen to say please don't park here, I need driveway access to get out and in. Her father appeared an hour later and gave me hell for it (it was a polite note). I was so stunned I didn't know what to say. The next time she did it I needed to get to a medical appointment so I got her car towed. She was seething and I said "next time tell your father to behave himself ☺️".

Best bit was they had two cars, but a four car driveway and space outside to park...

We had problems with a neighbour putting out cones. My DH takes no prisoners, so he collected the cones and relocated them.

One of our neighbours has 4 cars. All on street parking.

not illegal but stupidly inconsiderate to those of us with just one. They often park on the grass opposite churning it into a mud fest rather than park no more than 50m up the road where there’s not a house.

the 4 car family are entitled and causing issues for everyone. horse neighbour up the street has had her tired punctured with screws for getting rightly annoyed she was blocked in by these neighbours parking so very close and they wouldn’t move their car until they needed to leave (8am) meaning her poor horses didn’t get seen to in the am (she’s usually left at 5am)

now a neighbour with motorbikes who usually parks on his hard standing has taken to his own method are parking warfare parking his bikes in a strategic way entitled neighbours have no choice but to park elsewhere. He moves one when horse neighbour comes home. I applaud bike neighbours tactics.

but they’re doing it with me now. I have a small car but live on a bend on a hill which is tricky to parallel park outside of when van neighbour (he’s cool) has parked so I’m having to park well away from my house and haul my tools down the street late at night just so 4 car neighbours can take the spot outside my house, next doors house, their own and the next one up.

dont even get me started on their obnoxious parties where a further 4+ cars get parked.

I agree - I had to rationalise (moan) at my husband this weekend because he got annoyed that a woman had parked where he's parked for years and left it there for nearly a week whilst she was staying at a house down at the other end of the road and there are spaces closer to her and he put a note on her windscreen (want to point out that he's not usually a dick and he's suffering really badly from depression and is disabled and he was just at breaking point this weekend because he was in agony and I'm also disabled with extremely limited mobility).

I pointed out to him that so long as her car is legal, she was parked perfectly fine and there was nothing he could do about it and I asked him to remove the note from her car (which to be fair to him, he did and he later admitted he'd been a div).

I have a disabled bay outside the house for my own car but I've had people park in that but I've never confronted anyone over it, apart from one guy in a work van who was parked 3/4 over it, engine running and he was sat reading a book and there were plenty of other spaces - but even then, I only asked him to reverse a bit and politely explained that if I can park my car in its bay, then I don't have to either delay taking my pain medication (which is very strong and affects driving) or leave my car overnight outside someone else's house.

People are just so entitled.

We have a bus stop, all marked out, in front of our house. I thought that would mean we were safe from random cars parked... but no, there are often cars parked in the bus stop!

More information needed. How long was the renovation work due to last? Were these tradespeople needing to bring in big equipment or some decorators with a couple of tins of paint?

If parking is bad it's not unreasonable to ask if you could park a bit further down the road to make it easier for the workers. If it was only for a week I would have let them reserve the space. You never know when you might need your neighbours to reciprocate some goodwill in the future.

we live in a terraced street. No one has a 'right' to park in front of their house but everyone does. Whenever anyone new moves in we just let them know that's the unofficial policy and if they want to get on with everyone, it's best to stick with it. It works really well. I've been here ten years and I remember the person I bought my house from telling me no one parks in front of your house, and to stick to one car if you don't want any hassle. I was looking at selling last year and had lots of questions about parking from prospective buyers and I explained the same - people leave the space in front for you, don't buy this house if you have lots of cars, or even move to our village if you have lots of cars, because parking wars are the biggest source of fallouts. It's an old mill village so all the houses were built for horses not vehicles. Fortunately we have a really good train line into the nearest city so most people commute on that.

The problem comes when you live on a terraced street and people move in with more cars than they can get in front of their house. We sometimes have to play 'car Jenga' because whilst I and my next door neighbour have only one car each and those fairly small, one side has a Barbarian Jeep and an SUV and the other end has a work van and another car. So they physically can't all fit in front of their own houses.

And people might move in and think 'oh, it's fine, we've only got one car,' then one changes jobs and they need another car, or little Darcy turns 17 and learns to drive and buys a car...

I’d reverse/drive ever so slowly into the space so he has no choice but to keep moving whilst my own cars moving. If he gets the police involved tell them he was stood in the road.

There are a few houses who have two cars but they park them somewhere else (my DP included). There's some waste ground a couple of roads away with the overspill.

My neighbours opposite have 2 cars on the drive and a further 4 taking up spaces on the street. One of which is the car of a GF of one of the sons. Instead of being considerate and parking further away she’ll take any space she finds meaning people who actually live here have to find alternative parking. It’s a nightmare most days!

Can you speak to other neighbours and ask them to take their turn parking outside the batshit neighbours house so it’s not all on you. Get together and fight it as one group so it’s not just you having to deal with them.

Go and speak to your neighbour and explain how distressing her parents behaviour is. It does seem unnecessarily aggressive.

Her parents appear to be manipulative and controlling. If possible, try to find an opportunity to speak with your neighbour more informally, e.g. invite them around for coffee and cake, etc. Obviously do make sure that you make it very clear that it's only the couple who are invited and not her bullying and entitled parents.

Nb. These days, it's quite possible that these parents have loaned them some money in order to buy the house. Unfortunately some parents then seem to believe it gives them some kind of stake. My previous NDNs were in a similar position - house purchase funded partially by his parents and constantly bullied by them.

We live 5 mins from a main line train station and people park in our road all the time and leave it there all day. We have 3 cars. Most of our neighbours have 2 plus cars. We park where we can and no one ever moans. It’s not permit parking and quite frankly people can park where they like, you don’t own the road outside your front door. If you want a house with parking - then move to a house with its own driveway or allocated parking. If someone tried to tell me where to park in a normal road with no permits, they would be told exactly where to go. Want your own parking space then move.

It would have been great if you'd just driven right over the cones to park there anyway. It's an offence to obstruct the road so they shouldn't put cones there at all.

Sorry but you either grow a pair and park in front of your own home or you don't. Not sure what you're expecting here?

We pay for residents parking but still often cannot park outside the house. Can live with parking further up the road but resent the introduction of parking charges.
Council said paying for residents parking would improve parking by deterring visitors, but it has made no difference. Nearly all the residents have cars so just have to pay anyway - nice little earner for the Council.

Contact your local councillor and then safety neighborhood police team. Cones are illegal. The councillor may be able to mediate

If your neighbour wants guaranteed parking outside their own home then they need to pay for a crossover, otherwise anyone is entitled to park there. They have no ownership over the road and they should not be blocking off the space so I would just keep moving the cones and parking there.

Of anything kicks off, ring the police and mention the cones. A person can't section off a space for themselves.

Excellent idea to put cones in your car. You could photograph them and report for littering while you're at it!

Unless there is a designated disabled space you have no right to park on the street outside your own house. Of course another disabled person could use the disabled space. I’ve had nails in my tyres for parking in front of my parents house. They have issues with hospital staff parking there to avoid hospital charges. They obviously thought that was what I was doing. I started parking on their neighbours drive (with permission) then. Parking wars are nasty. Another case of why can’t everyone get along with each other. I bet there is enough parking if you walk a little further.