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?

I don't think she is, is she? She is asking peoples opinions on whether she should talk to her neighbour and whether we think the neighbours are pissed off with her parking habits.

OP no one can dictate where others park on a public road. Everyone wants to park near their house and if your neighbours park in a space before you: tough luck and vice versa. It's not something to get into a conversation about.

What is she going to say to the neighbour though?

'Sorry, we need the space in front of your house so can you park on your drive please'?

I don't know 😂

Get a smaller car.

Are you able to/can afford to turn your front garden into off road parking so you have a drive big enough for two vehicles?

Why can't you both share the cars rather than having yours and his? That way neither you nor your dh will be blocked in.

We do what you've been doing OP. You just shuffle the night before depending on who's going out first in the morning.

People are weird about people parking outside their house I think. At my parents someone likes to park at the side of her house and has a sign and a camera pointing at the space. Public road, no restrictions. I used to park there just to piss her off. Sure I saw steam coming from her ears once.

I can’t see what you have to gain by saying anything to them. Because no matter what your reasons are, you want them to not park their car on the road outside the front of their house.
so by giving them your reasons you are literally saying to them, please don’t park there because I want to park there instead.
But yes, they probably are parking there because because for whatever reason they don’t like you parking there.

So OP has repeatedly ignored the question about the size of her husband’s car and she has also ignored the question of why they can’t turn the garden into a bigger driveway that would fit two cars. Clearly they don’t want to incur any additional costs by changing the car or changing the driveway.

It’s one thing to occasionally park in front of someone’s house if you are visiting someone for example, it’s quite another to be taking up two parking spaces in front of two neighbours on a daily basis for presumably years to come. I’d be pissed off too…it’s not about whether it’s legal, it’s about whether it’s the neighbourly thing to do. OP should look at other options to solve her issue.

The neighbours have probably had years of having full visibility of the road when pulling out and their visitors/traders/deliveries etc using the space your dh is parking in so don't like the change. Yes your dh is legally allowed to park there, but so are they. They can probably see better when pulling out from that space

It’s just that simple isn’t it, yet here we are…….

I think husband's car is a van too and when he parks it outside the neighbours house he obstructs the view when they try to get off their drive so the have the space but not the visibility. A family sized house would typically have a driveway big enough for a family car but not necessarily a large van.

You need to get your drive widened, use the car at front or carry on blocking yourselves in and swapping cars around.

Ridiculous to have a huge car and another car and one tiny drive, then expect everyone else to just deal with it.

I guess from NDN’s perspective (who may not be aware of the large car overhang) DH has just suddenly started parking outside of theirs when he was previously outside his.

OP, your NDN on the other side couldn’t stop DH parking in the middle of your two gardens if he is home first. They would then have to park further up with their smaller car.

I’m guessing there will be no solution.

Perhaps they want to keep that spot for their visitors, or don't want it to become accepted that you park there always so their visitors have nowhere to park. If they have room to park on the road without blocking their drive why don't you? Is yours a much narrower plot? We've always bought houses with enough parking for our cars, so we can park on our own driveway or at least just in front of our house. It would get irritating if a neighbour always parked right on our front.

See diagram and subsequent answers - DH vehicle is too long.

Widening the driveway won't help if his car can't fit on the current driveway. His vehicle is longer than the width of the house and the existing driveway.

@seabrooks1945 Please would you be able to say what make and model your husband's car is as I'm another one that cannot believe that his car is longer than your house is wide? I also think that it might be a van, in which case, although of course he can park where he likes, I could understand why your neighbours are doing what they are doing as he is really taking up the space of two cars if he is parking across the middle of two houses so neither could have a visitor outside their house. Which again you could say is tough luck, but you can see why they would think it unfair of you. Inconveniencing two houses instead of just yourselves is a bit unneighbourly.

Can the OP please divulge the name of this monstrous car?

I can see the conversation now

OP - Hi Brenda, glad I caught you, I'm sensing that you're not too happy with DH parking outside your house. Just want to check if there's a problem?

Brenda - We don't like his huge vehicle right outside our house, it spoils the view.

OP - There's nowhere else for him to park

Brenda - That's not really my problem

OP - Well, it's a public road, anyone can park there

Brenda - Yes, you're right

OP - So could you move your vehicle so that he can park there

Brenda - No

If they widen the driveway into the garden, he could surely park on at an angle. Unless he drives a hearse or something 😂

Henry T Transit 😀

Anyone can park there including them though, they haven’t told you not to park their, just as you can’t tell them not to park their either.