Neighbours being funny over parking

[seabrooks1945]

We moved into our new home 3-4 months ago. It’s a beautiful house in a nice, quiet area with good schools. The only issue is the parking situation. We have a driveway that can fit 1 small car. I park my car there, and my husband has to park his bigger car on the street right in front of me, blocking me in. So far, we’ve just been shuffling the cars around to get in and out, but with work, kids, school runs, and all the activities, it’s becoming a hassle. My husband recently started parking on the road outside our neighbours house to make things easier, but every time he moves his car, they park their car there instead. They used to always park in on the driveway until now, so it feels a bit suspicious. Are they sending us hints? Do you think it’s a good idea for us to have a conversation about it? How would you go about it?

Legally you are ok, neighbourly it is annoying and as you say, annoying for you so probably for them too as

1. they won’t want to look out onto your big car
2. probably need this space even if just for ease of getting in an out. No one ever leaves enough space to comfortably get in and out of a driiveway and I bet they’re busy too and would rather not have the hassle. just park somewhere else not directly outside someone’s house, clearly they’re not keen and is it worth it (as you wouldn’t like it either I’m sure trying to rush off for school run etc). Or just suck it up and park considerately outside your own home?

True – I did jump to the conclusion the attached neighbour’s ‘parked on the road car’ was oversized, it is possible that OP’s tank oversized vehicle is the only one which needs two parking spaces.

Just looked it up. Its a huge horrible looking thing. I wouldn't want to look at that out my window every day.
I wouldn't just park in front of my house, I would stick a clapped out banger on bricks outside yours too.

I would do the same as them. You have said yourself that you can park in front of your own home but takes some manoeuvring to get everyone out etc but the option is there. I would just be irked that you felt easier to park in front of my home.

If there were a Land Rover parked adjacent to my drive it would prevent me having good visibility to exit. You should have purchased a home with suitable parking. We need both a garage and off street parking so that is what we bought. A neighbour extended and part of the planning consent concerned where they would park, they have never kept to the agreement.

The space outside someone’s house isn’t theirs but it’s a bit of a dick move to park there instead of in front of your own house because you can’t be bothered to move the car a few times.

1. Sell the huge Land Rover, hopefully for at least £30,000.

2. Buy a smaller, cheaper car.

3. Use the leftover money to extend your drive so you can park both cars on it.

Problem solved.

Does your husband park as close to the attached neighbours car as possible? Could the attached neighbour park any closer to their own driveway? Is your house really narrow? How would your husband's car fit on a widened driveway, wouldn't it still be too long? Why can't you just drive whichever car is available rather than moving them around?

That won’t work - the Defender is longer than an on street space. So if NDN to the right is parked in front of their property, and DH parks in the next space further to the right, he will overhang the drive of NDN-but-one.

This is why he can’t park on road outside his own house without overhanging his own driveway, because NDN on the left has their second car in “their” on road space.

The diagram makes it clear.

We have neighbours that own three big cars but not luxury brands. The husband and wife have one each and their teen has one. They park two vehicles on the road and sometimes when I’m exiting from my driveway, I find it hard to see the road clearly for passing cars and pedestrians. I never have said anything and neither has DH. Privately, I do think it is arrogant and they need to think about how much space they are taking. We know they plan to move in the near future and hopefully next resident doesn’t have as many cars to park.

I think seeing someone’s else’s car constantly out of your window and seeing them coming and going is a bit annoying. And as it sounds like, the Defender is taking a middle space of the road between two houses. I can see why the neighbours would be irritated. Not a great start to a positive neighbourly relationships.

Most terraced houses are about 4.5/5m wide
Why can’t you park in front of your house
By your diagram you wouldnt block the drive

or is your house really thin ?

Does your attached neighbours 2nd car block their drive
or is it a smaller car

No it doesn’t, it is a smaller car.

It may be that the drive is actually partly in front of the house and not fully to
the side, given the OP did say it was a quick diagram!

I think I get it now (thanks to Shiela) and
The obvious solution is that dhs car is too big

sell it and get a smaller one

They are your neighbours, they obviously don’t like it, if there is nowhere else to park carry on, if there is somewhere else you can park make a decision!

We live on a busy street next to a school, about 6 houses on the street have no off street parking, we are one of them.

The guy opposite has a double garage and 1 if not 2 off street parking spaces, EVERY F@#£&*G DAY he parks outside my house, every day. Even when my husband was on crutches post surgery with a broken wrist in the middle of winter he would park outside my house and leave us trying to drag/hobble down the road in the pouring rain. He even looks out of his window and if there is space outside our house will move his car off his drive into it.

Like I say it’s your choice.

Then you need to stop being so parochial. You don't have any rights over the road in front of your house.

I can be what I like my dear. I can feel what I like. And how I feel is just as valid as anyone else.

So why buy the house knowing you can’t park the massive car? 🤷‍♀️

Why don’t you park the Defender on the drive and the small car in front of your house ? Will your small car fit in the left behind your NDNs car?

Sorry, not sorry, glass of wine and tired. Why don't you read OP's posts ?

I can see both sides of this. Can someone help me get the splinter out of my arse please?

He can park where he likes even in a work van.

I'll try.

Neither household owns the street.

Neither household wishes to be inconvenienced. The OP seems to think that her desire not to have to move vehicles around trumps the neighbours' desire not to have the inconvenience of having their view obstructed. (Or possibly, the neighbours' desire to have a convenient place for tradesmen or visitors to park - bearing in mind that there's no legal right for either party to be there.)

The OP's view seems to be that she is more in the right, since she has to deal with children and school runs, if I understand correctly.

In my case, we had a car and a small camper. (A Mazda Bongo.) The camper was my vehicle; the car was much newer and was DH's. Only I drove both vehicles, because DH had to stop driving following his stroke.

I kept the van because It didn't matter so much if it got vandalised when I was working in a school. Also, it was really handy for taking garden waste etc to the tip.

DH couldn't get into the van and had to use the car. Ergo, any time I took DH out I shuffled round our vehicles - I usually had the car up the drive and the van across the front. This meant that I didn't inconvenience my neighbours.

Having to shuffle round the vehicles and run around whilst helping DH into the car was an inconvenience to me, but I didn't think that it was fair to take up an extra parking space on the street when there was no need for it. (It also stopped anyone else from blocking me in.)

OP, you say that the driveway is only big enough for ‘one small car’ but I am wondering if this is really true.

In literal terms a driveway would have to be very tiny in order not to hold even a Defender. However, such a massive car would look odd taking up the whole of a normal, small driveway in front of a semi. It might well block the occupants’ view.

Is this the real issue? If so, possibly your neighbours feel the same way. They may not have the law on side but as no one needs a gas guzzling, planet destroying Defender they are going to have a lot of sympathy. Block your own view.