Inconsiderate Neighbours

Inconsiderate Neighbours

Author
Discussion

Frustrated

Original Poster:

3 posts

156 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Hi

I need some advice on the best course of action to take ith my neighbour and a parking issue.

I have recently moved into my new house and my neighbour parks in a manner that makes parking my car awkward and inconvenient

All of our garages are set back from the road and there is a parking/access area that serves the 3 properties. (The houses are 10 years old so it is a new estate). My immediate neighbour and I have one car each and have single parking spaces outside of our garages and we get on fine.

The other neighbour has two cars and a double garage. His wife parks her car outside of their garage but he parks his car in an area that was not designed as a parking space and by doing this he makes turning/reversing into my parking space difficult.

My "good" neighbour drives into her space and reverses directly onto the highway and she is happy to continue to do this. However I am not prepared to do this because of the obvious danger.

I have spoken to my "bad" neighbour about this and he is pleasant enough but his wife is less understanding because "she has 3 kids and leads a very stressful life" - her words. If his wife reverses her car nearer to their garage then this makes an enormous difference because it increases the area for my turning circle and I can get in - if she doesn't then I can't swing the car around and have to reverse back out of the area onto the road and then reverse all the way in from the road. (I can't see from the road whether she has parked considerately or not so only know that when I get into the area). This is a nightmare.

We discussed this a while ago and he said that he would ask his wife to do as I requested and she did for a while but has now gone back to her own ways.

We all have a right of access over land owned by the others but one wheel of his car is parked on my land when he parks it in the official area.

I have come up with three options on how to proceed

I can mention the matter again and tell him that his wife has returned to her own ways (he probably knows this} and get him to ask her to park her car further back. (She has plenty of room in their parking area to the side of the car and has parking sensors on the back so there is no reason for parking the car further forward). I am reluctant to go down this route because she was not very understanding when the matter was originally issued and even if matters change now I can see them slipping back later

I could place a parking post on my land that will stop him parking there and would not restrict the access to his parking area nor would restrict their ability to park. (I cannot see that this breaks any covenant or easement on my deeds)

I could get my partner (who usually parks on the main road) to park on a remaining area of land (mine) in the access area but this would mean that the "bad neighbour" would have no access to their parking area but only by his car when it was parked in the offending space

I would appreciate the thoughts of others as I don't want to fall out with my neighbours but I feel that they are taking advantage of my good nature and the wife is being particularly inconsiderate of things.

Thanks for any help or thoughts on the matter

Raize

1,476 posts

178 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Oh come on, his wife has 3 kids and leads a very stressful life, give them a break!

joebongo

1,516 posts

174 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
I'd guess there is no easy way round it which will not involve falling out.

The answer is to move house and ensure you don't get involved with shared access crap ever again.

Road -> pavement -> your drive/property.

It's the only way to do it.

geeteeaye

2,369 posts

158 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Rather than an unsightly parking post, how about a heavy duty pot with a lemon cupressus or similar? Failing that the old-school whitewashed boulder.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
I can see where you're coming from and can see the problem. I often have people park in my allocated space stopping me from parking there. However, I think this is the poignant part. You aren't prevented from parking there, you're just inconvenienced; it's a little harder to do, not made impossible. I think just get on with life.

Somnophore

1,364 posts

175 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Plant a tree? Fruit tree would be nice or just a silver birch or something. Decorative and functional.

Ray Luxury-Yacht

8,910 posts

215 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Frustrated said:
"she has 3 kids and leads a very stressful life"
For the record, I fecking despise these 'busy' women, they think the fecking world revolves around them and their stupid brats, who are normally called 'Josh' or some other sickening moniker.

They often drive Picassos or some other 'Mum Truck'.

Can you feel the hate? shootpunch



Steve H

5,224 posts

194 months

Friday 11th March 2011
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I'm with Ray on this one yes

chrisxr2

1,127 posts

193 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
parking post or similar, the neighbours hisband is not the one that runs things she is.

R60EST

2,364 posts

181 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
To try and keep things harmonious why don't you ask her if she'd be prepared to do the manoeuvre you have to do when she parks badly . With the permission of those involved put your car where she normally parks and hers in your spot. Ask her to carry out the manoeuvre so that she can appreciate what is involved.

When she tries it for herself she may be more considerate in future.

Many years ago we had a noisy neighbour problem . He liked bass , lots of it. I asked him politely to turn it down but he said in his opinion it wasn't loud.

I left it a couple of nights and the next time I heard the thud thud thud of his sub-woofer I went round and asked him to pop round for a beer . He was rather taken aback but obliged all the same , before he had chance to turn off his music I said leave it it's not loud.

When he came in I poured him a beer and sat down in the front room , he could hear the thud thud thud from his sub-woofer . I think he realised immediately that even though it was not loud in his house the sound was very intrusive in ours. He apologised for being abrupt a few nights before and said he'd disconnect the sub in future.

No hard feelings on either side , we moved shortly after though .

eldar

21,614 posts

195 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
For the record, I fecking despise these 'busy' women, they think the fecking world revolves around them and their stupid brats, who are normally called 'Josh' or some other sickening moniker.

They often drive Picassos or some other 'Mum Truck'.

Can you feel the hate? shootpunch
Sounds like my neighbours. They manage to park perfectly normally, however, so we get on fine. It can be done.

XDA

2,141 posts

184 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
joebongo said:
The answer is to move house and ensure you don't get involved with shared access crap ever again.

Road -> pavement -> your drive/property.

It's the only way to do it.
^^^^^^^ this

It's because of the these types of issues the OP is having, that I'll never rent/buy a property that has anything that's "shared" with a neighbour. Almost always ends up as a ball ache, as there's always one inconsiderate neighbour.

MrChips

3,263 posts

209 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
We've got a similar shared access situation, with 5 houses sharing a common drive, for which we all have a right of access.

Neighbours park their car on the shared drive all the time... and so do I! My neighbours don't mind me parking on the shared drive, and it doesn't bother me..... so long as it's possible to get the car in and out.

I would suggest that unless it reaches a situation when you physically can't get the car in/turn it around, then just carry on and don't mention it, get on with life, and from some of the neighbours from hell stories you hear about, if they're generally quiet/nice people who just can't park then you're better off than many other people!!

bababa

132 posts

163 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
normally called 'Josh' or some other sickening moniker.
"Oliver" seems very popular recently. I live near a school, so I constantly find an array of badly parked mum-trucks all over the shop when I try to leave for work in the morning - some times I have no option other than to wait for the owner of the offending vehicle to return before I can even get the car off the drive. God help us if a fire truck ever needed to get down the road during "dropping off time".

Mr GrimNasty

8,172 posts

169 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Are you saying they are parking in an area over which you are supposed to have free access to pass? Depends on the wording in the easements etc. but if they are contravening it then start with a letter from a solicitor pointing this out. Otherwise make their parking as awkward as you legally can until they get the message.

dcb

5,833 posts

264 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
XDA said:
^^^^^^^ this

It's because of the these types of issues the OP is having, that I'll never rent/buy a property that has anything that's "shared" with a neighbour. Almost always ends up as a ball ache, as there's always one inconsiderate neighbour.
A bit of give and take is always a good idea.

If that fails, a bit of carrot and stick for the
more recalcitrant ones can help.

Failing that, politely asking them to move their car, let's say
ten times in three weeks, should be enough repetition
to get the message across.

One must always be reasonable and be seen to be reasonable.

Knackered dad

124 posts

209 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
XDA said:
joebongo said:
The answer is to move house and ensure you don't get involved with shared access crap ever again.

Road -> pavement -> your drive/property.

It's the only way to do it.
^^^^^^^ this

It's because of the these types of issues the OP is having, that I'll never rent/buy a property that has anything that's "shared" with a neighbour. Almost always ends up as a ball ache, as there's always one inconsiderate neighbour.
Yep, we moved because of this. We were ready to move anyway I suppose but it taught us some valuable lessons on what to look for with our next purchase. Nearly 9 years in to our current house and no parking issues! There are others, but thats for another thread. Its an expensive solution though.

Brilad

594 posts

188 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
who are normally called 'Josh' or some other sickening moniker.
"sickening moniker"
10/10.

biggrin

R60EST

2,364 posts

181 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
bababa said:
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
normally called 'Josh' or some other sickening moniker.
"Oliver" seems very popular recently. I live near a school, so I constantly find an array of badly parked mum-trucks all over the shop when I try to leave for work in the morning - some times I have no option other than to wait for the owner of the offending vehicle to return before I can even get the car off the drive. God help us if a fire truck ever needed to get down the road during "dropping off time".
Experienced this last year working near to a primary school on a fairly quiet country lane . The school run Mums thought it perfectly acceptable to park bumper to bumper blocking every driveway in the process. I needed to get off the customer's drive to go and get materials but couldn't .

I was quite annoyed but apparently it was par for the course in this quaint little village . None of the residents , my customer included seemed in the slightest bit bothered

littlebasher

3,767 posts

170 months

Friday 11th March 2011
quotequote all
My last house, apart from being right near the entrance to a primary school had a massive hardstanding.

It wasn't unusual to come back from work early and find one or two abandoned cars on my drive. Simple enough just to park across the bottom of the drive and go inside....they'd come groveling at my door eventually